Soft urbanism could save cities millions
With the ever-present need to do more with less resources, Council’s across Australia and New Zealand are working innovatively to find new ways to leverage off, and partner with, external organisations. In some cases the savings could be in the millions.
Urbanismplus have helped to drive innovation in this area over the last 5 years, radically changing the way some councils do business. Projects include development contributions policies that promote residential and business growth, and innovative techniques that unlock infrastructure and planning constraints to enable growth, anticipated to bring jobs, growth, and millions in retail spend to CBDs.
Lismore City Council (LCC) was recently awarded the ‘Excellence in Innovation’ at the Northern Rivers Business Awards for their ‘Buy Local Project’, developed in a process facilitated by Urbanismplus and championed by LCC Executive Director, Brent McAlister. The project, a partnership to develop an online noticeboard for Northern NSW Local Health District and University Centre for Rural Health to easily source products and services locally, was enabled by LCC facilitating the website development. In just the past month the website has allowed local businesses to directly access 50 tenders, with an expected contract value of AUD$30 to 50 million. More institutions have subsequently come on board.
Mark Batten, LCC Economic Development Manager, states: “The future of our business is not business as usual. Our future is building partnerships in our community with other agencies and business so our city can continue to grow and prosper in its own unique way. This award shows we have worked hard to stretch ourselves and demonstrate we can be as good as the best of the private sector.”
Fore more information on our defrag and leverage techniques, visit deFRAG.