Page 1744 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 May 2005
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Real-time information will be in the city centre. You will be able to go to a bus stop in the city centre and you will know how long the bus is going to be, how long you have to wait, how long it is going to take to get there—all that information in a real-time digital display. That is something that other cities have which helps makes them competitive and attractive, it helps with transport in the city and it helps with the overall picture of the city.
The concept plan for City Hill released by the ACT Planning and Land Authority is yet another initiative of the Canberra central program, focusing on that part of the city that remains one of the unfinished elements of the Griffin plan and one that needs to be addressed in the wider context of an urban design framework for the central city area. The release of the Canberra plan, the spatial plan and the establishment of the Canberra central program by the government created the opportunity to establish a framework for the enhancement of the City Hill precinct as part of the government’s commitment to the revitalisation of the city centre.
The conceptual framework put forward by the ACT Planning and Land Authority recognises the value of the Australian government’s Griffin legacy project. Griffin’s vision for Canberra was that it “would be an ideal city, a city that expressed, in its form and in the vigour of its community, the values of a strong, democratic nation”. That has been reflected in the Griffin legacy work released by the National Capital Authority, a joint exercise between us and the commonwealth.
As part of his planning ideal, Griffin envisaged City Hill as the apex of the national triangle that would represent the national capital’s territorial or municipal functions. The national triangle is the symbolic construct that links the city to its landscape and gives spatial definition to the values underpinning Griffin’s plan. For the government, City Hill provides a symbolic focus for the ACT community. As all members in this place acknowledge, to date it has not been realised. City Hill is isolated by car parks; supremacy has been given to the private motor vehicle.
The concept for City Hill is part of the debate towards contributing to the revitalisation of the city. It is an important project for the ACT government. We are looking forward to the creation of a place that is an important symbol of the city’s maturity, and we welcome input and comments from the whole community.
The concept plan for the future development of City Hill released by me in March was designed to initiate debate and provide a platform for the community to discuss the future of the City Hill precinct as we approach the centenary of the naming of Canberra in 2013. From the outset, the government and I, as minister, have acknowledged that the nature of this task is such that it can only be achieved through a partnership between the public and private sectors, but in doing so none of us can afford to lose sight of the significant community asset and planning legacy for which we are the custodians and which will be held accountable for.
An exercise such as this is not realised in a short time and is not confined solely to the planning and design concepts, in all their manifestations, which we collectively arrive at. It is also critical to understand the capacity of the market to absorb the scale of any development contemplated and its potential effects on other centres of activity within the
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