OUR MANIFESTO
In an ever-evolving world, it is imperative that we clearly define and communicate the aspirations that drive our organisation.
This manifesto serves as a beacon, articulating our collective vision for the future. By sharing our manifesto, we aim to foster transparency, unity and a shared purpose amongst all stakeholders. It is a call to action, inviting collaboration, inspiring innovation, and ensuring our efforts align with our core mission. Through this manifesto we commit to accountability and pledge to uphold the ideals that shape our path forward.
Australian Cities are facing crises in housing affordability. Our current top-down planning model is failing.
We are not making the cities people genuinely want, and certainly not ones they or the planet can afford. Orthodox planning processes, market-driven and regulation-based, have made our cities inequitable, unsustainable and unliveable.
In Sydney, workers now live hours from their workplaces, young families and creatives are leaving en masse and our most disadvantaged live uncomfortable and often unhealthy lives in dark-roofed hot-boxes on the metropolitan margins without transport, services, schools or trees. “A city without grandchildren,” predicted Australian Productivity Commissioner Peter Acherstraat recently. Award-winning French architects Vassal & Lacaton were much more succinct, warning Sydney risks becoming a “ghetto of rich people.” In the end, this disadvantages us all.
The solutions are within our grasp. “Thirty more Surry Hills” is more than just a catchy headline. Sydney’s inner-city neighbourhoods, from the ten-storey 1920s apartment buildings of Kings Cross to the 2-4 storey terraces and warehouses of Surry Hills, contain the DNA of successful urbanism.
Predicated on liveable density, medium-rise, mixed-use, tree-lined and walkable, these neighbourhoods encourage localism, enhance community and environmental health and conserve resources. We will build on this embedded knowledge, refining its principles and processes to help create better neighbourhoods for all.
WE BELIEVE BETTER CITIES ARE:
CREATIVE
Better cities are well-designed and beautiful, offering delight and interest at every turn. They invite walkability and engagement, creating spaces where people can experience a sense of individual dignity and collective purpose. They are fun to walk around and explore, and boast vibrant streets that flourish with creativity, energising and enriching all who pass through.
DIVERSE
Better cities are ultra-diverse collections of peoples and cultures, dwelling and building types, living, working, and play. They offer a smorgasbord of dwelling types and densities within a fifteen-minute walk. With amenities close by, life becomes more convenient and sustainable, reducing reliance on cars and creating vibrant urban spaces where everyone can thrive.
GREEN & COOL
Better cities are green, both literally and figuratively, a dance of nature and culture that nourishes biodiversity and fosters our links to nature at every turn. They embody sustainability by collecting rainwater to feed shaded, tree-lined streets. Their green roofs, shop-top gardens and plant-covered walls cool the urban environment from summer heat and their many urban parks offer space for refuge, reflection and play.
ACTIVE
Better cities are connected neighborhoods that encourage walking, cycling, and public transport. They devote themselves to making walking a delight, cycling a safe and shaded option, and public transport a quick, clean, and dignified way to get around. In these cities, getting from point A to point B is not just a means of transportation but an opportunity to engage with the vibrant pulse of urban life.
CITIZEN-LED
Better cities are inclusive places that offer citizens a sense of active identity, inviting everyone to feel valued, creative and engaged. Cultures are celebrated, enriching social connections and fostering belonging. They respond to people’s ideas and input, making everyone feel welcome and safe while also offering the agency and identity that comes from shared creative energy.
OUR VALUES
Our values are the foundation of everything we do. They guide our decision-making, build our culture, and help us achieve our mission. Our values are not just ideals, they are actional commitments that shape our vision for better cities.
IGNITING CIVIC PASSION AND CREATIVITY
Believing not only that people have a right to engagement but that the future needs all the creativity and intelligence it can get, The Better Cities Initiative inspires and energises citizens to take an active role in shaping their own cities and communities. Think how much fun it would be to retrofit your own neighbourhood so you could walk to the movies, the shops, the local wine bar and the kids’ school, walk even to work under mature canopy trees, knowing all the while that the rubbish and energy systems were circular and zero-carbon.
DEEP LISTENING AND INCLUSIVITY
On pub trivia nights, as everyone knows, the winning team won’t be you and your best mates, but a diverse range of people with vastly different backgrounds, experiences, knowledge and skillsets. The same applies to civic decision-making. The best cities will arise from the broadest possible range of knowledge, cultures, ages (even children!) and life experiences. The Citizen Jury and other Better Cities projects will therefore prototype innovative methods of listening in a way that is both deep and wide.
EMPOWERING INFORMED CIVIC LEADERSHIP
City-planning has come to a stalemate, with the emphasis on ‘stale.’ We are making a world that pleases no-one, is increasingly unfair and exacerbates climate change. Yet communities contain vast, largely untapped reservoirs of talent, energy and good-heartedness that can help solve complex urban issues and sidestep the political standoff. The Better Cities Initiative fosters a sense of agency by equipping citizens with the knowledge and tools to participate actively in designing and shaping their own neighbourhoods and cities
ACCESSING OUR BETTER SELVES
Philosopher John Rawls argues that all citizens should make decisions without knowing where their own self-interest lies. This he calls the “Veil of ignorance.” Via random selection and other means, The Better Cities Initiative will radically transform the perfunctory and often insulting habits of orthodox “consultation.” Inviting citizens to view the city neighbourhood as a whole, rather than from the viewpoint of self-interest, we foster greater altruism and care for others.
PROMOTING INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE
Our cities are increasingly unequal in their distribution of and access to public resources. Between 1950 and 1960, 96% of Australia’s economic growth went to the bottom 90% of Australians. Between 2009 and 2019, however, it plummeted to a mere 7%. This dramatic inequality reflects in every aspect of our city – heat, health, air quality and access. It also applies through time, already disadvantaging future generations. The Better Cities Initiative works to rebalance equity, sustainability and resource distribution for both current and future generations.