WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:06.980 This session of the 2013 Adelaide Festival of Ideas was recorded by Radio Adelaide, 2 00:00:07.020 --> 00:00:10.500 through the support of the Bar Smith Library, University of Adelaide, 3 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:14.480 the University of South Australia Library and Flinders University Library. 4 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:17.760 Welcome to Breathing Life into Our City's Corners. 5 00:00:18.540 --> 00:00:21.940 I would like to welcome John Hanlon, who is the Deputy Chief Executive 6 00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:25.480 of the Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Local Government. 7 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:31.620 John is also the Chair of the Premier's Vibrant Cities Taskforce, 8 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:37.100 and it's their mission to make the City of Adelaide a more attractive place for all of us. 9 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.040 We're very lucky to have John here with us this afternoon. 10 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.060 He will be the Chair of the session and will guide the panel through the discussion 11 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:46.920 and also facilitate your questions at the end of the session. 12 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:52.840 I must also thank John's department, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, 13 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.460 for supporting Jeff Speck's travel to South Africa. 14 00:00:55.480 --> 00:00:55.800 And to the people of South Australia. 15 00:00:56.120 --> 00:00:58.120 Would you please welcome Mr John Hanlon. 16 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.920 Thanks, Heather, and welcome everybody to this session. 17 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:08.460 This is going to be a very interactive session. 18 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:12.000 It will be a bit of a conversation with four very interesting people 19 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.540 who I think you're going to see just how this city is changing 20 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:18.760 by the way that these people are interacting with our city. 21 00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:24.420 And so, being a festival of ideas, we're going to make it very interactive as well. 22 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:25.360 And so, we will... 23 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:26.580 We will want you at some stage. 24 00:01:26.720 --> 00:01:28.160 I will give you the key to... 25 00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:31.380 Those people want to ask questions, to come up and ask some questions 26 00:01:31.380 --> 00:01:34.840 and interact with the group of speakers up here today. 27 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:38.680 This session is about breathing life into our city corners. 28 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:41.960 And if you've been around Adelaide for a long time, 29 00:01:42.100 --> 00:01:46.080 you're probably seeing, just on the horizon now, things starting to change. 30 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:47.880 The city is changing. 31 00:01:48.020 --> 00:01:50.840 You've only got to look out there now and see what's happening, 32 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:52.920 whether it be the riverbank, whether it be our streets, 33 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:54.780 whether it be the urbanisation of our city. 34 00:01:55.580 --> 00:01:57.860 Just what is going on and what's happening. 35 00:01:58.460 --> 00:01:59.760 Adelaide is on the move. 36 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:01.780 And we want to talk about that today 37 00:02:01.780 --> 00:02:05.300 and talk about what we need to do to keep that momentum going 38 00:02:05.300 --> 00:02:07.680 and to get it right, which is more important. 39 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:11.160 It is about what good cities are all about, 40 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.120 how they thrive and how we get the best potential out of them, 41 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.720 how we'll breathe new life into our city streets and that. 42 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.220 Now, some people will go, we don't want the city to change, 43 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:23.960 but I think it's inevitable that cities do change around the world. 44 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:25.340 They keep growing and they keep moving. 45 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.140 And we've just got to get that right. 46 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:28.000 We've got to manage it. 47 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:32.980 There are certain things that are absolute game changers to changing a city. 48 00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:35.680 And we're going to talk about some of those and we want some of your ideas 49 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.000 and we're going to get some of the ideas from our panel here today. 50 00:02:38.420 --> 00:02:40.220 So that's what the session is all about. 51 00:02:41.220 --> 00:02:43.980 But look, just a couple of formalities. 52 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:46.680 And the first thing is the Kaurna welcome. 53 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.060 I acknowledge that today we're gathered on the traditional country 54 00:02:50.060 --> 00:02:52.600 of our Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. 55 00:02:52.820 --> 00:02:55.120 We recognise and respect their cultural heritage. 56 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.260 Their beliefs and the relationships of the land. 57 00:02:57.420 --> 00:03:00.940 We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people 58 00:03:00.940 --> 00:03:04.560 and living today and we respect their elders and past and present. 59 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:09.500 Can I also just ask, as a formality, if anyone's got a mobile phone, 60 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.160 can you at least turn it to silent mode? 61 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.380 There are those people who I'm sure will be tweeting in Instagram 62 00:03:18.380 --> 00:03:20.020 and hashtags and that. 63 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:22.920 You can keep using those, but please just have it in silent mode. 64 00:03:23.040 --> 00:03:25.280 You can't record these proceedings. 65 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:31.620 But Radio Adelaide will be broadcasting this through podcasts and future podcasts. 66 00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:39.340 Now, I'm going to take a seat down here and introduce our first person for you to hear from and speak to. 67 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:40.700 And they're going to do it from here. 68 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:42.100 So from here on it's a conversation. 69 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.820 On my far right here is Jeff Speck, who is the Principal of Speck Associates. 70 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:53.180 This is Jeff's first Australian tour as guest of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas. 71 00:03:53.820 --> 00:03:55.340 And welcome and thanks today to Jeff. 72 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.560 Thank you, Ted, for taking the time to spend with us. 73 00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:01.400 I know you're here over the next three or four days and you've been doing a lot of walking around the city. 74 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.460 So it's going to be interesting to get your perspective. 75 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:04.700 People keep offering me rides. 76 00:04:04.980 --> 00:04:08.080 I know. And you don't want to be in a car. We know that. 77 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.200 Jeff's a city planner. He's an urban designer. 78 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.540 Through his writing and his public service work and his built work, 79 00:04:14.640 --> 00:04:18.460 he advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design. 80 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:25.340 As a Director of Design at the US National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2017, 81 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.900 Jeff created the Governance Institute of Community Design. 82 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:34.880 He is a co-author of The Suburban Nation, The Rise of Sprawl, and The Decline of the American Dream. 83 00:04:35.300 --> 00:04:41.540 One of his recent publications is The Walkable City, How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time, 84 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:46.180 which is a very interesting concept for us to be talking about in Adelaide right now. 85 00:04:46.400 --> 00:04:52.000 You know, and I wanted to, I was talking to Jeff earlier, and I know he has some history of this. 86 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:55.340 We all know that through the 50s and 60s, that Adelaide was a city that was a city of 87 00:04:55.340 --> 00:04:55.440 development. 88 00:04:55.440 --> 00:05:01.000 And that South Australia, Adelaide in particular, was part of that manufacturing industry for the development of cars. 89 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:05.540 And as you would all know, that's when the suburbs just started appearing on the horizon. 90 00:05:05.760 --> 00:05:10.080 And we started seeing, instead of people coming towards the city, moving away from the city. 91 00:05:10.580 --> 00:05:14.980 So the early 1900s, we had reasonable density around our city. 92 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:22.440 And then as the car came in through the 50s and 60s, so did the freeways, and so did the urban sprawl start to occur. 93 00:05:22.900 --> 00:05:25.320 And the reliance on cars start to occur. 94 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:31.560 Now I know that Jeff has looked at this, and this is very much the American model, 95 00:05:31.820 --> 00:05:36.620 and has looked at this and advocated a new way of thinking about this. 96 00:05:36.760 --> 00:05:40.240 And I'm just wondering, Jeff, to start this off, I mean, why should we care about that? 97 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.560 Should we worry about it all or just keep the sprawl going? 98 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:46.320 Yeah, I've seen the future and it's scary. 99 00:05:47.840 --> 00:05:49.700 Well, John, thank you for the kind question. 100 00:05:49.900 --> 00:05:54.400 And thanks to the Adelaide Festival of Ideas and its sponsors for bringing me here. 101 00:05:54.900 --> 00:05:55.300 And I'm very grateful to them. 102 00:05:55.320 --> 00:06:01.920 And it's wonderful to see such a big crowd, especially since I understand we're up against live vasectomies at this hour. 103 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.000 Hopefully nothing like that will occur on this stage. 104 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:16.260 And allow me to also take this opportunity to invite you to see my solo act, which is tomorrow afternoon. 105 00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:18.580 I think it's here, but it's tomorrow at 3. 106 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:22.700 This will be a little bit of a preview of the ideas that I'll be addressing there. 107 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:24.420 Thank you to my other panelists. 108 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:25.480 I'm looking forward to the conversation. 109 00:06:25.760 --> 00:06:30.480 And for that reason, I won't be speaking for too long because I'm much more interested in the conversation. 110 00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:42.160 I'm glad the question wasn't, although I'll get to that perhaps eventually, I'm glad the question wasn't yet what can Adelaide do better. 111 00:06:42.380 --> 00:06:52.420 Because Australian cities in general and certainly Adelaide in particular are typically doing, 112 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:56.220 the typical Australian cities, not to say this is one of them, 113 00:06:57.380 --> 00:07:05.480 are about as, have the walkability and the place making and the livability thing figured out about as well as the best American cities. 114 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:08.820 So your cities don't have that much to learn from me. 115 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:12.800 Your suburbs though are about as bad as our worst. 116 00:07:13.700 --> 00:07:21.940 And the way that you've spread is very similar, I would say not as all encompassing, 117 00:07:21.940 --> 00:07:22.400 but it's very similar. 118 00:07:22.400 --> 00:07:28.140 When you fly around Australia as I've been doing, it's not as depressing as flying around the US. 119 00:07:28.580 --> 00:07:38.320 But certainly the trend here as in most places where there were auto industries has been towards suburbanization. 120 00:07:40.340 --> 00:07:47.660 And I've been arguing, the book that I wrote with my colleagues, Suburbanation, about 13 or so years ago, 121 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:51.420 was a very firm kind of planner. 122 00:07:52.440 --> 00:07:54.960 I mean we addressed it towards a popular audience, 123 00:07:55.080 --> 00:08:00.980 but it was a very firm planners rant about why cities were good and villages were good and towns were good. 124 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:05.300 And basically anything pre-war was working pretty darn well and those were the places that we liked. 125 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.380 And the suburbs were bad. 126 00:08:07.880 --> 00:08:12.100 And it was essentially approach from a planners point of view. 127 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.020 Most of us are trained as architects, we look at things aesthetically. 128 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:20.100 But what's happened in the 10 or 15 years since we were having that conversation, 129 00:08:20.740 --> 00:08:22.200 is a bunch of other groups. 130 00:08:22.400 --> 00:08:23.580 The question is why should we care? 131 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:28.760 People weren't listening to the planners argument all that carefully. 132 00:08:28.940 --> 00:08:31.820 Because A, the planners screwed it up for so many years. 133 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.800 Really for 50 years the planners were pushing the wrong model. 134 00:08:35.800 --> 00:08:42.460 And B, we were approaching it from a more aesthetic and design oriented point of view. 135 00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:47.120 Which you know, design is cool, but that's really not the way that most people approach things. 136 00:08:47.260 --> 00:08:49.600 The way that we've been trained to approach them. 137 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:55.820 But what happened in these intervening 10 to 15 years is that these three groups that people do listen to. 138 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:07.400 The economists, the epidemiologists and the environmentalists started each in their own ways and each towards their own ends attacking the same question. 139 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:13.520 The suburbanization versus urbanization or re-urbanization question that we had been addressing as planners. 140 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:17.860 And coming up with compelling reasons, not necessarily talking to each other or to us. 141 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:19.780 But we eventually discovered each other. 142 00:09:19.920 --> 00:09:26.320 But they each came up with their own compelling reasons about why cities are stronger economically, cities are healthier. 143 00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:31.740 And cities are environmentally more sustainable than the alternative. 144 00:09:32.400 --> 00:09:34.640 So I'm going to touch upon each of those for one minute. 145 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:42.860 The economics argument is essentially, there are different ways to nibble around the edges. 146 00:09:43.280 --> 00:09:46.820 And to talk about frankly how real estate is worth more. 147 00:09:46.920 --> 00:09:47.840 In an urban environment. 148 00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:50.120 And to talk about all the different groups now. 149 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:51.680 If you look at the demographics. 150 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.220 There's a bubble of empty nesters. 151 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.660 And a bubble of millennials and in between. 152 00:09:58.020 --> 00:10:00.180 There's strange people like me who have small children. 153 00:10:00.420 --> 00:10:01.480 A rarity now. 154 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:09.920 All these reasons to think that the city, the kind of living environment that serves all the households that are about to be generated. 155 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:15.220 Is much more likely to be an urban living environment than a suburban living environment. 156 00:10:15.400 --> 00:10:17.620 Where people don't need or want big houses. 157 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:18.900 To heat and cool and clean. 158 00:10:19.060 --> 00:10:20.140 And yards to tend. 159 00:10:20.420 --> 00:10:22.340 Don't really care about schools at this point. 160 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.840 Because it's a small number of households that actually have children. 161 00:10:26.020 --> 00:10:27.220 Of school bearing age. 162 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.940 And at least in the US that's all we've been building for, for 50 years. 163 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:31.960 Is that market. 164 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:37.080 And that's a very interesting discussion like a market based businessmen's discussion. 165 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:45.260 But the much more powerful economic discussion I believe is the great cost to our society. 166 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:47.180 Over the... 167 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:50.460 Since the 70s in the US we've doubled the number of roads in our country. 168 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:56.160 And in so doing we've doubled the percent of your income that every American is spending on transportation. 169 00:10:57.140 --> 00:10:58.080 So now... 170 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.640 You know we used to spend one tenth of our income on transportation. 171 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:01.860 Now we spend one fifth. 172 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:06.260 Working Americans spend more on transportation than on housing. 173 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:11.000 And this challenge actually, oh I can't afford to live in the city because it costs too much. 174 00:11:11.400 --> 00:11:13.220 If you factor the cars into account. 175 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:15.220 It may not cost too much. 176 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:16.480 To live in the city. 177 00:11:17.180 --> 00:11:18.380 And then those American cities. 178 00:11:19.180 --> 00:11:22.820 And those North American cities like Portland, Oregon and Vancouver. 179 00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:23.960 That have invested. 180 00:11:24.680 --> 00:11:28.700 Instead of investing in driving have invested in biking and transit. 181 00:11:28.760 --> 00:11:29.760 And therefore in walking. 182 00:11:30.040 --> 00:11:32.040 Are the hot places right now. 183 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:38.200 And have saved their residents so much money that they're able to spend a lot more locally. 184 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:42.780 So that's a half an hour discussion in two minutes. 185 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:46.140 The epidemiologist argument. 186 00:11:46.140 --> 00:11:51.480 There's a book that came out in 2004 called Urban Sprawl and Public Health. 187 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:59.520 And while we had been shouting into the wilderness for years about the ugliness and the enemy of sprawl. 188 00:11:59.640 --> 00:12:03.060 These doctors came out and said suburban sprawl is killing us. 189 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:04.300 It's making us fat. 190 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:05.360 It's making us sick. 191 00:12:05.560 --> 00:12:07.660 It is shortening life spans. 192 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:12.100 We have the first generation of kids in America who are expected to live shorter lives than their parents. 193 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:15.140 Because of environmentally induced inactivities. 194 00:12:16.130 --> 00:12:18.330 And we now have what are called obesogenic communities. 195 00:12:19.350 --> 00:12:21.330 Which is essentially everything in your outer ring. 196 00:12:21.990 --> 00:12:23.330 Is an obesogenic community. 197 00:12:24.330 --> 00:12:26.610 And then add to that asthma and car crashes. 198 00:12:26.730 --> 00:12:33.530 And the statistic that was out today was 87,000 Americans are dying each year from the combination of car crashes and tailpipe exhaust. 199 00:12:34.490 --> 00:12:37.270 So there's a larger argument but the doctors now are on board. 200 00:12:37.450 --> 00:12:38.450 And people listen to doctors. 201 00:12:39.270 --> 00:12:43.350 And then finally the environmentalists in America are fascinating for the way that they turned on a dime. 202 00:12:43.690 --> 00:12:45.310 In a country which is historically. 203 00:12:45.310 --> 00:12:48.890 The environmental movement in the US was an anti-city movement. 204 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:54.070 And that was only reinforced by the carbon mapping of the US. 205 00:12:55.710 --> 00:12:57.850 Where you look at CO2 per square mile. 206 00:12:58.030 --> 00:13:00.950 And it looks like a night sky satellite photo of the US. 207 00:13:01.590 --> 00:13:02.490 Hottest in the cities. 208 00:13:02.590 --> 00:13:03.470 Cooler in the suburbs. 209 00:13:03.650 --> 00:13:05.010 Coolest in these ex-urban areas. 210 00:13:05.430 --> 00:13:07.270 But then when someone had the bright idea. 211 00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:09.650 You know we shouldn't be measuring per square mile. 212 00:13:09.790 --> 00:13:10.890 We should be measuring per household. 213 00:13:11.050 --> 00:13:13.250 Because there's only so many of us in the country at any given time. 214 00:13:13.310 --> 00:13:14.070 And we can choose to live. 215 00:13:14.070 --> 00:13:15.190 Or we might have the least footprint. 216 00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:16.910 And the maps just flipped. 217 00:13:17.970 --> 00:13:18.370 Entirely. 218 00:13:18.910 --> 00:13:19.190 You know. 219 00:13:19.510 --> 00:13:20.750 Cool in the center cities. 220 00:13:20.890 --> 00:13:21.810 A little warmer in the suburbs. 221 00:13:21.910 --> 00:13:25.910 And red hot in these ex-urban driving oriented communities. 222 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:30.410 So these three arguments now are what I gird myself with when I come to communities. 223 00:13:30.570 --> 00:13:32.890 I don't talk about planning reasons anymore. 224 00:13:33.850 --> 00:13:37.730 And I found that we're able to make a lot more change. 225 00:13:39.150 --> 00:13:43.570 By paying attention to these things that affect people's pocketbook and their health. 226 00:13:44.070 --> 00:13:47.450 And their ability to stay above water for the next 50 years. 227 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:49.730 So with that I'll hand it over. 228 00:13:49.950 --> 00:13:50.470 Thanks Jeff. 229 00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:52.370 So if you want to hear more about that. 230 00:13:52.670 --> 00:13:55.310 Tomorrow is another time you have to come and talk to Jeff. 231 00:13:55.570 --> 00:13:58.150 And I think you'll get a lot more detail about that. 232 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:00.710 I need you to come and sit in some of my meetings with me. 233 00:14:00.750 --> 00:14:01.670 As I have these. 234 00:14:01.790 --> 00:14:05.210 A number of people wanting us to rezone so much land on the fringe. 235 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:09.430 And those conversations are often very interesting with the people who own the land of course. 236 00:14:09.570 --> 00:14:10.830 But that's another story. 237 00:14:11.590 --> 00:14:12.970 Have you noticed there's a difference? 238 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:14.210 I know it would be rude Jeff. 239 00:14:14.310 --> 00:14:17.410 But there is a difference between the two bookends and the three people in the middle. 240 00:14:17.990 --> 00:14:20.930 And it's not the fact that they're just wearing jeans. 241 00:14:21.290 --> 00:14:23.430 You know they are a little younger than us. 242 00:14:24.670 --> 00:14:27.010 But they are the face of the future. 243 00:14:27.310 --> 00:14:29.990 Of our city and what we're doing. 244 00:14:30.150 --> 00:14:33.530 And the enormous amount of influence they have over cities. 245 00:14:33.810 --> 00:14:37.150 And where we're heading from a development point of view. 246 00:14:37.410 --> 00:14:40.470 The first of these people I want you to meet is Lily Jacobs. 247 00:14:40.930 --> 00:14:42.870 The General Manager of Renew Adelaide. 248 00:14:42.970 --> 00:14:50.070 As a General Manager of Renew Adelaide, Lily is continuing her interest in innovative renewal of urban spaces. 249 00:14:50.330 --> 00:14:57.350 A not for profit organisation that connects creative entrepreneurs and artists with property and industry. 250 00:14:57.510 --> 00:15:05.310 To activate empty spaces or vacant urban space in cities and in some of our suburbs as well. 251 00:15:05.530 --> 00:15:10.410 In previous roles, Lily was a commercial and intellectual property lawyer. 252 00:15:10.770 --> 00:15:12.950 She taught property law and urban thinking. 253 00:15:12.970 --> 00:15:14.110 She's a professor of theory at Adelaide University. 254 00:15:14.430 --> 00:15:17.470 And she's one of those people that you're seeing around the city at the moment. 255 00:15:17.530 --> 00:15:21.070 Who when she sees an empty building, she's all over it. 256 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:24.710 And making sure that that is activated and something is happening in there. 257 00:15:24.850 --> 00:15:33.270 And lots of people around Adelaide owe a lot of credit and thanks to what Lily's doing around the revitalisation of the city. 258 00:15:34.210 --> 00:15:39.190 But Lily, tell us a little bit about firstly Renew Adelaide. 259 00:15:39.290 --> 00:15:41.150 And what it's doing and how it's doing it. 260 00:15:41.150 --> 00:15:52.190 And perhaps talk to us about how much you perhaps want government and local government to stay out of dictating what you do and how you do it. 261 00:15:52.210 --> 00:15:53.410 And let it happen. 262 00:15:55.310 --> 00:15:56.690 Thank you. That was great. 263 00:15:58.010 --> 00:16:00.930 Well Renew Adelaide, it's an unusual model. 264 00:16:01.690 --> 00:16:06.290 But everyone I explain it to sort of makes sense once they understand it. 265 00:16:06.930 --> 00:16:11.130 But part of, I mean a city is composed of people. 266 00:16:11.130 --> 00:16:14.630 It's composed of sort of the social community and the economic aspects. 267 00:16:14.930 --> 00:16:19.750 But it is very much, our concept of city is very much grounded in a physical presence as well. 268 00:16:20.490 --> 00:16:23.750 And there are buildings around that. 269 00:16:23.910 --> 00:16:30.250 And so what we do is try and make sure that there is interesting activity going on in those properties. 270 00:16:30.770 --> 00:16:33.610 And that we don't have a lot of vacancies. 271 00:16:33.650 --> 00:16:35.510 Because a vacancy is a dead space. 272 00:16:35.810 --> 00:16:39.270 Nobody wants to walk down the street if there's nothing to see. 273 00:16:39.270 --> 00:16:43.790 Nobody wants to live or invest or anything in an area where there's no activity. 274 00:16:44.650 --> 00:16:53.290 So where there are vacant properties, we try and connect those with people who have ideas of how to fill them. 275 00:16:54.170 --> 00:17:02.250 And a lot of the people with interesting ideas and the ability to act quickly to do it are artists and creative entrepreneurs. 276 00:17:02.630 --> 00:17:08.470 And they can also bring something different to a city and to a building, to a property. 277 00:17:08.470 --> 00:17:11.130 That gives people a reason to go there. 278 00:17:11.250 --> 00:17:13.890 And at the same time you're encouraging this creative community. 279 00:17:14.090 --> 00:17:16.030 Which I guess that's why I'm doing this. 280 00:17:16.110 --> 00:17:19.090 Because I feel like it's a really important part of a city. 281 00:17:20.110 --> 00:17:21.270 I'm sold on cities. 282 00:17:21.370 --> 00:17:22.610 I live in a city. 283 00:17:22.750 --> 00:17:23.530 I work in a city. 284 00:17:24.010 --> 00:17:26.630 And I think the creative aspect is really important. 285 00:17:27.610 --> 00:17:30.790 How we do that is what people find unusual. 286 00:17:30.970 --> 00:17:38.210 So we negotiate with property owners who have a vacancy that is either a waiting commercial. 287 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:38.450 Or a temporary vacancy. 288 00:17:38.470 --> 00:17:38.670 So we negotiate with them. 289 00:17:38.750 --> 00:17:43.170 Or a waiting redevelopment for access to that property rent free. 290 00:17:43.690 --> 00:17:46.410 Which is obviously a really, really easy thing to do. 291 00:17:49.370 --> 00:17:56.670 The way that we do it and the only way that it will work is that the property can remain advertised on the market. 292 00:17:56.890 --> 00:18:00.530 And so at any point we can be given 30 days notice to leave. 293 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:05.830 So that way the property owner is not actually taking on the risk of losing a potential commercial tenant. 294 00:18:05.830 --> 00:18:07.430 That's the only way it works. 295 00:18:08.730 --> 00:18:12.930 The flip side of that is still that it can limit what can go on in there. 296 00:18:13.390 --> 00:18:14.350 In the space. 297 00:18:14.750 --> 00:18:18.450 Nothing that is going to require security in a number of months time. 298 00:18:19.570 --> 00:18:24.430 But those limitations can also inspire really interesting activity. 299 00:18:25.750 --> 00:18:30.470 And so we've seen a number of different types of projects go on. 300 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:33.350 People who make their own products. 301 00:18:33.370 --> 00:18:35.450 Some people have made their clothes. 302 00:18:35.450 --> 00:18:36.910 And sold them in the same space. 303 00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:38.770 Or a reading room. 304 00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:42.590 Which is sort of a reading space that also held odd events. 305 00:18:43.050 --> 00:18:45.070 There's a few in Port Adelaide. 306 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:47.130 A niche sophisticated. 307 00:18:47.530 --> 00:18:48.250 His word. 308 00:18:48.330 --> 00:18:49.210 Probably not mine. 309 00:18:49.710 --> 00:18:51.790 DVD hire place. 310 00:18:52.170 --> 00:19:00.250 But they're all ideas that wouldn't get off the ground without this low risk opportunity to test them. 311 00:19:00.470 --> 00:19:04.170 So there are a lot of people who have ideas but don't necessarily have capital. 312 00:19:04.170 --> 00:19:09.430 And this is a very low risk opportunity for people to test and grow ideas. 313 00:19:09.830 --> 00:19:12.710 And be able to stay here and do it in the city. 314 00:19:13.010 --> 00:19:15.530 So it's what I explain to people. 315 00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:16.450 It's a win, win, win. 316 00:19:16.610 --> 00:19:18.110 It's a win for somebody with an idea. 317 00:19:18.270 --> 00:19:19.530 It's a win for a property owner. 318 00:19:19.650 --> 00:19:21.810 And it's a win for the city as a whole. 319 00:19:22.970 --> 00:19:24.850 So no one argues with it. 320 00:19:24.890 --> 00:19:28.610 But it still doesn't mean it's easy to talk property owners into it. 321 00:19:29.270 --> 00:19:31.570 And then we have also provided. 322 00:19:31.810 --> 00:19:33.150 Because we developed this. 323 00:19:33.150 --> 00:19:36.370 And I didn't ever think I'd have some expertise around property. 324 00:19:37.070 --> 00:19:42.190 People who are wanting to take the next step into a longer term committed commercial lease. 325 00:19:42.370 --> 00:19:44.530 Sort of guide them through some of that process. 326 00:19:44.590 --> 00:19:45.850 And identify buildings. 327 00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:50.010 We don't charge anyone for any of this. 328 00:19:50.170 --> 00:19:53.170 Which is where our relationship with government comes in. 329 00:19:53.830 --> 00:19:56.310 And that has actually. 330 00:19:56.430 --> 00:19:57.510 For what we're doing. 331 00:19:57.590 --> 00:19:59.950 It's actually been a really good relationship. 332 00:20:00.350 --> 00:20:02.470 And I think as John said. 333 00:20:02.470 --> 00:20:02.670 We have a lot of control in our head. 334 00:20:02.710 --> 00:20:06.530 Because there isn't a lot of control put on us. 335 00:20:06.550 --> 00:20:07.870 About the way we do things. 336 00:20:08.590 --> 00:20:12.990 Do you know how hard that is for a government not to put controls on something? 337 00:20:13.570 --> 00:20:14.430 I can imagine. 338 00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:15.250 We want to control everything. 339 00:20:15.470 --> 00:20:16.630 We want to legislate it out. 340 00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:17.650 Or legislate it in. 341 00:20:17.830 --> 00:20:17.990 So. 342 00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:19.150 I can imagine. 343 00:20:19.170 --> 00:20:21.250 You're having an impact on us. 344 00:20:21.290 --> 00:20:21.810 There's no doubt. 345 00:20:22.370 --> 00:20:25.410 Well we try and sort of do that. 346 00:20:25.490 --> 00:20:27.310 And make sure that we all understand that dynamic. 347 00:20:27.750 --> 00:20:30.790 But it has been a really good relationship. 348 00:20:30.790 --> 00:20:34.190 And I think partly because the government currently. 349 00:20:34.410 --> 00:20:36.110 I mean a lot of people are on the same page. 350 00:20:36.270 --> 00:20:38.190 With what they're sort of aiming for. 351 00:20:38.270 --> 00:20:40.910 So support for creative activity and new ideas. 352 00:20:41.630 --> 00:20:44.390 I mean government can be a slow moving machine. 353 00:20:44.650 --> 00:20:45.330 We all know that. 354 00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:49.090 But I think that's a reason why it is good. 355 00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:50.750 We're a not for profit organisation. 356 00:20:51.330 --> 00:20:53.290 I mean we were started purely volunteer run. 357 00:20:53.430 --> 00:20:54.310 And volunteer based. 358 00:20:54.850 --> 00:20:56.730 So it's an idea that came from the community. 359 00:20:57.110 --> 00:20:59.690 And I think that is important in government partnerships. 360 00:20:59.690 --> 00:21:01.810 To respect things that are already happening. 361 00:21:03.750 --> 00:21:04.490 And yeah. 362 00:21:04.570 --> 00:21:07.890 That has been a really good aspect of it. 363 00:21:08.750 --> 00:21:09.790 That what we're doing. 364 00:21:09.970 --> 00:21:11.110 And as an organisation. 365 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:12.010 I mean I do have a board. 366 00:21:12.190 --> 00:21:15.330 And that is its own slow process. 367 00:21:15.570 --> 00:21:16.410 I guess as well. 368 00:21:16.530 --> 00:21:17.650 And political process. 369 00:21:17.790 --> 00:21:18.530 I love them. 370 00:21:18.590 --> 00:21:19.310 If anyone's here. 371 00:21:21.030 --> 00:21:22.070 But you know. 372 00:21:22.090 --> 00:21:24.890 That means that we operate quite independently as well. 373 00:21:25.030 --> 00:21:26.170 And we are accountable. 374 00:21:26.370 --> 00:21:29.110 But we are still a flexible organisation. 375 00:21:29.110 --> 00:21:30.410 And by being small. 376 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:31.490 And we're very small. 377 00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:33.030 We can still act quickly. 378 00:21:33.710 --> 00:21:37.590 Which you know often government is limited in their ability to do that. 379 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:40.290 Because of course they need to be accountable to the people. 380 00:21:40.410 --> 00:21:41.850 Which I do believe in democracy. 381 00:21:42.690 --> 00:21:46.170 But in my organisation I believe a bit more in dictatorship. 382 00:21:46.970 --> 00:21:47.530 Cool. 383 00:21:49.590 --> 00:21:51.570 So I think that yeah. 384 00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:54.630 That balance of support from government. 385 00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:58.030 While still allowing growth from the community. 386 00:21:58.130 --> 00:21:59.090 And from the people. 387 00:21:59.090 --> 00:22:01.870 And adaptable organisations to actually implement some of that. 388 00:22:01.950 --> 00:22:04.610 Is an important part of our relationship. 389 00:22:05.330 --> 00:22:05.810 Excellent. 390 00:22:06.010 --> 00:22:06.550 Thank you. 391 00:22:08.450 --> 00:22:10.050 Next is Peter Drew. 392 00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:12.550 Peter is a street artist. 393 00:22:13.090 --> 00:22:14.150 Born in Adelaide. 394 00:22:14.210 --> 00:22:14.970 Are you still living in Glasgow? 395 00:22:16.030 --> 00:22:17.430 Not right at the moment. 396 00:22:17.650 --> 00:22:17.830 No. 397 00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:18.410 Glasgow. 398 00:22:18.430 --> 00:22:19.830 Was living in Glasgow. 399 00:22:20.150 --> 00:22:20.170 Yeah. 400 00:22:20.170 --> 00:22:21.090 I moved back about a week ago. 401 00:22:21.930 --> 00:22:26.410