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 Actions to enhance the planning of the Heritage Precinct.
20) Every decision should be taken at the lowest level at which it is possible to take that decision In the vernacular tradition most building decisions were made on the site. Local materials, local skills, and local knowledge came together to produce buildings which belonged in both place and culture.The centralising of built-environment power homogenises the built environment into placelessness. In contrast local depots and local networks can easily take account of local idiosyncrasies and the oddities of local personalities.
21) Disaggregated infrastructure is to be preferred to integrated alternatives. Disaggregated infrastructure leads to both the distribution of power and the delegation of responsibility. It also makes slow changes over time possible. When you have your own water tank good management becomes part of your way of life. You know where the water comes from and where it goes to. You can understand your own place in the water cycle. Disaggregated systems allow for incremental change. Heritage Precincts thrive on independence.
22) Slow growth is always to be preferred to rapid change. Slow urban design acknowledges the cellular nature of any Heritage Precinct. Imperceptible changes take place over time, while allowing for total transformation. Slow growth avoids the confrontation, anger, resentment and ill-will which is the inevitable result of rapid architectural change. Moving from one “complete position” to another “complete position” is not an appropriate strategy for a Heritage Precinct. Slow growth means that the possibility of change must always be an option.
23) Decay is not a tragedy. We need to allow people to grow old. Any Heritage Precinct needs places where old people can sit in the sun, talk, read a book, or play chess. The young are impatient to get their cup of coffee, while the old are happy to linger for a whole day just enjoying their single cup. It is the essential timelessness of a Heritage Precinct which makes a rich diversity of community life possible. The elderly person who takes a year to scrape down the bottom of a boat has time to talk to the youngsters.
24) Economic strategies which marginalise some people in society have no place in a Heritage Precinct. The coastline may be priceless but it comes free. The wealthy are the only people who cannot possess the coastline because their wealth takes away their freedom. The Foreshore and Seabed debate is not about who should own the coast but rather about the nature of ownership.
25) Ruins have stories to tell. Tourists do not think they are odd when they go to look at ruins. People who object to ruins on the section next door need to get over it.
26) No decision should be made unless it is essential for that decision to be made. Making too many decisions saps the life-blood of a community. Every decision which is made should ideally open up possibilities rather than restricting options. Planners have a tendency to want to plan everything because they think planning is a good thing and there should be more of it. The best planning is known for the fact that no one thinks there is any.
Slow growth is to be preferred to rapid change.
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