2006 Country Division conference: Regional architecture - global influences

摘要

Regional architecture - global influences. The conference was about: global and local, technology and change, integration, collaboration, community, planning, questioning, the sins of the corridor, the politics of the facade, the big questions of life, the complexity of modelling, the role of the RAIA, the future, today, icecream and bubbles, virtual and 3D, geometry, passion and nature. Wendy Morris, former psycho-analyser of rocks, now urban designer and planner, started us off unravelling the spaghetti of planning scenarios. She outlined the history of New Urbanism, from its genesis as a reaction to sprawl, moving away from dead ends, the butt coefficient, traffic domination and community isolation, to its increasing basis for sustainable development and the health and well-being of community itself. Wendy discussed global influences in its evolution in the UK and the USA, and regional architecture in the case studies of Wodonga and Maroochy-dore - two very different- cities transformed and revitalised through improved urban structure, urban character and architectural character.