GREENING LAUNCESTON

YES INDEED IF HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY IT but given the history here ECHO7250 suggests that concerned citizens by-pass Your Voice Your Launceston and take their concerns, suggestions, and aspiration straight to the Councillors personally in the best way they can. The 'YOUR VOICE' strategy is tokenistic

By doing so citizens can avoid having their aspirations filtered, blended, blanded and possibly distorted by Council's Management towards achieving some form of convenient lowest common denominator.

It needs to be said however that this DRAFT STRATEGY carries all the characteristics of moonshine brewed in the woodshed and in the dark. It is now 'on the market' on the assumption that it's 'good drop'. Since the metaphor here is to do with intoxication it needs to be said that it might intoxicate but it is far, far away from being a 'smooth drop' ... illicit as it may be. 

Moreover, the venue where this illicit drop is being marketed should have a warning sign on the door saying: 

SLY STUFF FLOGGED HERE 

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Thinking back we might think of Joseph Goebbels and his saying that "a lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth"

In any event as that American humorist Mark Twain tells us, if we ever do the right thing. It will gratify some people and it will astonish the rest. Let's be astonished!

Click on the image to enlarge

THE VISION The vision here imagines Launceston to be a 'city' and as some kind of monolithic entity which in fact is a misrepresentation of Launceston's 'placedness' and its status as a 'municipality'. 

Launceston's borders are ill defined and in fact they are somewhat blurred. Like 'cities' elsewhere Launceston is a network of precincts and it ever likely to be increasingly so and to be increasingly diverse relative to cultural sensibilities. 

Thus the presumed 'authority' that is being invoked/imposed is highly contestable and by extension the assumed outcomes, while desirable, they become less likely in a monolithic context. Likewise, the concept of, and the utility of, an 'Urban Forest' is not particularly helpful when imagining the operative biological ecologies in urban and peri-urban cultural landscapes.

THEME 1’ as proposed is challengeable on the grounds of current practice given that if a ‘development’ is impacted upon by existing vegetation, it has invariably been sacrificed and without mitigation. 

Examples of this in this municipality are a legion. Moreover, suggestions that the city follow strategies elsewhere have consistently and persistently fallen upon ’deaf ears’. 

This is especially so where there is a financial impediment for the loss of canopy and where there is an offset strategy whereby a ‘canopy planting’ is initiated in an appropriate place has been put forward.

The retention of current canopy cover is an will be a critical consideration going forward not only from the perspective of 'canopy cover' but also in regard to carbon sequestration.

THEME 2 appears to be framed in such a way as it can ‘skirted around’ or circumvented on the unreliable compliance of an unaccountable bureaucrat. Moreover, it pays no attention whatsoever to contemporary urban ecologies and is likewise laced with some obscure and unexplained ideology. 

Interestingly nowhere is the concepts of cultural landscaping and place shaping muted. Might this be due to the concept being disruptive of the status quo albeit unsustainable in a 21st C context.

All this lets planners and developers 'off-the-hook' and allows, sanctions even, the assumed overarching imperatives.

THEME 3 falls into the category ‘mythology’ – perhaps urban myth making. The word ‘forest’ comes with ‘cultural cargo’. A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. 

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. 

Likewise, ‘urban’ comes with ‘cultural cargo’. Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. The defining theme is the presence of a great number of very different people in a very limited space. Most are strangers to each other but still try to be polite to each other more often than not. 

Therefore, it possible to build a vast array of subcultures close to each other, exposed to each other's influence, but without necessarily intruding into people's private lives and/or cultural realities. 

Blending and blanding the concepts of ‘urbanism and forestry’ is an exercise in mythmaking that ‘in places’ there will be conflicts and contests all emanating from conflicting cultural sensitivities and sensibilities. 

Arguably, the invocation of ‘urbanism and forestry’ is so contestable as to be dysfunctional. However, IF the objective was to build an ecological diverse cultural landscape that pays respect to urban ‘placemaking’ in ways where it is an imperative that a bio-diverse canopy cover is a common and cooperative goal, that would be a monumental step forward.

THEME 4 Like the ‘themes’ that lead to it, the evidence is that here the top-down hierarchical management model is in the mindset rather than a diverse interfacing network of ‘place oriented’ mindsets where a diversity of placemakers in various manifestations share in the development of ‘streetscapes’ and precincts in collaboration with individuals, various groups and civic administrators. 

Homemaking is placemaking and at home… We do second chances…We do real.…We do mistakes.…We do I’m sorrys.…  We do loud really well.… We do understanding well .... We do it together best of all. Everyone is a placemaker

The top-down approach here, on the evidence systematically fails, so an alternative more place-oriented strategy needs to be invoked. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and like the gymnastic pyramid it will inevitably fail due to the weakest gymnast falling.  Hierarchies always fail whereas a tree will continue to grow albeit that it may lose branches.

The imperative here aught not to be the imposition of a strategy but an alternative approach where there is dynamic community engagement and interfacing activities in a holistic search for a more sustainable cultural landscape that acknowledges diversity, the histories relative to place and the various cultural sensibilities involeved in placemaking and homemaking. 

THEME 5 In reality the objective here would and should be an outcome of community engagement needed to generate the goals being aimed for. However, it needs to be said that the most appropriate outcome is most unlikely to come from some orchestrated top-down hierarchical paradigm. 

Given that ‘the exercise’ is essentially to do with ‘placemaking’ a network of networks is more likely to deliver the desired outcomes that any attempt at a one-size-fits-all administration oriented approach. 

In the end what is important is a sense of ‘ownership’ without any hint of the them-and-us syndrome. Humans are social animals, hardwired to form groups. So, why do we treat some groups favorably and yet ostracise others? This is the them-and-us syndrome at work and it not only divides society but has historically led to ethnocide, all manner of phobias and even genocide.

So what causes the them-and-us syndrome and how does this thinking trap divide society? Arguably there are three processes that lead to it ... Evolution ... Learned Survival ... Identity. Nonetheless these things need to be contextualised in the 21st C and especially so if we are to avoid humanity's worst case scenarios.

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IN THE EXAMINER ... HAVE YOUR SAY: The City of Launceston will look to set an ambitious target of doubling the tree canopy cover across urban areas of the municipality by 2040. That's just one of a number of key deliverables outlined in the Council's inaugural Urban Greening Strategy, which is now open for public comment on the City of Launceston's engagement platform, Your Voice Your Launceston...............Launceston Mayor Danny Gibson said that the Council recognises that street trees and other forms of greening enhances not only the visual amenity of many parts of Launceston but they also helped create a strong sense of identity in many public spaces both in the CBD and in the surrounding suburbs............... "Currently, canopy cover across what's considered the area of interest in our region is around 19 per cent," Mayor Gibson said............... "Our aim over the next 20 years is to see that level of cover effectively double to around 40 per cent and we think that's an entirely achievable outcome." Mayor Gibson said that the benefits of reaching that figure would be generationally significant............... "We know that increased canopy cover enhances biodiversity in our urban environment as well as mitigating the impacts of climate change, particularly reducing the effects of heat," Mayor Gibson said. "Ultimately, our vision is for a highly accessible green city with robust sustainable communities and a vibrant and diverse inner city core." To help meet this target and the broader vision of the strategy, the Council has collaborated with the Launceston Chamber of Commerce on a shared approach to the provision of green infrastructure ............... In May 2022, the two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding with both committing to jointly developing a strategy and implementation plan that builds on existing greening projects while establishing actions and timelines to enhance the further greening projects, with a specific target of the CBD. "One of the aims of this MOU is to look at ways to integrate greening into the city centre to create a nice place that people not only want to visit, but want to stay and spend time there," Mayor Gibson said............... "One example I am particularly proud of the recent investments by the City of Launceston in Civic Square. It's a space that has been transformed into a magnificent green oasis for the community to enjoy............... "Most days you can find people sitting in the shelter of the trees having lunch or reading a book or sharing a chat over a cup of coffee or watching their children play in the interactive water feature outside the library............... "The space also includes a community garden as well as providing a wonderful location for events and community gatherings, which just add to a vibrant and inclusive city centre.".............. Mayor Gibson said outside the CBD, there were a number of opportunities to increase the canopy cover around walking and cycling paths by adding trees and greenery to create added amenity, as well as trees to create cooling in areas where people gather to wait for public transport such as bus stops and shelters............... Providing shading around schools yards and playgrounds, particularly in the Northern Suburbs, was a specific area highlighted as currently being deficient, Mayor Gibson said............... The draft strategy is now out for community consultation, and Mayor Gibson has urged all Northern Tasmanians with an interest in greening the region to be involved............... "Once we have the community's input, Council will prepare an implementation plan and work with businesses and residents to put the plan into action," Mayor Gibson said............... "And that's one of the main messages we want people to hear - is that Council cannot achieve this on its own. "It's vital that the community is involved and comes with us on this journey as we look to grow not only more trees and canopy cover on public and private land, but look at new and innovative ways to green our urban and inner city areas, and to provide more public space for both urban and suburban gardens." For more information or to engage with the Urban Greening Strategy, go to www.tomorrowtogetherlaunceston.com.au..............