As the British institute challenges its government with a list of demands for architecture, the Australian institute calls for a first officer of the built environment.
This week the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has unveiled its manifesto for architecture, which is designed to ram home the vote-winning potential of sound policy.
The document challenges the current and future British government to understand that good design, and an improved planning system, is vital to the health and sustainability of the nation’s communities.
The RIBA manifesto calls for four million homes to be retrofitted within the lifetime of the next parliament. Smart energy meters should be introduced in every building and carbon bills published, it says. The document also demands design standards for all public buildings, the same minimum space, design and environmental standards for both privately and publicly funded new homes, and more support for local authorities.
"The RIBA is urging the three main political parties to adopt our policies in their own manifestos for a general election. We will be taking our challenging manifesto to the major party conferences, and reiterating the importance of good design to present and future policymakers in the run-up to the general election,” Ruth Reed, RIBA president, said.
“Anything that raises the awareness of the value of good design is a good thing,” David Parken, CEO of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) told Architecture & Design. But the institute in Australia does not have its own manifesto.
The AIA does have a series of policies on issues including planning reform, affordable housing and heritage and, in the run up to an election, it will circulate a questionnaire to the different parties and post the responses on its website.
Parken said if he were to write a manifesto, high on the priority list would be the creation of a federal government architect, along with a government architect in every state and territory.
“A federal government architect could advise the government independently on how the built environment can help the its goals of better liveability, improved congestion, and a lesser environmental impact … from the policy point of view,” he said
Sustainable cities and planning reform are also central to the institute’s political agenda, Parken said.
