Howard Maclean
@howardfmaclean.bsky.social
Convenor of @greatercanberra.org.au- Lawyer, general purpose nerd. Building better cities requires actually building. Views my own.
That is to say, RL617 Delenda Est
October 23, 2025 at 7:14 AM
That is to say, RL617 Delenda Est
Some day, our city needs to face up to the fact that we have a CBD with a height limit of about 50 metres, and this has and will continue to have ongoing significant environmental, economic and housing costs, pushign a lot of activity out to the Canberra's outer town centres.
October 23, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Some day, our city needs to face up to the fact that we have a CBD with a height limit of about 50 metres, and this has and will continue to have ongoing significant environmental, economic and housing costs, pushign a lot of activity out to the Canberra's outer town centres.
In Canberra we are more exposed to this bargain than most, because Quenbeyan is closer to the centre of Canberra than some Town Centres, but by century old bargain its Country and therefore there's no question of building an apartment tower there (nsw exurbs orbiting Canberra is a different story)
September 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
In Canberra we are more exposed to this bargain than most, because Quenbeyan is closer to the centre of Canberra than some Town Centres, but by century old bargain its Country and therefore there's no question of building an apartment tower there (nsw exurbs orbiting Canberra is a different story)
This is why every time we discuss "New Cities" the idea is always to build a brand new city completely from scratch, rather than say, building out Ballarat or Wagga Wagga. Because a New City doesn't break the contract, but population growth in an existing town does.
September 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
This is why every time we discuss "New Cities" the idea is always to build a brand new city completely from scratch, rather than say, building out Ballarat or Wagga Wagga. Because a New City doesn't break the contract, but population growth in an existing town does.
And you can hear this whenever the discussion of regional population growth comes up - the view that people live in the Country to escape the City and that should be respected is dominant (especially given that every high demand part of the Country is dominated by tree/sea changers).
September 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
And you can hear this whenever the discussion of regional population growth comes up - the view that people live in the Country to escape the City and that should be respected is dominant (especially given that every high demand part of the Country is dominated by tree/sea changers).
More broadly there's an unofficial social contract in pretty much every Australian state bar Queensland that the state is divided between the City (the state capital) and the Country - and that the City will grow and experience visible change and the Country will not.
September 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
More broadly there's an unofficial social contract in pretty much every Australian state bar Queensland that the state is divided between the City (the state capital) and the Country - and that the City will grow and experience visible change and the Country will not.
Like it's insane. We live on a continent where one of the defining features is that for most of the year, the sun will burn you where you stand if you are outside without protection, and instead our planning systems are acting like we live in Norway. For Australia, shade is good!
August 5, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Like it's insane. We live on a continent where one of the defining features is that for most of the year, the sun will burn you where you stand if you are outside without protection, and instead our planning systems are acting like we live in Norway. For Australia, shade is good!
Sydney built the political coalition for the most ambitious public transport project in the Anglosphere - not off free public transport, but on public transport so good that everyone would take it. And it worked.
July 9, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Sydney built the political coalition for the most ambitious public transport project in the Anglosphere - not off free public transport, but on public transport so good that everyone would take it. And it worked.
Having automated trains going 100kmph every four minutes, turning crossing the Harbour into a *three minute* journey from Victoria Cross to Barangaroo is a big part of this, but NSW also made the stations utterly gorgeous, cathedrals of public infrastructure that are a joy to travel through.
July 9, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Having automated trains going 100kmph every four minutes, turning crossing the Harbour into a *three minute* journey from Victoria Cross to Barangaroo is a big part of this, but NSW also made the stations utterly gorgeous, cathedrals of public infrastructure that are a joy to travel through.