First forum brings out the passion
When singer/songwriter and community activist Leah Cotterell stepped up to the microphone at the first Shape Your City Heart forum on Saturday, she said she was surprised to hear that all four people who had spoken before her spoke with “one voice on how to make our city work for our kids and our future”.
There were many points that most of the speakers — who included Kim Wilkins, Matthew Condon, Malcolm Snow, Kathleen Noonan and Leah Cotterell — agreed on:
- GOMA is a wonderful addition to the Brisbane cultural scene.
- South Bank is a great space for families to come together.
- We need more trees in Brisbane’s inner city.
- King George Square could be better used as a public space.
- Plans for developing suburbs like West End with higher-density living need to be approached very cautiously so we don’t lose a very special community and place in Brisbane.
One thing that all speakers shared unequivocally was a love for Brisbane, for its river, for its weather, for its more relaxed pace of life that bigger cities. However, there were cautions that if we do not create more spaces for reflection, for gathering, for contemplation, Brisbane may become just as rude and busy as many other cities.
Some ideas and comments from each of our speakers:
Kim Wilkins — Kim said art (by which she meant all forms of art, not just visual arts) should be more accessible for people who did not live near the inner city, reaching out to people from different demographics and social groups … “not to overfish the pool, but to increase the pool you’re fishing from”. She suggested subsidised transport (or built into ticket prices) for performances. She said art should be brought to people geographically, like having interactive art at train and bus stations or a wall for punters at Suncorp stadium to write poetry on.
Matthew Condon — Matt said a kind of “generational non-caring” existed in Brisbane and that people have been very subservient to authority. He urged citizens to demand what they want to see changed in their city and to speak up. Matt spoke about how Brisbane had a heart but has perhaps lost it. He used the example of the redesigned King George Square as an example. “It’s a thoroughfare … 26 seats and only 3 and a half in the shade … it says ‘don’t sit here, don’t reflect here, don’t engage’. People need to be given an opportunity to interact.” Matt spoke of his love for South Bank as Brisbane’s “giant back yard”. His ideas for better shaping Brisbane were:
- to permanently close off a block including parts of Queen Street, Adelaide Street and Charlotte Street to see City Hall and King George Square “sucked” into Qeen Street Mall, have this just for pedestrians, and have a Notting Hill-style carnival.
- make the Botanic Gardens in the city Australia’s first civic space for children.
CEO of South Bank Corporation Malcolm Snow cautioned against Brisbane developing in tune with a “growth is good” mantra. Malcolm said it was inevitable the inner city would be home, leisure centre and workplace to many more people in closer proximity. However he said it was possible to make the city a place that reinforced Brisbane’s unique physical features, such as its windy river. Malcolm said high density didn’t necessarily mean high-rise, citing the example of Barcelona — among the densist of the world’s cities, which doesn’t go above six stories. Malcolm supported Kim Wilkins’ idea of art coming to people, recalling a trip where he had seen an orchestra in an airport. He reminded people that, within the city, more than 65% of the space is part of the public realm. “This is not simply the responsibility of government and developers: we must ask if we are doing enough to ensure the future.”
As reflected in her blog previously published on this site, Kathleen Noonan lamented Brisbane’s lack of trees and criticised the way the city has been built, too hot in summer, and too windy and cold in winter. “Landscape and climate have done so much for Brisbane and we have not reciprocated,” she said. She said Brisbane was too ’shiny’ and shiny was not good for the soul. Kathleen is a runner who regularly traverses the edges of the city, interacting with the place and people. She wishes Brisbane’s bike lanes would lead somewhere instead of evaporating into traffic. She said she was mourning the loss of Yungaba, under the Story Bridge, which is to be turned into a “parkland destination” — warning that anything that is promoted as “world-class public space” shoudl be treated with suspicion. Kathleen reminded the audience that people are not powerless to be heard, citing the public’s opposition to North Bank as an example of how the government will often listen to the community’s voice.
Leah Cotterell recalled ‘fleeing’ from her childhood in Upper Mount Gravatt to the inner-city area, recalling how things had changed in the area since the ’70s. Leah expressed concern that any efforts would be made to ’shape’ the city: “It’s only when I look back that I can see how the city was shaped”. Leah likened planning of the inner city to planning a party: either use the approach of the “straight-haired hostess keen to show off all her European applicances, or text 200 of your friends, pull up the rugs and buy some ice”, she said. A West End resident, Leah expressed concerns about the plans for higher density development in the area, fearing how the arrival of “25,000 cashed up homogenous people” would impact on the community. Leah said Brisbane’s festivals and event organisers often preferred ’safe bets’ and international artists to local talent. She said we needed to
“stop banging on about excellence and international best practice … empower artists and the cream will rise to the surface”.
MC Kelly Higgins-Devine from ABC local radio summed up the whole point of the day in agreeing with Kathleen Noonan that people’s voices were heard by government and business. Kathleen suggested people writer letters to the editor and Kelly urged people to also use radio talk back and websites to have their say:
Remember, your silence is consent.
