Success of city activity centres depends on behaviour change

Ambitions to reshape Shepparton’s activity centres with awareness of social, economic and environmental matters should be applauded, but success hinges on our willingness to change our behaviours.

Ideas that prevailed and worked in the 20^th Century are not appropriate as conditions that once ensured their success no longer exist.

Growth is a slippery term and takes its meaning from the prism through which it is viewed and it can either be based on capitalist/consumerist ideology or the enhancement of qualities and activities that underpin a resilient community equal to the unfolding rigours of the coming decades.

The City of Greater Shepparton has used professional help to draw up plan for its “Commercial Activity Centres Strategy” and now it wants people who live here to comment about what is proposed.

Courage and bravery are not words commonly associated with planning ideas or proposals, but both must be evident just to pick up this blizzard of words and then to contemplate reading it.

I fear that as with many similar reports, it will quickly find its way to the bottom drawer and not only physically disappear, but quickly drop off councillors’ consciousness.

What is happening here is a microcosm of matters bigger than us and to re-shape Shepparton without acknowledging what the wider-world is wrestling with signifies sclerotic thinking; thinking unable to accept such things as climate change.

The former Australian of the Year, chair of the Federal Government disbanded Climate Commission, scientist, and author, Tim Flannery said recently when launching his new book, “Atmosphere of Hope” that the world will surpass the two degree guardrail nations have agreed to.

The two degree guardrail above pre-industrial temperatures was considered humanity’s only hope of protecting the “Goldilocks-like” conditions in which we have prospered, but that will soon be a memory as at less than just one degree increase, earth’s disturbed climate has brought an end to understandable seasonal conditions.

And so as we plan and shape the Shepparton of tomorrow it would be irresponsible to pretend our climate wasn’t changing, that we are going to replicate the energy-rich wonders of the 20^th Century or that the ancient soils of the Goulburn Valley are going to continue their bountiful production.

Figures in the wordy and daunting Essential Economics report can be unsettling, but become even more fearful if interpreted and applied without acknowledgement of those realities Flannery and other like him say will be integral to our lives within a decade or so.

So rather than allowing geographical sprawl of the city accentuating ever-expanding infrastructure, we should be planning for and building a city with increased density that makes walking and cycling not only possible but preferable, the emphasis should be on public transit, and an activity centre, wherever it is, should be as self-reliant as possible.

Election year full of challenges - for us!

This election year is loaded with challenges.



Lincoln at
Gettysburg.

Simply enduring it will be the first as our senses will be endlessly assaulted by those eager to convince us they have the answer; second, will be the challenge of separating fact from fiction; third, are the protagonists truly altruistic or is it simply the rude pursuit of power?; and, fourth and within all that, do they really have any idea of what it is they are talking about?

Most politicians, from those of Local Government through to the dizzy heights of the federal stage, descend from their respective platforms loaded with personal baggage that clouds perspectives and their appeal to the populist view cloaks individual agendas

Having encountered politicians of all stripes, it seems they are “trained” in giving convincing and wordy answers that appear to relate to the question, but in reality, mostly have nothing to do with it.

Most electors accord our politicians the respect their position warrants and it seems that in response those same politicians should respect those who may or may not vote for them.

It appears, interestingly, that they do, but therein lies the strange disconnect between reality and democracy, or what President Abraham Lincoln described at Gettysburg in 1863 midway through the American civil war as the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

The rhetoric of that articulate president lives with many today, but few have the intellectual or leadership capacities to live up to that ideal.

Some people argue at length that the idea of government is contrary to the process that is to the broad betterment of the people, suggesting that government, loaded down by its bureaucratic processes, frustrate and frequently deny the ambitions of many.

That, it seems, is an extreme anarchical or libertarian view; doctrines that depend on the altruism of all, a personality trait missing from most, even many of our present political players.

Acknowledging the differences and intrigues of human nature it appears we do need a government, but not one many would argue that has a controlling impact over our daily affairs.

All that seems fine until something, whether man-made or natural, gets out of step and then there is an instant cry for help –“Why weren’t we told?” “Who’s responsible?” “When does the clean-up start?” “Who’s in charge?” “Where’s the discipline?”

All these matters, at their heart, are about community and altruism, and, no matter how loose, some form of administration, government by another name, is needed.

A recent meeting in Shepparton discussed the effectiveness of our present three layers of government - local, state and federal - and there appeared consensus about abolition of the states, leaving a Federal Government backed by regional bodies.