Living Links – A collaborative Master Plan to create a world- class urban ecosystem A summary of the presentation delivered to the inaugural International Congress 2010 – ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ by Shane Scanlon, Program Coordinator, Port Phillip and Westernport CMA. Already at this 2010 International Congress – ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ we have heard some recurring themes resonating in the various presentations by the key speakers. We are hearing a lot about ‘connectivity’ and the need to optimise the functionality of open space environments for nature, while enhancing people’s access to them. We’ve also heard a lot about the importance of ‘collaboration’ among organizations to develop and achieve integrated environmental plans – plans that will help transcend the boundaries and perceived limitations of individual institutions involved in open space development. This presentation will introduce you to Living Links – a program to improve connectivity in the open space network in the urban and industrial landscapes to the south east of Melbourne. Living Links is a successful example of a functioning collaboration of around twenty organizations, including eleven local governments. I’ll be talking about the Living Links brand as the foundation and a key component of the collaboration, and the progress towards a Master Plan which will be the ultimate product of the collaboration.
The Place – Melbourne’s urbanized and industrialized south-east Living Links is focused on the expanse of medium density urban and industrial areas between Port Phillip Bay and the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges to the east of Melbourne. It’s an area that houses around 1.5 million people; and also contains 25% of Victoria’s manufacturing businesses. As a major component of the State’s economy this area has a Gross Regional Product (GRP) of around $142.5 billion, and provides around 700,000 jobs. Greater Melbourne’s population is growing rapidly towards 4 million, and recent projections are that this rate of growth will increase further to produce a city of between six and a half and seven million by 2050. To accommodate this growth, current government policy seeks to curtail urban sprawl at the city’s perimeter by increasing population density in the existing inner and middle suburbs. Strategies include encouraging more flexible in-fill developments and increasing as-of-right building heights in designated activity centres across the metropolitan area. This approach will inevitably put increased pressure on remaining open space and natural assets in the existing urban areas.
The Living Links Vision Living Links is a shared vision among environmental agencies and interest groups to help ensure that the precious remaining natural assets in Melbourne’s south-east region continue to be protected and enhanced in the face of this escalating development pressure. Living Links promotes this area as ‘the most livable part of one of the world’s most livable cities’. The challenge is to maintain the features and elements of its landscape that make it so. Its a complex challenge. Under Australia’s three-tier system of democracy, the political and institutional profile of this area is as complex as its physical topography. Its eleven local governments operate independently as local planning authorities, and several other regional authorities also have land management and planning authority over components of the land and waterways. Collaboration and integrated planning are vital. The council boundaries in the Living Links region Collaboration – its doesn’t ‘just happen’ This next part of my talk is about how Living Links has managed to establish and sustain an enduring collaboration of multiple organisations over a period of 5 years so far, and looking strong and positive into the future. In NRM as in many businesses or walks of life – ‘collaboration’ sounds positive and desirable and you’d think it would be pretty simple to build - but it doesn’t ‘just happen’!
It’s not something we’re taught and it presents a challenge to many people in many organizations. Some people are good at it (we’ll call them ‘enablers’) – but others work against it either inadvertently of deliberately (we’ll call them ‘stiflers’). So to promote and manage a collaborative program it is important to understand why collaboration is harder for some people and some organisations, particularly councils. Local government by its very charter has a clear responsibility to focus on what happens within its boundaries. To some this means to have little concern for what’s happening elsewhere. Our best strategy when managing environmental challenges at a landscape scale is to try and lift the political boundaries off the map and encourage Council and agencies work together for a common goal with mutual benefits. PPWCMA considers collaboration to be part of its core business. It created Living Links to promote that this collective of councils and other organisations in the SE region of Melbourne needs a strategy that recognises their interdependence in environmental planning as the pressures of future development increase. The elements of a successful collaborative model Shared vision - Firstly, collaboration requires a vision that people can relate to and will value the purpose of. So when we say that Living Links is focused on the most livable part of one of the world’s most livable cities – we trust they will see that as something worth contributing to. Champions - Collaboration needs champions – a group of ambassadors in the collaborating organisations whom you are confident can and will promote the collaboration up into their organisation consistently. These are your ‘enablers’ who are vital to continually try to influence the ‘stiflers’. ‘WIIFM’ (What’s in it for me!?) - These champions will need to have ready access to up-to-date information that articulates the benefits of the collaboration to their organization. The ‘stiflers’ will most often question what their organization gets out of their contribution to the collaboration. The response needs to be about tangible and quantifiable benefits, and your champions need to have these ready at hand. Coordination - Collaboration needs coordination. It needs drive and leadership from people or organizations whom its members recognise as having that leadership role. This requires resources and commitment. Living Links has this. In its development years, Living Links was the beneficiary of grant monies allocated through the Australian Government (Natural Heritage Trust), however recent revisions of national investment priorities in the ‘Caring for our Country’ program mean it no longer qualifies for this core coordination funding. This is due mainly to its urban location. Alternative funding models for program coordination were put to the Living Links partner organizations by lead agency (the PPWCMA), and each agreed to increase their annual financial contributions to make up the shortfall – some were even prepared to double theirs. Celebration and recognition – When coordinating a collaboration like Living Links, it is important to recognise that many of the people who support the program with their time and knowledge are doing so ‘voluntarily’. Even if employed in a participating organization, the tasks they take on to support something external like Living Links adds to their workload, and their contribution is not necessarily always convenient for
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