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URBAN LIFE: The places we love most can be and ecologists are doing the things Harbourside by Snohetta + Hassell
found almost anywhere. Beside that make people want to stay in a
the ocean or a babbling creek, in place and giving people a reason to
a forest or beneath a single shady come back.”
tree. They can offer quiet and
solitude or the noise and bustling What happened to make the
energy of a busy city square. creation of attractive cities and
places so difficult? Mr Coles,
In the most intense urban recognised as one of the top 30
environments, our cities and landscape architects in the world,
towns, they seldom happen by whose broad portfolio of work
accident; they come about through spans placemaking, infrastructure,
considered planning and an civic institutions and green
understanding that place creation infrastructure, puts it down to the
should not be an afterthought or industrial revolution which led to
left to chance. the separation of work and home.
The identifies Catalhoyuk in Turkey as problem,” says Mr Coles. “We
“That separation is the big
Place creation is not new. UNESCO
the first known city in the world,
have created these things called
founded 9,000 years ago. It is highly
CBDs, as if we want just business
in our cities. What we really want
valued as an archaeological site for
Power patterns, yet nine millennia later, Where we went sideways was
what it reveals about settlement
is relationships, social districts.
we are still learning how to plan
making industry and business
our urban spaces in a way that is
separate to our lives.”
good for people and good for the
Far from predicting the death of
environment.
the CBD, Mr Coles is advocating a
of Place Sacha Coles, the Global Design rebirth of CBDs, edging closer to a
Director of ASPECT Studios,
European model that has somehow
resisted moves to disconnect work
believes that place is once again on
from living.
the ascendant and the turnaround
has him excited about what that
means for creating greener, more
things; a consistent density for a
pleasant cities to live in. “The spaces we love share a few
great street life with restaurants
“There has been a complete and cafes down the bottom and
transformation of the work we do families living in apartments you
in designing urban environments walk up to,” says Mr Coles.
in the past 10 years,” says Mr
Coles. “It has gone from a cost to “They provide spaces and urban
something our clients see as an environments with old and young
investment. That is a radical shift. people. There are schools in them
and people live and work and
“The landscape architects were play without separation. The best
once seen as primarily aesthetic spaces are those with layers and a
and decorative; we were just range of different uses. They have
costing money. But the reality is authenticity and generosity.”
the landscape architects, urbanists

“The best spaces are those

with layers and a range of

different uses. They have

authenticity and generosity.”

SACHA COLES
Global Design Director, ASPECT Studios

26 ISSUE 17 SPRING/SUMMER 2023 The Right Place by Mirvac Artist’s impression. Indicative only and subject to change. Landscaping and other aspects of the project may differ from this image. The Right Place by Mirvac ISSUE 17 SPRING/SUMMER 2023 27