Have good building design and proper planning processes taken a wrong turn in Victoria? Can Geoffrey London get them on track? Gina McColl speaks to the Government Architect.- The Age, 1st October 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/back-to-the-drawing-board-20130930-2uokg.html

We strongly support the need for urban design directions and stucture plans to be drawn- it is all too easy for words to be manipulated.

With written guidelines, you get just that- guidelines- without any clear, articulated solution to problems or proposals to success.

As with planning regulations, a set of guidelines can avoid bad outcomes, but that is the extent of their power. We need thoughtful, holistic approaches that can be imagined and drawn and modelled to aspire to a future that is socially, culturally, economically and ecologically sustainable, with high quality of life and opportunities for communities.