As I write to you for the first time as Chapter President, I reflect on what I’ve wanted to know about those who have taken on this role; not the events they attend, but their values and how they represent us.Â
Since I was a student I’ve been interested in the public and community dimension of architecture and the role architecture plays in the city. Â
The most significant challenge to emerge in our lifetimes, is, I believe, how ALL of us can thrive in cities. How can our cities support equity, health, wellbeing, how can we arrest and live with climate change, how can we support our growing numbers whilst regenerating and caring for the natural systems that support life?Â
Meeting these challenges will rely on the very core our skillsets as architects. We have vital abilities as spatial, technical and cultural generalists with design skills. Ours is the only profession trained in both the physical sciences and human needs, in designing places and delivering them. Our architectural brains are trained to jump scales, with the ability to think of the whole system while we focus on an individual component. We can think across policy and technical parameters, design and construction. In the face of a housing crisis, climate change and collapse of natural systems, these are immensely useful skills indeed.
Our expertise is not well understood beyond our profession which in turn contributes to our commercial and contract woes. Our work is dependent on the scope of briefs we receive and technical requirements we must fulfil. Many contracting environments push us further down the chain of decision making, making it not only harder to control scope and fee, but much harder to deliver the public benefits of design.
I’m convinced that we need to be at the table: as projects are being defined, when built environment policies are being made, when regulations are being formulated, and when forms of contract are being set. We need to be in boardrooms, on advisory boards, in Ministers’ offices. This is where our expertise is sorely needed to even start to address the big design challenges of our time.
These are the issues that motivate me as Chapter President.
In Queensland, important planning and design policy decisions are being made at all government levels with an intensity unseen for decades.
Advocacy for our involvement in projects higher up the decision chain is the focus of my Presidency. I am working with AIA staff, National Council, members and Chapter Council to formulate advocacy plans for housing, climate resilience, the Olympics, and regulation. We have started the process of knocking on Ministers doors, and were pleased to have had the Deputy Premier and Assistant Minister for Housing, Planning and Better Regulation at the Presidents dinner in February to start the conversation.
Now is the time to assert our expertise, shape policy, and be a driving force in the future of our cities. There has never been a more important time for architects to be at the table.
Caroline Stalker
Queensland Chapter President
