Canberrans are invited to attend the public lecture at 5.30pm on March 25th 2013 in the Ballroom of the National Convention Centre Canberra. The lecture will include a 30 minute Q&A session and is part of the Canberra Centenary Big Issues Big Talks program.
The theme for the lecture is Canberra: An International Perspective.
New insights into Canberra’s planning history and course corrections to the way we design and build communities will be covered at a free public lecture during the planning profession’s annual National Congress.
The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) will host the event at the National Convention Centre Canberra on March 25th giving Canberrans an opportunity to gain insights into the true value of planning. The public will join planners, Congress delegates and other built environment professionals to hear from two exceptional speakers.
“Learning more about the value of a well-planned city is a great way for people to celebrate Canberra’s Centenary,” PIA National President Dyan Currie said.
The speakers are the Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, Mr Hank Dittmar, and acting director of the Master of Urban Development and Design Course in the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, Professor Dr. Karl F. Fischer.
Hank will discuss why planning and urban design matters to people – how getting it right can improve the quality of people’s lives. He will also propose some key course corrections that are needed in the way we plan, design and build our communities.
Professor Fischer will deliver a paper that makes the surprising observation that among the many city-wide boulevard schemes conceived around a hundred years ago, only the one designed for Canberra was actually implemented to a significant extent.
“I will be making comparative observations between Canberra and some of the world’s better planned cities,” Professor Fischer said. “We’ll look at the planning principles implemented here that make Canberra so great”