BUSINESS FACTORY FARMS

Being a small business ourselves we were impressed by a recent address at the National Press Club by Peter Strong, CEO of the Council of Small Business of Australia.

'There is a small ruling class in Australia of institutions and large businesses that need to be disempowered and that power given back to the majority'

 He includes in this business ‘ruling class’ Australia’s supermarket chain duopoly who, along with the biggest landlords, manipulate urban planning processes so that their malls become the only places to shop: he says that, at their whim, they will organize streets to be made one way, carparks outside their malls to be moved under or next to their malls, and for bus stops to be moved closer to their entrances. “…they capture the High Street and enclose it in a business ‘factory farm’… customers used to be ‘free range’ in the High Street. The High Street once again is owned by a medieval Lord…”

There are plenty of examples throughout Australia of this type of activity: in our own city of Brisbane we have a number of Local Government designated ‘Centres” where the intended vision is that of a dense walkable mixed use urban environment – but where the reality is that of a shopping mall ‘gulag’ characterised by:

·         Massive monolithic inward facing shopping malls surrounded by a moat of car park structures and disconnected from other external activity

·         Public transit stations colonised by the private mall development

·         Preferential treatment by Councils and Roads Authorities which ensure access arrangements that are detrimental to the surrounding neighbourhoods

·         Creation of streets that are hostile environments for the local pedestrian: in fact deliberately sucking the life out of surrounding streets (and independent retailers)

·         A total destruction of the intended vision for the area i.e. other uses not integrated and zero walkability

The address by Peter Strong is available here:  http://www.cosboa.org.au/blog/peter-strongs-national-press-club-address-1-july-2015

Above is a real live example (which will remain anonymous) displaying all of the attributes described in Mr Strong’s address. 

Peter believes a major impediment for managing change and fostering growth in the national economy is the small number of institutions and businesses that see their needs as above the needs of the community or they believe that the community needs to be saved from itself by their imperial like decisions. 

Due to their dominance and power they have become the new ruling class and like all ruling class they have become inbred and a drain on productivity and innovation. These autocratic institutions and businesses need to become more transparent and consultative and more accountable for their behaviours and actions. 

Empowering local business communities across the nation will force transparency and create the environment from which innovators and risk takers can emerge. 

For our part we are fortunate to be working on design assignments aimed at  re-configuring standard monolithic shopping centres by turning them ‘inside out’ and connecting them back into the neighbourhood. One such centre is displayed here. 

This 1980's shopping centre has been progressively  revamped to accommodate 24 hour use, with remedial works isolated into three phases. 

Phase 1 entailed a retail expansion and introduction of residential apartments, whilst Phase 2 saw a new library and plaza to facilitate more outdoor public space on site. The final stage will include a new retail laneway expansion, childcare centre and new shared pedestrian zones to enable 'walkable streets'. 

Once complete, the centre will facilitate shopping 'free range in the High Street',  an immensely  favourable alternative to the structures Peter condemns.