The 2016 Australian Urban Design Awards (AUDA), held in Melbourne on the evening of 13 October 2016, showcased and awarded some of the best urban design work around Australia over the past year. Six projects received awards and three received commendations, some of the same award category, which reflected the jury’s challenge in selecting the best of the best from more than 70 high-calibre entries.
Convened by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) with the patronage of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the awards recognise the importance of good planning, urban design and landscape architecture to the continued liveability and sustainability of our cities.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said, “Australia’s cities support our most important resource – our people. Great cities attract, develop and retain talent, supporting them to innovate, create new jobs and growth. High-quality urban design is essential in building more sustainable cities that are great places to live, work and visit.”
Kirsty Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of PIA, said “Good urban design is about delivering great places for people. Creating great places is a team sport – it takes skilled professionals across a range of disciplines working together with the guidance of the community to deliver outcomes (or places) of lasting value.
“The Planning Institute of Australia believes that planning for good urban design is vital to solving the liveability, sustainability and productivity challenges faced in our cities and towns.”
The awarded projects reflect the dynamism and diversity of work undertaken by planners, architects and urbanists across Australia. Among these was the White Gum Valley Development in Western Australia, which took out the ‘Australia Award for Urban Design, Policies, Programs and Concepts – Small Scale’, and which was previously awarded Best Planning Ideas – Small Project award at the national PIA Awards.
2016 AUDA jury chair William Chandler, Director of Chandler Consulting Services, was one of the eight jurors and represented PIA and Urban Design Forum on the jury. He said “Australia faces many challenges in a rapidly changing world – population change, extreme weather events and climate change, the transition of energy production, transport, housing affordability, and sustainability. These are serious issues and urban design has a major role to play in creatively addressing them.
“The Australian Urban Design Awards demonstrate that the planners, designers and managers of Australia’s urban realms are, and must be, skilled, innovative and show strong leadership. This year we saw a record number of entrants from across Australia’s cities, towns and communities and the jury was impressed by the high quality entries in all the categories.”
The recipients are:
Australia Award for Urban Design, Delivered Outcome – Large Scale
Sydney Park Water Re-Use Project (Sydney, New South Wales) – Turf Design Studio and Environmental Partnership with Alluvium, Turpin and Crawford Studio and Dragonfly Environmental
Australia Award for Urban Design, Delivered Outcome – Small Scale
The Goods Line (Sydney, New South Wales) – Aspect Studios, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, CHROFI, Gartner Rose
Bowen Place Crossing (Bowen Place, ACT) – Lahznimmo Architects and Spackman Mossop Michaels Landscape Architects
Australia Award for Urban Design, Policies, Programs and Concepts – Large Scale
Green Square Town Centre (Sydney, New South Wales) – City of Sydney
Turramurra Community Hub Masterplan (Sydney, New South Wales) – CHROFI in association with Ku-ring-gai Council
Australia Award for Urban Design, Policies, Programs and Concepts – Small Scale
WGV at White Gum Valley (White Gum Valley, Western Australia) – Coda Studio, Urbis, Landcorp, Josh Byrne and Associates
Image: The White Gum Valley development. Image by Coda Studio