Catalyst Infrastructure Provides Good Growth Option for Local Government

As you may have already gathered, Local Government and in particular Regional Councils are a real interest to me with regard to how they are shaping or are not shaping places to grow stronger communities. In our multi-level governance structure the real capacity to deliver the benefits of growth in a sustainable way is at the local level. The scale I call "my place my vote"… the pointy end of the governance stick!

Investing the Benefits of Growth

There is a growing community realisation that the rewards of growth are in fact reducing our quality of life. There seems an inability to transfer the benefits of growth evenly across the broader community. In particular, it appears the non-urban areas aren't getting their share of the current economic prosperity. The unfortunate truth is we are not making smart investments to secure the future vitality of our communities at a time when there is money to do so…and this could be the worst legacy we could leave future generations!

Dumb Infrastructure

This lack of strategic investment is most apparent in the old world thinking we are bringing towards delivering infrastructure. In an age of global warming, increasing energy costs, peak oil impacts, aging populations, skill shortages, the Internet and food security we wonder why building transport corridors, freight lines, gas powered power stations, coal ports etc. isn't seen by communities as enough to secure their future.

On one hand we can have Government infrastructure expenditure at record highs yet the identity, quality of life and sustainability of our towns and communities are still going backwards. With the continued impacts of construction cost escalation and our inability to challenge old management models we are moving towards Dumb & Dumber Infrastructure. We continue to deliver projects that at the regional scale make sense but at the local scale seem disconnected from the real issues of community life.

It’s time to Get Smart with Infrastructure

Clearly, we need to be smarter with how we approach infrastructure investment in our towns and communities. We need to bring new thinking to how we prioritise and deliver critical infrastructure that shapes the places we live in. We need to local-ise infrastructure to grow stronger communities and the agency to do this is Local Government.

Communities Need Local Government to Show the Way

Local Government must step up to guide growth that strengthens communities. At the Local Government scale every place is important and everyone needs a place in the future. Regional, State and National priorities don’t cut it at the local government scale… and they aren't meant to! That is the role of Local Government.

If Local Government fails to find the framework to promote growth that protects local lifestyle and identity then as a community we all loose, which makes the larger scale economic prosperity of Region, State and Nation meaningless.

The Our Town Our Future commissioned by Hinchinbrook Shire Council has been recognised by its 7th Major Award as a project where local government has stepped up to guide good growth for it’s community. This project is providing a template for what will be needed to local-ise infrastructure investment to build stronger communities.

Regional Planning Removes Local Identity

Another reason Local Government and in particular Regional Councils need to step up to the task of local-ising infrastructure is that there is a major blind spot in our current Regional Planning Process. It is accentuated in Queensland due to distance and population. Our current Regional planning process has a growth focus that fails the needs of towns and communities outside the regional growth centres particularly those communities on the fringe within the 2 hour drive.

Stimulate Growth as well as Manage Growth

Most towns and communities outside urban centres need growth stimulation rather than growth management. They need Smart Infrastructure investment that attracts the change that will enhance their social and economic sustainability and effectively reduce their long term social and economic liabilities.

This is exactly the issues that the NQ3 Enterprise Strategy is attempting to address as it is becoming clearer that the current process is not working for the broader community benefit.

What is Smart Infrastructure?

Smart infrastructure practice is based around an understanding of the three key infrastructures of Service, Growth and Catalyst infrastructure. Service Infrastructure provides the base line to community quality of life expectations. It is infrastructure that is a political given to ensure common standard of living. Growth Infrastructure responds to growth needs. Its purpose is to avoid unnecessary constrictions to existing growth. Catalyst Infrastructure is an upfront investment to stimulate growth that will strengthen the community.

Smart Infrastructure is how you combine Service, Growth and Catalyst Infrastructure to strengthen local identity and lifestyle AND build stronger regions. In townships and communities that are missing out on the benefits of regional growth, smart infrastructure provides a catalyst for good local growth.

There are various definitions around about the role of smart Infrastructure within regions. But we don’t live in regions we live in places. From a place sustaining point of view the most powerful definition relates to what should happen at the local scale.

Infrastructure that is going to be good for local places within a growing region should be infrastructure that:

1. Provides leadership
2. Reduces investment risk
3. Strengthens access to learning
4. Celebrates local identity and lifestyle
5. Promotes innovation & creative thinking
6. Reinvigorates business thinking and practice
7. Creates attractive places for knowledge workers
8. Promotes connections through networks & clusters
9. Nurtures growth through enterprise that delivers local jobs
10. Unifies the community through a shared vision of the future

So next time you review an Infrastructure Priority List see how much old world thinking persists and how much of the above are acknowledged outcomes of the billion budgets.

What is Catalyst Infrastructure?

Catalyst Infrastructure brings together the service and growth infrastructure needs in a way that strengthens communities. The idea of Catalyst Infrastructure is beginning to generate some interest from those exposed to the tasks of building stronger frameworks for long term success. Dr Penny Burns of Strategic Asset Management has recently contacted me with her thoughts on this concept and was taken to provide an editorial review of Catalyst Infrastructure in the June copy of her fortnightly newsletter.

How to identify Catalyst Infrastructure?

The biggest challenge, especially for the underfunded and under resourced Local Government is how do you identify the 2 or 3 actions out of the pages of action lists that can be delivered to the community. Which actions will give you the most leverage, the best local outcomes and the best chance of secure public and private sector investment? …In short, how can you pick the winners!

Well it is easier than you think. The real strength of Place-based Enterprise is that it provides the process to identify and deliver outcomes that can guide growth to strengthen the community and support regional development.