I am currently undertaking independent research into the skills, competencies, and cultural literacy that urban planning and design professionals require to “Plan Culturally” in an increasingly diverse world. Over the thirty years of my professional practice as a cultural planning consultant to state and local governments and private sector developers across Australia, I have observed that cultural considerations are typically a low priority in both public and private urban planning projects. Most of the “cultural planning” policy and strategies in Australia have focused on the delivery of cultural services or programs for the arts or cultural activities such as festivals or public art. As a result, in my experience, many urban planning decisions are made with limited awareness of the impacts they will or may have on a community’s cultural life.  

 

My current research focuses on the notion of “planning culturally”, where built environment professionals have the awareness and competencies to address the cultural needs of their communities and potential impacts of planning and design decisions.  This awareness can support decisions that allow for diverse approaches to provide housing stock, retail environments and public space to meet the needs of a culturally diverse community.  I would also suggest that in Australia, many of our cities have developed an international rather than a local feel and moved beyond the traditional urban planning and design typographies that were greatly informed by the local cultural frames of reference, that it is a people’s way of life, patterns of behaviour, their institutions and artefacts that should have an important influence on the look and feel of their local built environment, especially in relation to our increasingly multi-cultural populations and deep Aboriginal heritage. This research and writing will build on the thinking established in my book More than Just a Bridge: planning and designing culturally and inform a planned series of articles and potentially a new book/toolkit and a resource website for planning and design professionals.

(see: www.planning-culturally.com)

 

RESEARCH REPORTS

Research Report 1: a cultural review of Australian Local Government planning policy documents

During my research of academic papers relating to the issue of local government acknowledgement of cultural issues in policy documents, I found a 2001 paper by Kevin Dunn, et al, which documented the findings an Australia-wide survey they undertook to review how Australian Councils were addressing the needs of culturally diverse communities in their strategic documents. In all, 666 Councils responded to their surveys and indicated varying levels of commitment to local policies addressing multiculturalism.​ The responses ranged from those, often regional Councils, that considered the issue of limited importance to those inner-metropolitan Councils with significantly diverse populations who had specific Multicultural Strategies or included strategies regarding the ‘celebratory role in facilitating festivals and exhibitions of diverse cultural activities; and a regulatory role in addressing racism and other local tensions’ (Dunn, K. et al. 2001. p2486). ​

 

By way of following up on Dunn et al, 20 years later, I have completed a review of all Australian capital city Community Strategic Plans (CSP) and a review of ten (10) local government CSP and Planning Schemes (PS) in metropolitan Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.  In each state the ten councils were selected as having the highest proportion of their population born overseas. The findings showed that while there were references to the need to engage with people from diverse backgrounds in communication processes at the local level, perhaps the most disappointing finding in the context of ‘Planning Culturally’ was the lack of evidence that planning decisions are influenced by cultural considerations and or informed by cultural awareness of the community’s diversity.  Therefore, the research suggests that there is a need both greatly expand planning education to build the skills and competencies for a higher level of what is referenced as, “Cultural Literacy” and to work with the states and local governments to ensure that their planning documents provide the environment where city makers can plan culturally for the benefit of all Australians.

 

Go To Download page for PDF of Research Report 1:​Reference DUNN, K. et al (2001) Multicultural Policy within Local Government in Australia, Urban Studies, Vol. 38, No. 13​

 

Research Report 2: Cultural Competence & Urban Planning.

This report aims to build on the theoretical base regarding Planning Culturally and identify the specific skills and competencies required for what I have referred to as Cultural Literacy.  This involves developing an awareness of one’s own cultural frames of reference and the values that every planner brings to their professional practice.  This report includes a review and evaluation of potential models and / or toolkits of skill sets that urban planners could draw upon to engage in a meaningful way with a diversity of values, behaviours and lived experiences found in Australian communities. ​Fields other than urban planning, study such as health, education and business are also addressing the cross-cultural communication issues under terms such as Cultural Awareness, Cultural Intelligence, Cultural Competency and Cultural Sensitivity.  Cultural sensitivity is the term primarily found in references to the health sector and the need to address the delivery of culturally ‘sensitive’ health services in intercultural communities. Therefore, this report summarises my investigations and analysis of these approaches and a range of related models used to gain competencies across a range of sectors.  The goal is to identify any transferable concepts and tools that would contribute to building Cultural Literacy competencies that could be applied to ‘planning and designing culturally’.​

 

Go To Download page for PDF of Research Report 2 ​

 

Research Report 3: Cultural Impact Assessment for Urban Planners & Designers.

The research was based on the assumption that every urban development intervention in the built environment will have an impact on the community’s cultural life and we must also acknowledge that here in Australia with our First Nations culture and increasingly culturally diverse population every decision and intervention in the urban fabric of our cities will potentially have an impact on multiple communities of interest. These differences influence the way that people view the world around them and therefore perceive potential impacts. The potential impacts, both positive and negative, may be small incremental effects or major life changing effects. Therefore, it is critical that the planning and design teams involved in urban development projects undertake some form of impact assessment both during the project inception stage and during the various planning and designing stages to ascertain potential impacts. The research explored a range of Impact Assessment Models and outlines a three-level approach to Cultural Impact Assessment Toolkit.

 

Key Research Findings

While this desk-based research does not claim to be a comprehensive analysis of the literature and proposals relating to impact assessment theory and practice, it aims to provide an insight into the current thinking and application of impact models in Australia and overseas. The research included a literature review of both academic and industry sector writing on the subject of impact assessment approaches and existing models. The research would suggest that There is a range of well-established impact assessment models applied internationally. These models include the existing Environmental, Economic, and Social Impact Assessment models promoted by the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA). Until recently the cultural dimension had not widely been factored into the assessment process other than some references in Social Impact Assessment (SIA) models. There is a perceived need for a greater emphasis on applying cultural impact assessments during the planning of urban development projects alongside rigorous SIA and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes, especially in relation to the issues and changes effecting First Nations communities. In addition to comprehensive CIA processes there is a perceived need for an impact assessment tool that could be applied by individual planners and designers in both the early scoping phase of a project and then again for reviewing the draft plans and designs. This might be a Cultural Impact Evaluation (CIE) tool, an option for a practical model suitable for urban practitioners to undertake on smaller scale projects that cannot justify the time and cost of a full CIA.​

 

Go To Download page for PDF of Research Report 3​​