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Continuity of Culture: Cultural Sustainability & Preservation through Development
Conference paper   Peer reviewed

Continuity of Culture: Cultural Sustainability & Preservation through Development

Hans Oerlemans and Nicholas J Stevens
Proceedings of the 2013 Planning Institute of Australia National Congress, pp.1-21
Planning Institute of Australia National Congress: Celebrate the Value of Planning: Past, Present and Future, 2013 (Canberra, Australia, 24-Mar-2013–27-Mar-2013)
Planning Institute of Australia
2013
url
http://www.planning.org.au/View
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Abstract

Urban and Regional Planning
The notion of sustainability is here to stay and permeates all aspects of planning. We are developing technological systems and solutions for optimisation, reuse and recycling. Socially we work on the resilience of our communities and deal with demographic change. But what of culture? This narrative will focus on how we can (re) establish our cities, towns and landscapes as culturally sustainable. In the 20th century we started to believe that everything old was bad. Old was dark, cramped and unhealthy. It needed to make way for highways and high-rise. Cars were the promise of a radiant future. Everybody had the right to live in spacious apartment-blocks or park-like suburbs enhanced by modern technology. Over time we have come to realise that this ideal future is not so easy to establish and comes at a high price. Cars dominate our streets, leaving no space for children to play or people to meet. The desire for new houses and city districts based on 'modern' principles of separating functions has consumed productive and pristine landscapes alike. Now as we begin to acknowledge these mistakes, we again tend to exaggerate our reaction. Planners and politicians now want to tear down all this 'old modernist stuff'. And when old is bad anyway, why bother to have new developments built for the future, when instead we can build them as cheap disposables. In the Netherlands a new approach to deal with cultural values in our spatial environment has developed over the last 20 years. This densely populated country needs to constantly retrofit its cities and landscapes to allow for growth and to meet the challenges of sustainability. This has led to significant tensions within the population. The rising voice for the appreciation of cultural values needs to be reconciled with the economical demand for renewal. The concept of 'preservation through development' has led to a whole new world of projects and different approaches to planning. Since 1998 OKRA landscape architects has been one of the main forces advocating and developing this approach. This way of thinking and approaching redevelopment will be highlighted here through the case study of the Quality Guides for National Landscapes. Additional urban development projects will also be briefly outlined to further illustrate the approach. While these examples are culturally specific, their approach to planning and policy for sustainable and efficient city landscapes is widely applicable. Preservation through development is a means by which Australian cities and suburbs can re-establish a connection to place, and become more sustainable, culturally relevant urban and regional centres.

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