POSTS FROM 2015

7th December 2015 – It’s the vibe, Brisbane! 

A NEW PARK FOR THOMAS ST WEST END[2]

This Concept Plan for  “A New Park  for Thomas Street, West End” was prepared by a group of accomplished South Brisbane and West End landscape architects with extensive community participation and dialogue. This included involvement in an on site design workshop organised by Councillor Helen Abrahams, and a week-long community consultation program based in “The Kiosk” open space in Boundary Street, organised by the West End Community Association and  supported by the Kurilpa Futures.

Cr Abrahams announced yesterday that as a result of petitions, her representations, and the actions of candidates and community groups, Council has extended the date for submissions for another two weeks to 14 December 2015.

See submissions below from Cr Abrahams and from the Kurilpa Futures Campaign Group.

KFCG Submission – Thomas Street Urban Park

Councillor Helen Abrahams Submission – Thomas St Urban Park

30th November, 2015 – Thomas Street Urban Park: West End’s Town Square

A community collaboration by the West End Community Association (WECA), Kurilpa Futures, local residents and local landscape architects, John Mongard, Gavin Hardy, Alvin Kirby Michelle Kirby-Brown and Andrew Galt.

10th November, 2015 – People Power for Better Planning in the Westender

3rd November, 2015 – Green Space Strategy for 4101 – Original version – Prepared by local landscape architects John Mongard, Gavin Hardy, Alvin Kirby and Michelle Kirby-Brown.

21st September, 2015 – Planning Institute of Australia has sent this email of support, to its members, for the new federal position of Minister for Cities and the Built Environment.

20th September, 2015 – Brisbane is flood prone – we all know this. Could Brisbane do something similar??

19th September, 2015 –Satire to fight gentrification?

18th September, 2015 – Latest news on West Village:

From the Courier Mail –

From the Westender

17th September, 2015 – Seems like developers are at it again – canvasing community opinion without disclosing who its for.

7th September, 2015 – The Ideas Forum Report was presented to Deputy Premier Jackie Trad on the 5th August, and to Lord Mayor Grahame Quirk on the 11th August.  A summary of those meetings is given here.

19th August, 2015 – Brisbane Times – Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has called for CCC referrals over Wolter Consulting Group development application.

15th August, 2015 – Check out these development proposals. The idea of having 50 and 60 story buildings in our CBD is just one.

12th August, 2015 – 

Looking at ways to stem the corruption in land zoning found to exist by research out of the University of Queensland.

The possible long term effects of the new casino development

11th August, 2015 – From the Financial Review

9th August, 2015 – For a complete coverage on the March on the 2nd August check out Jan Bowman’s report in the Westender.

7th August, 2015 – Urban Agriculture at work

7th August, 2015 – Interesting look at cities around the world and the effect of ‘greening’. Source: Urban Design 4 Living with Climate – August News Email

7th August, 2015 – Brisbane Times  looking at the Aesthetics and Livability of Brisbane

22nd July, 2015 – Join us in out quest for Better Development Regulations:


16th June, 2015 – One of the legacies of the previous state government . It is no longer a case of, if we build it they will come!

14th June, 2015 – “Debate over development in suburban Brisbane is heating up”

13th June, 2015 – ABC story on Overdevelopment tonight (Saturday) on News 24 at 9.30pm or tomorrow morning (Sunday) on ABC 1.

1st June, 2015 – KFCG at West End State School Fiesta. Thank you WESS for letting us participate.

28th May, 2015 – Kurilpa Ideas Forum gets talked about in Quest

28th May, 2015 – Qld Government Planning Direction Paper

27th May, 2015 – Outcomes of the Kurilpa Ideas Forum. See what the attendees had to say.

19th May, 2015 – Great coverage of the Ideas Forum, giving locals a voice, on ABC 612 this morning. Then more coverage with the Westender and Quest News.

19th May, 2015 – Kurilpa Ideas Forum – 17th May, 2015. An amazing success with more than 160 people participating, and being given the opportunity to have their say on the design for the future of this significant piece of Brisbane waterfront land. Listen to the keynote speakers, and the Queensland Deputy Premier’s response.

13th May, 2015 – Volunteering

12th April, 2015 –

Come along and have your say at our Kurilpa Ideas Forum on the 17th May at Souths Leagues Club. RSVP to kurolpafuturesgroup@gmail.com. More information here.

17th April, 2015 – “How Brisbane Morphed From Big Country Town to Brisvegas”

15th April, 2015 – From the ABC – We can learn from Vancouver and Portland.

23rd March, 2015 – Check out our News and Media page for some interesting ideas from around the world.

22nd March, 2015 – From The Guardian

22nd March, 2015 – See how Melbourne is dealing with one of its urbane renewal projects at Fisherman’s Bend.

16th March, 2015 – Contribution by Andrea Young, one of Australia’s leading social planners whose work has helped to pioneer the integration of social considerations into urban planning and development processes.

13th March, 2015 – From the Brisbane Times – “Developers lodge plan for mega student towers in South Brisbane”

7th March, 2015 – From the Australian – Institute of Architect Queensland president Richard Kirk calls for “City Vision amid Brisbane’s Grand Design”.

4th March, 2015 – From the City South News: And what will happen when the approximately 11000 extras move in to Kurilpa?? When we asked the council representative, promoting the Draft Kurilpa Master Plan at the West End Markets last year, the plans they had for further school capacity the response was – that’s a state government issue. Considering this plan was jointly proposed by the LNP state government and the LNP Brisbane City Council you would think they’d have had a plan to address school over-crowding.

3rd March, 2015 – Lord Mayor Graham Quirk ignored the 12.5% compliance with the City Plan for  development approvals in South Brisbane when asked this question in Council. Instead he said “South Brisbane is a nice area and doing well” and “When Kurilpa comes on board, we’re going to see the whole growth of the creative precincts and industries”. From Question Time

What a shame that the Lord Mayor has never fronted to a meeting of local residents to know what they think of the Kurilpa Plan. Local residents do have legitimate ideas  for urban renewal growth in their suburb yet the Lord Mayor is not interested in what we have to say.

12th February, 2015 – Its not just Brisbane that’s facing high density living in their inner city – check this article out from The Age

3rd February, 2015 – According to ABC news – as a result of Saturday’s election, many of the proposed projects across the state are now ‘in limbo’, including the Draft Kurilpa Master Plan. If you haven’t already seen it check it out. The report is about 6 minutes into the news broadcast:

29th January, 2015 – From the Aus :  QIC Global Real Estate has emerged as a prime contender for two key development sites worth about $130 million that make up a substantial component of the Kurilpa Master Plan.

25th January, 2015 – Check out the audio from the Candidates’ Forum on the 21st January  – Statement of the problem, Policies from each candidate, and Wrapup.

22nd January, 2015 – South Brisbane Candidates’ Forum, yet another successful event – 2015 Election Forum outcomes media release­.

For those of you who attended last night, Thank You for coming and for participating. You would have received a list of candidates and their contact details. Don’t forget, if you have further questions, you can send them to the relevant candidate. And, if you think its appropriate, please send a copy of the question and answer to kurilpafuturesgroup@gmail.com

20th January, 2015 – “An interesting and pertinent article in relation to Green Square Urban Renewal area in Sydney and the concerns arising out of the shortfall in the provision of public transport and planning for vehicle accessibility.”

20th January, 2015 – “This is indicative of the potential issues that will arise with the Kurilpa Renewal area and the lack of planning being shown in relation to the provision of public transport and vehicle accessibility.”

10th January, 2015 – Come and join us at our Local Candidates Forum,  jointly run with The Westender, to hear policies on development and developer contribution to political parties.