Living Links A collaborative Master Plan to create a world- class - - PDF document

Living Links – A collaborative Master Plan to create a world- class urban ecosystem

A summary of the presentation delivered to the inaugural International Congress 2010 – ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ by Shane Scanlon, Program Coordinator, Port Phillip and Westernport CMA. Already at this 2010 International Congress – ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ we have heard some recurring themes resonating in the various presentations by the key speakers. We are hearing a lot about ‘connectivity’ and the need to optimise the functionality of

• pen space environments for nature, while enhancing people’s access to them.

We’ve also heard a lot about the importance of ‘collaboration’ among organizations to develop and achieve integrated environmental plans – plans that will help transcend the boundaries and perceived limitations of individual institutions involved in open space development. This presentation will introduce you to Living Links – a program to improve connectivity in the open space network in the urban and industrial landscapes to the south east of Melbourne. Living Links is a successful example of a functioning collaboration of around twenty organizations, including eleven local governments. I’ll be talking about the Living Links brand as the foundation and a key component of the collaboration, and the progress towards a Master Plan which will be the ultimate product of the collaboration.

The Place – Melbourne’s urbanized and industrialized south-east Living Links is focused on the expanse of medium density urban and industrial areas between Port Phillip Bay and the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges to the east of Melbourne. It’s an area that houses around 1.5 million people; and also contains 25% of Victoria’s manufacturing businesses. As a major component of the State’s economy this area has a Gross Regional Product (GRP) of around $142.5 billion, and provides around 700,000 jobs. Greater Melbourne’s population is growing rapidly towards 4 million, and recent projections are that this rate of growth will increase further to produce a city of between six and a half and seven million by 2050. To accommodate this growth, current government policy seeks to curtail urban sprawl at the city’s perimeter by increasing population density in the existing inner and middle suburbs. Strategies include encouraging more flexible in-fill developments and increasing as-of-right building heights in designated activity centres across the metropolitan area. This approach will inevitably put increased pressure on remaining open space and natural assets in the existing urban areas.

The Living Links Vision Living Links is a shared vision among environmental agencies and interest groups to help ensure that the precious remaining natural assets in Melbourne’s south-east region continue to be protected and enhanced in the face of this escalating development pressure. Living Links promotes this area as ‘the most livable part of one of the world’s most livable cities’. The challenge is to maintain the features and elements of its landscape that make it so. Its a complex challenge. Under Australia’s three-tier system of democracy, the political and institutional profile of this area is as complex as its physical topography. Its eleven local governments operate independently as local planning authorities, and several other regional authorities also have land management and planning authority

• ver components of the land and waterways.

Collaboration and integrated planning are vital. The council boundaries in the Living Links region Collaboration – its doesn’t ‘just happen’ This next part of my talk is about how Living Links has managed to establish and sustain an enduring collaboration of multiple organisations over a period of 5 years so far, and looking strong and positive into the future. In NRM as in many businesses or walks of life – ‘collaboration’ sounds positive and desirable and you’d think it would be pretty simple to build - but it doesn’t ‘just happen’!

It’s not something we’re taught and it presents a challenge to many people in many

• rganizations. Some people are good at it (we’ll call them ‘enablers’) – but others

work against it either inadvertently of deliberately (we’ll call them ‘stiflers’). So to promote and manage a collaborative program it is important to understand why collaboration is harder for some people and some organisations, particularly councils. Local government by its very charter has a clear responsibility to focus on what happens within its boundaries. To some this means to have little concern for what’s happening elsewhere. Our best strategy when managing environmental challenges at a landscape scale is to try and lift the political boundaries off the map and encourage Council and agencies work together for a common goal with mutual benefits. PPWCMA considers collaboration to be part of its core business. It created Living Links to promote that this collective of councils and other organisations in the SE region of Melbourne needs a strategy that recognises their interdependence in environmental planning as the pressures of future development increase. The elements of a successful collaborative model Shared vision - Firstly, collaboration requires a vision that people can relate to and will value the purpose of. So when we say that Living Links is focused on the most livable part of one of the world’s most livable cities – we trust they will see that as something worth contributing to. Champions - Collaboration needs champions – a group of ambassadors in the collaborating organisations whom you are confident can and will promote the collaboration up into their organisation consistently. These are your ‘enablers’ who are vital to continually try to influence the ‘stiflers’. ‘WIIFM’ (What’s in it for me!?) - These champions will need to have ready access to up-to-date information that articulates the benefits of the collaboration to their

• rganization. The ‘stiflers’ will most often question what their organization gets out of

their contribution to the collaboration. The response needs to be about tangible and quantifiable benefits, and your champions need to have these ready at hand. Coordination - Collaboration needs coordination. It needs drive and leadership from people or organizations whom its members recognise as having that leadership role. This requires resources and commitment. Living Links has this. In its development years, Living Links was the beneficiary of grant monies allocated through the Australian Government (Natural Heritage Trust), however recent revisions of national investment priorities in the ‘Caring for our Country’ program mean it no longer qualifies for this core coordination funding. This is due mainly to its urban location. Alternative funding models for program coordination were put to the Living Links partner organizations by lead agency (the PPWCMA), and each agreed to increase their annual financial contributions to make up the shortfall – some were even prepared to double theirs. Celebration and recognition – When coordinating a collaboration like Living Links, it is important to recognise that many of the people who support the program with their time and knowledge are doing so ‘voluntarily’. Even if employed in a participating

• rganization, the tasks they take on to support something external like Living Links

adds to their workload, and their contribution is not necessarily always convenient for

• them. Giving these ‘volunteers’ some recognition for their efforts is preferable to

being seen to take them for granted. Look for occasions to celebrate the successes

• f the collaboration and include all your supporters in the celebrations.

The brand – ‘Living Links’ The next element of the Living Links program which makes it a successful natural resource management collaboration is the ‘Brand’. The environment industry has become a crowded market place with different ideas and entities jostling for attention, resources and funding. But it’s an industry which is not always au-fait with the need to quantify, inform and promote results and outcomes to stakeholders and investors. Whether you’re seeking to attract the corporate dollar, or submitting projects to a government grants program or an agency / Council annual budget process - you need to articulate clearly the benefits to the investor if you expect them to provide financial support to your activities. It is important that your project title or brand is clear and consistent in what it stands for, and is easy to remember to help build an impression of credibility, longevity and permanence over time. An effective brand is one that stands out from the crowd. Investors are generally looking for results that meet their expectations, support their

• bjectives, help deliver on their corporate social or environmental responsibility

agenda, and enable them to easily on-sell the benefits and wisdom of their investment choice to their stakeholders. The consistency of the Living Links brand is sustained in signage at project sites, in publications and websites. It is included in the title of many local submissions that attract and leverage funding from organizations, because the investment is clearly associated with a program which other organizations are supporting, and a vision that they are achieving together. Signage is not of the type that is so big it detracts form the natural beauty of the environments it is promoting – but rather discreet descriptive reminders of the value

• f our natural assets and the collaborative commitment and investment that goes into

maintaining and protecting them.

A small descriptive reminder of the value of our natural assets and the collaborative commitment and investment that goes into maintaining and protecting them When joint ownership and support for the brand is established it comes to signify a ‘one-in-all-in’ commitment, and there’s a sense you’d be ‘letting the side down’ if you withdraw your support. The brand and the tools that support it are the collateral that your ‘champions’ or ‘enablers’ need to mount a compelling case. They will need it to influence councilors, finance managers or other decisionmakers who may be otherwise influenced by stiflers of collaborative activities. The Living Links Master Plan The final element I wish to focus on which we believe continues to drive the success

• f Living Links is a ‘Master Plan – approach’.

Like any plan it should identify what needs to be done, who needs to be involved, when and how it should occur, and how much it might cost. A Master Plan can help elevate the program to a status that it can be referred to and incorporated more readily into other organisations’ strategic planning and budgeting. It fills a knowledge gap of the ‘practical how-to’ for organisations wondering how they should be better contributing to regional environmental outcomes. It can transcend political boundaries around which many existing plans might be based, by establishing new formal program parameters of its own. And it can transcend generations within organisations as staff members, managers and councillors change over time. The existence of the Master Plan enables the

project to become the constant - handed on in training and induction programs as ‘part of the job description’ as people and ideas come and go. This has been a summary overview of the progression of a vision for landscape-scale environmental improvement in a complex urban environment, to an evolving collaborative master plan which puts in place the information and organizations needed to covert the vision to reality. You can find out more about Living Links by checking out the program website at www.livinglinks.com.au or contact the coordinating agency – Port Phillip and Westernport CMA on 8781 7900.