Sunshine Coast Design Strategy and the importance of design in shaping the future of our towns, regions and cities

Abstract

Design plays a pivotal role in contributing to liveability. It has a powerful influence on the look and feel of a place, on its identity and helps shape the way people live, work and play. There is extensive academic and scientific research that explores the benefits of well-designed places and the impact of poor design on our lives. Good design has far reaching benefits - it improves our lives socially, environmentally and economically and builds on those benefits over time, continually adding value. But there is a fundamental question, are we appropriately designing for our future and are we considering place and context throughout the design process? Now, more than ever, there is a need to consider place, climate and resilience in the design process, to ensure the longevity and liveability of our streets, public spaces and buildings. Everyone involved in the design process, as well as those who influence or fund design, have a part to play in leaving a positive legacy and shaping the future of our suburbs, towns, cities and regions; from what individuals do in their front and back gardens to how we design our streets, roads and infrastructure. This presentation will explore the value of good design and the importance of place-based design and a tool to help everybody achieve these. This entertaining talk will touch on how street, parking and services design has made some of our cities the most unliveable in the world. It will also illustrate what great design looks like. The making of ‘Sunshine Coast Design’ - the book: Conference attendees will be given insights into the two-year journey that Sunshine Coast Council took to develop a beautiful book to inspire and encourage quality place-based design for the Sunshine Coast. The strength of the book is that it is based on what the community values and what they would like to see protected and enhanced into the future. Sunshine Coast Design is a resource to help plan and design homes, buildings, parks, public spaces, streets and neighbourhoods on the Sunshine Coast using a set of simple and accessible values and design principles. The four values and ten design principles were developed through extensive stakeholder and community engagement using workshops, pop-up stalls, surveys and over 3000 conversations. The Sunshine Coast Design book is a tool for everyone who makes decisions about design on the Sunshine Coast. We are all facing the challenges of transforming populations, economies and climate. Governments, community groups, designers and placemakers everywhere are scrambling to develop design guidelines and controls to help shape our future places. This talk presents a great example of council, stakeholders and community coming together to help protect and shape their place.