on common interests
The topic in focus for Living Cities Forum 2024 is ‘Common Interests’, and we’ve invited our Program Director Andrew Mackenzie to share his take on this year’s theme.
Andrew Mackenzie has spent over 30 years exploring architecture and the city, as a writer, editor, publisher, consultant and speaker. His consultancy CityLab advises a wide range of clients across Australia on why design is their friend. He is also co-director of Melbourne-based Uro Publications, with partner Mat Ward. In 2021 was awarded the Australian Institute of Architecture National President's Prize and is an Honorary Fellow of the AIA.
What should first-timers expect at Living Cities Forum 2024?
Living Cities Forum Melbourne, photo by Casey Horsfield.
A day of compelling discussions, diverse perspectives and shared experiences about public space: what it means, how it's used and what needs to change.
Who shouldn’t miss Living Cities Forum 2024?
Anyone whose work impacts the physical, spatial, material and social fabric of our cities. The forum is, however, accessible and engaging for a wide spectrum of people. So regardless of what work you do, the Forum can offer fresh insights and perspectives on the city, for anyone interested in the place that you live.
How does the provocation of Common Interests resonate with you and your work?
I advise clients on future architectural and urban design projects. Often those projects impact open public space, and sometimes those projects are framed by redundant or outmoded thinking. We need to sharpen our thinking to respond to changing needs, opportunities and challenges. This might mean understanding climate impacts more, or how technology will impact public space, or indeed making public space safer for diverse communities. These ideas directly impact my work, helping clients to interrogate what the public domain is, and what it can be.
What are some of your favourite places in Melbourne and Sydney that strike the balance of common interests in public space?
Bondi Icebergs, photo by Nate Johnston on Unsplash
I enjoy public spaces that are lose fit, active and effortlessly democratic. Vic Markets does just that. It welcomes all, balancing the dynamism of a thriving market, a diversity of buskers and street artists, and any number of slightly unregulated activities! A good city is a tolerant city. In Sydney the simple but hard-won pedestrianisation of George Street in the city has been transformative. But I'm not sure common interests are better served anywhere more so than at the ocean pools that dot the NSW coast. For this, Bondi Icebergs is iconic. The ocean's raw force, the just-enough control to be safe and the simple, tolerant sociability of it all. More structured and urban, Neeson Murcutt Architects and Sue Barnsley Design did a fantastic job breathing new life into the Prince Alfred Park in 2013. As public as Bondi, yet located 2 minutes from Central. It does a remarkable job of balancing recreation, urban constraints and natural systems.
What do you think is the most unmet need in our urban environments?
Designing with Country. For centuries our city-making has trashed indigenous natural systems. We now need to work ten times harder to repair that damage. To do that we need to listen to those whose families, communities and kin have cared for this land for millennia. This is not only a moral and social imperative, but it aligns completely with contemporary science-based advocacy for greater biodiversity and ecological health.
What are some key factors impacting common interests today that were absent from discussions 5 years ago?
Adapting to climate was being talked about five years ago, but in an academic, when-we-get-to-it kind of way. It is now almost the only game in town. Connected to this, greater density is critical. Density was a grumbling conversation piece five years ago. It is now an urgent, critical demand. We know sustainable growths means greater density, which in turn requires greater amenity. That's the deal. People will live in apartments if their brilliant local park compensates for not having a garden. Finally, technology. It's moving fast, and it's tearing up all the rule books on what public and private means: digitally, socially and spatially. Technology can be a force for positive change, but it could also turn public space into a feasting ground for big tech, and all that goes with it, if left unchecked.
What are you most looking forward to for Living Cities Forum 2024: Common Interests?
The moment of sitting down with everyone else at the start of the day as the first speaker walks to the podium. That feeling of being surrounded with good people, that we are all in this together, and we can work it out. LCF has always nurtured optimism.