Last week, I was in Hobart, Tasmania for the first reconvening of the Planning Institute of Australia’s annual conference for three years. It was a watershed moment, getting together with peers, lifting eyes and minds towards the horizon. It reminded me what we’ve missed out on – collegiality.
The theme of Australia’s conference asked planners to see the current world situation as one of opportunity, as much as of crisis. As John F. Kennedy once said: “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.”
Thus the conference sought to examine solutions for better places to live, better ways to live in them, and to find new solutions for those challenges that face us: climate change, housing crisis, inequality and cultural crises, and our recent, overwhelming public health crisis.
How can planners deliver to these varied and enormous problems, and contribute to solutions in cities, towns, and countryside?
Keynote speakers gave testimony on their individual contributions. There was close examination of the way the City of Melbourne had met the housing crisis; how cultural identity can help define inclusion; how heat is changing Australia and creating vulnerability; and much, much more. There was a thoughtful smorgasbord of topics.
I know that in our own conference – now scheduled for April 2023 – we will provide an even more thorough, considered reflection on similar topics, and be seeking Aotearoa-based insights.
I also spent a day working with the team at the Planning Institute of Australia, looking at their professional development framework, areas of commonality and where we might work together. I came away with a selection of sharply focused and excellent ideas, which I’ll now explore with the Board.
I spent time with the Planning Institute of Australia Board too. One area of the profession they were considering in-depth, related to Australians’ trust and confidence in planners.
In planning, we operate under a different legislative framework from Australia. Their issues with trust and confidence in the profession are not ours. However, many professions are suffering from slowly diminishing trust – with the exception (global surveys tell us) of scientists and doctors, most probably due to the pandemic. Worldwide PR firm Edelman describes the times we live in as a ‘cycle of distrust’ and observes it’s gathering momentum.
In our case, anecdotal information and some empirical information suggests our profession is also experiencing a slow erosion of trust. This is partly because as planners we are both advocates and gatekeepers, with a role in saying ‘no’ to people. The human response to that is, unsurprisingly, negative. We become defined by it unless we know how to shape our own brand.
In 2022, the Board and I are exploring ways to increase public trust in the profession over time. Circling back, then, to the theme of this piece: we can best do this in a world of crisis, by defining opportunity for ourselves, but always in the public interest. Our issues are the public’s issues: indigenous involvement in planning where and how we live; climate change and resilience; better housing now; public wellbeing.
In these areas lie the opportunity for leadership, demonstrating the benefit of long-term (not short term) thinking, providing information that’s researched and sound, validating what we know that builds healthy societies from the ground up, and bringing the public along with us.
Let’s tune our voices and be heard on the prospects we see, not the crises that currently challenge us.
Nga Mihi
David Curtis
NZPI CEO
