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Perth's evolution must be shaped by design

An artist's impression of the water park playground at Elizabeth Quay

Perth is changing - a different city is emerging all around us.

We have a rare opportunity to ask how we want Perth to function now and in the future. How can good architecture and design best serve our needs and desires? What will we leave for future generations when Perth overtakes Brisbane in size, as forecast later this century?

These are salient questions for all West Australians but especially for me as Government Architect.

I took up the position in 2013, a role created in 2003 to provide leadership and strategic advice to the State Government to improve the design of public buildings and spaces and enhance the quality of the built environment.

The world's habitation is now primarily urban. By about 2005 the majority of the world's population was, for the first time, reported to be living in cities. Cities are getting bigger, busier and denser. To manage the cohesive and orderly growth of cities, government leadership and financial contributions are essential, as is the entrepreneurial enterprise of business. Urbanisation, therefore, looks to the various modes of planning, to urban design and to architecture for guidance and co-ordinated development.

Cities are complex - they are, according to some urban geographers, human kind's most complicated creation. They require much of the world's human and natural resources to construct and maintain. Cities are places of creativity and innovation, they generate vast wealth and waste, and they consume a lot of energy. Given this complexity and the uncertainties, controversies and challenges stirred by their expansion, it is inevitable their development can be unsettling and contentious.

There is a utopia and there is everyday reality and the journey between them is not always clear. If, for example, we consider Perth's metropolitan area, it is obvious our increasing population is met with the extensive expansion of new mass-produced suburbs. This type of growth is proving to be expensive to service with roads, power, water, and sewerage, and challenging to furnish with schools, hospitals, police, public transport, parks and ovals.

Many claim that this form of car-dependent growth, often referred to as sprawl, is unsustainable on several counts. Yet, suburban housing is consistent with our settlement history, our family and neighbourhood values. Suburbs serve a large part of the local economy and they underpin what many consider our most appealing lifestyle.

The most apparent alternative to more suburbs is compact, multifunctional urban centres, with more people living in apartments not too far from work and having convenient access to public transport. This style of living is culturally and socially new, and somewhat challenging for Perth.

The onus is on government to lead by example, managing policies and processes that support high-quality design. If government-commissioned projects are successful and standards are high, it is reasonable to expect the private sector to reciprocate. Government projects are usually significant public investments that demand considered attention to what are typically complex conditions. In this respect, State Government projects set the standards for subsequent developments by private developers and by local government.

The Office of the Government Architect contributes by setting targets and directing change through leadership and strategic advice across a variety of projects. In reviewing completed projects, assessing their successes and failings, and refining the methods of their delivery, knowledge is accumulated. This research informs subsequent projects as well as modifications and changes to planning policies and regulations, bylaws and development guidelines. This, essentially, is how cities grow and develop their character.

Although the procurement of buildings is changing, government remains responsible for providing museums, arts and cultural buildings, public libraries, schools, hospitals, prisons, train stations, airports and harbours, facilities for police, justice and defence, government accommodation, and the occasional sports stadium, parliamentary complex or opera house. Government also delivers public housing, and there is always demand for specialist projects such as research centres, improvements to public parks, gardens and national reserves (such as the visitors' centre at Karijini National Park and the Tree Top Walk in Walpole), and access roads, tunnels and bridges.

It is among all this activity and change to our cities and towns, that we have the opportunity to deliver outstanding results, to create places that are distinctive, inspirational, safe and sustainable. Places we can enjoy, which evoke in us a sense of pride and belonging, places that can reflect our individual and collective values, and support a dignified life for all.

Given WA's unprecedented scale of urban growth coupled with significant demographic and social changes, it is imperative we do the best we can with the opportunity we have been given.

This is the first of a series of articles in coming months in which WA Government Architect Geoff Warn will discuss major State Government projects