Instigating Change with Common Ground

By John Southern

This article was originally published on Archinect and has been re-published with the consent of its author.

In the age where cultural production has usurped industrial production as the driver for Western economies, the Venice Architecture Biennale represents a special kind of affair. This three month-long bonanza of architecture and urban design represents a collection of diverse principles produced under a unified curatorial umbrella. Despite the trash-talk that has proliferated in certain circles since the opening of the event in late August, this year’s Biennale doesn’t have much to be cynical, negative, or nasty about.

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Archinect Op-Ed: The Public Image(s) of Architecture Nov 08, 2008

A timely discussion of architecture and politics appeared in this week's Archinect e-newsletter (although around these parts we've been thinking for a while it's about time the two got together!). It's an interesting question...just how politically involved can (or should) architects get? Other non-profit orgs for architects seem to try to keep the two issues separate; often citing the need to avoid political involvement in order to be able to carry out much-needed development or reconstruction work in countries with difficult political situations.

Conversely, since launching the arch-peace probono service in 2006, we regularly encounter projects that require an architect to act as an agent for change: petitioning for a needed project or actively supporting community groups involved in contentious issues (most recently with the Student Housing Action Collective's occupation of a vacant building in Faraday St, Carlton).

Archinect Op-Ed: The Public Image(s) of Architecture Nov 08, 2008

by o d b

"Architecture and politics have a long and sordid relationship. It has been said that all architecture is political. Typically architecture serves a subservient role in this relationship by merely representing the politics of the building’s patron—what Deyan Sudjic has described as the Edifice Complex. Nevertheless, at times throughout history architects themselves take on a political agenda and use their projects as rhetorical devices for the elucidation of these views."

Read the whole article here

The Commercial World And The Professional

The following piece was written by Prof Hans Haenlein (member of arch-peace), for RIBA Journal. We have been granted permission to re-publish.

The Commercial World And The Professional
RIBA Journal, September 2007


find this article: Hans Haenlein Architects

Australian institute outpost offers different slant on planning practice

The global market increasingly requires planners to share skills and experience to improve practice around the world and the Planning Institute of Australia's UK branch is fully involved in this, explains Javiera Maturana.

The UK branch of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) was set up in June last year to support the many Australian planners who are plugging the skills gap and contributing to the profession in this country. Through its events, it shares information on trans- ferrable experiences and practices that help assess the performance of both the Australian and UK planning systems against an international standard.

Policies that experiment with creative solutions can contribute to improving practice. Planners with wide-ranging experience have the benefit of understanding inter- national benchmarks and the PIA UK branch is in a unique position to promote different solutions to similar problems.
Not all planning solutions are transferable from one region to another, however, and critical reflection is key. In Australia, the PIA has taken the proactive step of assessing the performance of states against 12 critical factors said to be necessary for the health and well-being of cities and regions.

Its "report card" demonstrates which areas of planning have proved successful and which require improvement. Regrettably, climate change and transport rated poorly in this year's assessment, but it is hoped that the recent change of government will provide the spur to tackle these areas.

On a positive note, the report card showed that public participation and streamlining development assessment were areas that rated highly. Australia's zoning system could be a key difference, resulting in less complexity and much slower change compared with the UK's plan-led system. As a result, the Australian system is often more accessible and understandable to non-professionals. Planning in the UK has experienced major reform after major reform, fundamentally changing policy-making.

This is not to say that a complex planning system is justifiable in some respects. Planners need to be visionary, particularly with regard to social and environmental progress, while working within complex commercial parameters. It is, however, important to reflect and assess the success or otherwise of the existing policies before they are replaced on the ever-changing planning agenda.

Many Australian companies have started working in the UK over the past 15 years including Westfield, Lend Lease and Multiplex. Westfield and Multiplex are working together on one of London's largest retail developments at White City, which is set to radically change London's shopping patterns. Lend Lease owns the Bluewater shopping centre.

The challenges faced by the UK market were the focus of a recent PIA and New Zealand Planning Institute branch event at which Westfield Shoppingtowns director of development John Burton spoke. These developers' growing involvement in some of the UK's largest projects is likely to increase their influence in the planning system. The use of compulsory purchase powers in the UK is key to enabling development. Public acquisition powers in Australia are rarely exercised.

In planning terms, developers operate under a fairly relaxed retail policy system in Australia. But understanding global practices and outcomes has never been more important when the UK government, as a result of last year's Barker review, is moving to balance the economy with the objectives of planning, including removing the retail needs test.

The ever-growing global market demands an acute awareness from planning professionals to appraise the outcomes of policies, because global industries will certainly scrutinise the UK's performance on an international stage.

PIA UK's events promote sharing of planning practice that helps members critically assess their performance and that of others in shaping their response to social and environmental matters and its delivery of a prosperous economy. The branch will continue to invite speakers from key sectors of the industry to contribute to discussion that can better inform the planning profession.

Javiera Maturana is chair of the PIA UK branch, senior planner at Scott Brownrigg and a member of Architects for Peace. For more information, please email jmaturana@hotmail.co.uk or visit http://www.planning.org.au/.

This article was originally published in PlanningResource (Dec 7, 2007)

Architecture / development / visiting MUST

A visit to the Mongolian University of Science and Technology has been on my agenda since my departure to UB, and yesterday I met with Purev-Erdene Ershuu, and architect and lecturer at the Centre for Architectural Research and Design at this university. The meeting had taken several weeks to organise, with much help from Munkhzhul Choiljiljav, former London Metropolitan University architecture student and AA school applicant. With both Munkhzhul and my CTC interpreter Ariunaa in my entourage, Purev outlined the Mongolian architectural education scene in fluent English. The largest of four construction education institutions in Ulaanbaatar, MUST's architecture school has a population of about four hundred students, having increased threefold since 1995. There are two graduating cohorts each year, about twenty in total, and an intake of about one hundred. Purev says a high attrition rate is necessary to maintain a high standard.

With the currently buoyant construction industry producing high demand, almost all graduates apparently find work in Mongolia. The curriculum is understandably influenced by the history of collaboration with Russian universities. Russian language is still a compulsory subject, and the language of many textbooks. However Purev claims the curriculum structure is largely based on the German system, because of the strong links there. The studio master system has been replaced, however, by team teaching, in order to cope with the staff student ratio for 14 full time staff like Purev. Russian 'didactic' teaching methods are criticised but still present, and the university sees design workshops as seminars rather than as a separate delivery method western universities call 'studio'. There is interest in English-language architecture and culture. International links include Korean (KOICA) and Japanese (JAICA) volunteers and exchanges in the school, a Romanian exchange project, and a link with Vienna University of Technology. I was aware of the latter through my contact with Prof Erich Lehner, at the Department of 'Extra-European architecture' (Ausser-europaeischer Baukunst), who, with Viennese students, has been partner in an ongoing project in a ger district.

A member of the eleven-strong steering committee of the Mongolian Association of Architects (Mong. Arkh. Kholboo), Purev expressed frustration that as there is no protection or promotion of title here, and that the association is 'symbolic' and 'dormant'. Similarly, architecture-allied careers like drafter, technologist, historian and built environment educator are not professionalised. It was a very useful meeting and my collegue Ariunaa claimed that finding a kindred spirit had made me happier than she had ever seen me. My hopes for learning more about the advisory role of the Mongolian Association of Architects or MUST in continuing professional development and curriculum development are, for the moment, however, dashed...

http://nomadologist-nomadology.blogspot.com

arch-peace member takes PIA to London

London Planning People

Richard Lemon talks to Javiera Maturana, the chairperson of the newly formed UK Branch of the Planning Institute of Australia

With the ever growing number of Australian planners working in London, it comes as no surprise that the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), the equivalent of the RTPI in Australia, has launched a UK Branch. Javiera Maturana, a planner at consultancy Scott Brownrigg, is one of the leading figures in the new branch.

Born in Chile, Maturana moved to Australia aged five, and was inspired by her parents to pursue a career in planning: her mother is an urban designer and architect and her father a public artist. A planning course at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology followed, and by 2004 she had worked as a planner for both the City of Yarra and the Shire of Mitchell. Her move to the UK came in 2004 when she took up a position as a retail planner with Savills in Manchester, before a move south to join Scott Brownrigg in London.

Javiera Maturana, chair of the UK Branch
of the Planning Institute of Australia

‘There are over 250 PIA members working

outside Australia, and over 50 of these are in the UK,’ Maturana says. Australian planners are helping to address the shortage of planners in London, and can take home valuable experience when they return to Australia. But there are particular issues facing Australian planners in the UK, so it made sense to set up a UK Branch.’

PIA UK was launched in June 2006 at a reception at Australia House, with presentations from both Sue Holliday, the President of PIA, and Rynd Smith, the RTPI’s Head of Policy and Practice. Since then it has been working to support its members. ‘PIA UK provides Australian planners with information which is particularly relevant to them,’ Maturana says. ‘For instance, we held an event with [advisers to highly skilled migrants] 1st Contact in late 2006, providing guidance on issues like sponsored visas. PIA UK is also a way for Australian planners to share their experiences of working in planning in Britain, and an opportunity for them to network and socialise.’

There’s no doubt that making the transition from the Australian planning system to planning in the UK is far from easy. ‘We have a zoning system in Australia,’ Maturana explains. ‘And it can be difficult to get out of this mindset. But working in a plan-led system has quite a few benefits. It improves [Australian planners’] understanding of planning in its widest sense. Particularly for young planners starting their careers in development control, planning can get too technical and procedural, and working in different systems can challenge our ideas about development.’

Despite being busy with her work at Scott Brownrigg and leading PIA UK, Maturana still finds time to act as membership secretary for Architects for Peace. ‘Architects for Peace is a forum for architects, urban designers, and other built environment professionals,’ she says. ‘It seeks urban development based on social justice, solidarity, respect and peace, and provides pro-bono services to try to achieve this. Most of its work is in the Asia-Pacific, but membership secretary is a role I can perform from the UK.’ She also worked as part of the design team for Architecture for Humanity UK’s ‘Crisis Open Christmas’ project, which provided accommodation and services for homeless people over the Christmas week.

Under Maturana’s leadership PIA UK looks set to go from strength to strength. ‘We want to provide a forum for sharing our professional experiences and provide practical support on issues such as visas and membership to the RTPI, whilst ensuring that Australian planners keep abreast of planning issues in Australia through their continued membership,’ says Maturana. ‘We’re also looking forward to discussing opportunities for joint working with RTPI London.’

CAREER DETAILS
Age: 24
Education: BASc (Planning), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; currently studying RTPI conversion course at Leeds Metropolitan University
Career: 2002-03, City of Yarra; 2003-04, Shire of Mitchell; 2004-05, Savills; 2005- present, Scott Brownrigg
Other roles: Member, Architecture for Humanity; Membership Secretary, Architects for Peace
Interests: Travelling throughout Europe; Latin dancing; sewing

This article first appeared in the March 2007 edition of RTPI London’s journal ‘London Calling’ and is reproduced with permission. For more information on RTPI London visit www.rtpi.org.uk/rtpi_london

Why pro-bono?

Why pro-bono?

Since the start of Architects for Peace, we have discussed the idea of providing pro-bono services, at home and overseas. We have had sporadic attempts to it and we see the need to structure and consolidate it into a proper service, which can be accessible to non-for profit organisations and community groups.

The reasons for providing these services are many and include:

• The perceived and real social divide in the use of architectural services
• The perceived notion that architecture is dispensable and deals only with aesthetics
• The public's general unawareness of the impact of architecture, urban design and planning in the way we use and live in our cities
• The reality that urban professional disciplines are responsible for up to 75% of greenhouse gases emissions
• The need of our arch-peace professionals to assist in the creation of more democratic, fair and better cities for all, wherever we are based
• The fact that in Australia, we lag behind other professions who see the value of offering their professional services to those who cannot otherwise afford them.
• The need to realise that these services would provide mutual benefits and that as part of the society we live in, we all suffer or rejoice from urban wellbeing

The pro-bono services will provide options to those who could not otherwise afford them. At the same time, this process will facilitate the promotion of architecture and planning and its discussion in relation to its impact on people, their health and their city. We hope that these services can promote education, participation and assist in finding solutions to our damaged environment.

Arch-peace is now discussing this initiative and the question is how to make it possible. The how may be a difficult one to resolve - but not impossible, given that the objective, we know, is worthwhile.

We would like to invite you to tell us what you think. Your input will help us to address the issues and potential of this initiative: is this important to you? How do you think it could be arranged? Do you know of potential pro-bono clients? Would your firm be interested in providing this service?

(Beatriz C. Maturana)







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