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COUNCIL FOCUS
FUTURE CITIES
PROGRAM 2014:
INSPIRING FUTURE
CITY LEADERS
The Future Cities Program has launched for 2014, and is once again engaging
interested New South Wales councils in the process of rejuvenating and
revitalising their city and town centres in line with international urban policy
and sustainability best practice. Professor Edward Blakely reports.
All cities, big and small, face challenges of how to sustainably,
economically and efficiently implement strategic, evidence-based,
urban policy and planning. Recognising this as a serious challenge to
city leaders, the Future Cities Program has been developed to provide
a forum where city leaders and senior staff can meet with leading
international urban design and planning experts to devise the best and
brightest future for NSW cities.
The Future Cities Program, an initiative of the Future Cities
Collaborative, at the United States Studies Centre, is based on the
internationally renowned Mayor’s Institute Forum conducted in the
United States. The Forum invites likeminded leaders to meet to discuss
the most pressing and topical issues that cities face in a cohesive and
collaborative environment, and the Future Cities Program hopes to
emulate the success and usefulness of this Forum for NSW Mayors.
The Future Cities Program hinges on bringing together mayors,
planners and, where possible, community leaders, to work with
global architecture, planning, and urban design professionals to craft
innovative solutions for design or re-design of city precincts based on
Govlink I Issue 1 2014
international best practice integrated into an Australian context. The
Program therefore is focused on encouraging and enabling sustainable
urban development in all NSW cities and aims to provide the tools and
resources to assist our cities in realising this outcome.
The Future Cities Program consists of a three-day intensive Mayor’s
Forum workshop, which focuses on strategic scenario modelling which
works toward achieving evidence-based solutions to urban development
problems. The Future Cities Program also provides participants with the
added experience of a Study Tour to the United States to see first-hand
examples of innovations in urban development problem solving. The
United States is selected as the venue because of the similarities in city
structure and similar municipal challenges, and with the US Studies
Centre at the University of Sydney supporting the program, participants
are provided unparalleled access to leading American city leaders and
urban design experts.
The range of issues cities and towns in NSW face can be diverse and
overwhelming, but based on the 2013 outcomes, the Future Cities
Program is able to find commonality between all and reach collaborative