Happy new year to you all and welcome to 2012.

We have another big year ahead in the Institute and the planning profession with lots happening in every state and division. Legislative review, elections, process improvements and specific topic debates such as infrastructure funding and urban growth boundaries occurring across the nation.

A must for all will be the PIA national congress in beautiful Adelaide in April. Come down for a weekend in the Barossa ( or longer of course ) and then join us for some fascinating sessions on resilience in planning - not just disaster recovery but food security, remaking communities for 21 st century success and then master classes in urban design, transport and social planning. I am certainly signing up for the walking tour of the $700 million redevelopment of the riverbank precinct. Join us and reinvigorate for the year ahead with registrations open now.

The Institute is planning ahead with a major strategic planning forum to be held on 5 March in Canberra where we will look at key tasks for the next financial year. The Board of Directors will meet with Division Presidents to consider key issues and actions. Please let any of us know if you have priority actions you would like raised. As a precursor to the strategic planning day, Kirsty (CEO) and I met with a group of Past National Presidents this week for a day. Barbara Norman, John McInerney, Marcus Spiller, Sue Holliday and Neil Savery graciously gave us a day of their time to discuss key issues for the Institute and the profession over the last few years and for the years ahead. It was an excellent day's conversation and I am very grateful for their time.

And finally, thank you to those of you who have provided feedback on the revamped Policy Bulletin. I thought it looked great and contained excellent information on what is happening around the country but it was good to hear from members that you found the new format useful and easy to read.

Remember to register for the congress

Dyan Currie MPIA CPP
President -natpresident@planning.org.au

2012 National Congress - REGISTER NOW

 www.piacongress.com

Register now for the 2012 PIA National Congress in Adelaide's Convention Centre from 29 April to 2 May.

The 2012 PIA National Congress will draw on our country's recent experiences to improve planning for natural disasters, help recovery processes and build our resilience.

Set among Adelaide's cultural, artistic and culinary attractions, this Congress includes a strong line up of speakers, subjects and forums to inform and challenge delegates.

Join us to celebrate and explore the contribution planning makes, and engage with innovative and exciting new ideas and approaches in urban and regional planning.

Full Program now available

Registrations now open

Follow Congress on Twitter at #piacongress

YPConnect 2012 - REGISTER NOW

PIA National Awards for Planning Excellence

2012 Award Nomination Booklet

National Awards for Planning Excellence – Call for Nominations National Categories Only

Nominations extended to 27th February 2012

As a part of the promotion of the new and revised award categories, the call for nominations in the ‘National Only’ categories have been re-opened.

The planning profession has enormously important and positive contributions to make to the future. Participating in the Awards for Planning Excellence is a small but important way to demonstrate your commitment to advancing the profession. Promoting planning success stories is a great way to show how planners really make a difference.

The National Awards for Planning Excellence will be presented on Monday 30 April 2012.

National Award Categories

Policy & Advocacy 

The most recent edition of the PIA Policy and Advocacy Bulletin was released in December after having undergone a transformation into the PIA ‘Policy Snapshot’. The objective of the Snapshot is to provide a central, comprehensive hub of information related to planning policy, in a format which is very accessible and easy to navigate. View the most recent version of the Policy Snapshot here.

Late last year, PIA made submissions to the Skilled Occupations List 2012 and to the Standards Australia Climate Change Adaptation for Settlements & Infrastructure Submission.

PIA has also welcomed the recent release of Australia’s first Urban Design Protocol Creating Places for People – an urban design protocol for Australian cities. PIA was involved in providing comments to the draft documents, made an official submission to the draft document, and the Chair of the PIA Urban Design Chapter was involved in its development. The Minister for Infrastructure Anthony Albanese recently established an Urban Policy Forum, bringing together experts from across all levels of government as well as industry and academia, including PIA CEO Kirsty Kelly and other high profile PIA members. The central role of the forum will be to advise the Government on the implementation of our National Urban Policy.

The Planning Institute has also partnered with several universities over Australia to successfully win a grant to deliver research around ‘Experiential Learning in Planning Education: Resources and Tools for Good Practice’.

As members of ASBEC, PIA has also participated in a second workshop with SEWPaC in the development of National Sustainability Indicators.

In keeping an eye on planning policy work, PIA is awaiting the upcoming COAG report on the status of city strategic planning systems, along with much of the planning industry. PIA also notes with interest the recent recognition by Infrastructure Australia of the relationship between infrastructure provision and urban planning. Last but not least, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is still available for comment until the 16th April, and has implications for regional and urban land use and spatial patterns of development.

PIA Policy Team - policy@planning.org.au

Clean Energy Expert Advisory Group

Clean Energy Futures

The Planning Institute of Australia is calling for 'expressions of interest' from members and planning professionals who would like to be a part of an exciting new clean energy project.

In partnership with the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, PIA has been set the task of preparing the planning profession to interpret and facilitate the implementation of the Federal Government's Clean Energy Future Plan.

We are looking for members who would like to be part of an expert advisory panel to ensure the project meets the needs of the wider planning profession. The committee will be made up of specialists from different sectors, however members don't have to be ’an expert' in clean energy.

In coming years, planners will be faced with the challenge of responding to the rapid evolution of regulatory and policy obligations associated with climate change. Our objective is to prepare the profession to effectively deal with these challenges.

This will be done through a combination of face-to-face and online training, and the provision of the relevant information and recourses necessary to plan a clean energy future, via an interactive website.
If you would like to be part of the expert advisory committee, please allocate a preference from 1 to 4 (or ‘all’) to the following activities

(if you have an equal preference for two or more options either can be allocated)

1. Completing and providing feedback on an initial draft questionnaire regarding Clean Energy Futures (this must be done the week of 20 February to 24 February)

2. Participation in an online ‘community panel’ discussion forum

3. Participation in between 2 – 4 meetings between 6 March and 30 June in person, to be held in PIA’s Melbourne office (travel at own cost)

4. Participation in between the above meetings via teleconference

5. Participation in an engagement workshop at PIA’s National Congress in Adelaide (date and time to be determined)

Please contact Simone Stevenson at Stevenson@planning.org.au or (03) 9347 1900 for more information or to submit your expression of interest.

EOI’s must be submitted no later than COB Monday 6 February.

Healthy Spaces and Places Training

PIA has received numerous enquiries from Local Governments regarding the Healthy Spaces and Places training.

The training is specifically aimed at Local Government staff (including senior managers and elected members) who are involved in designing, building and maintaining the built environment so as to improve the health of their communities. A selection of four modules have been developed and(each module runs for ½ day).

The training focuses on:

• Developing an understanding of the relationship between health, wellbeing and the build environment and how evidence base research supports this.

• Learning how to apply healthy design principles to different development types

• Learning how to influence decision makers to achieve planning for healthier communities

• Implementing practical strategies, case studies, research and resources to gain quality results.

For further information see the Healthy Spaces and Places website.

CPP

2012 Calendar is available now

Our regular online courses are designed to meet the needs of planners with busy schedules, as well as those in regional and rural areas or overseas.

In-house and non-scheduled courses are also available; if none of the dates or locations are suitable then please contact us to talk to about how we can organise courses in your area, such as through expression of interest campaigns. We are also happy to explore running units in conjunction with conferences and other events being held in your area.

Our aim is to make participation in CPP courses as easy and convenient as possible so that you can get the most benefit out of this valuable professional development opportunity.

For further information pleae contact the CPP Manager on 02 6262 5933 or email cpp@planning.org.au.

PIA Post Nominals

PIA members at the Student, Graduate or Corporate grades (including both Full Members and Fellows) are awarded honorific post nominals. This ‘name suffix’ (a short string of letters added after a name) indicates an attainment of grade, a commitment to practice in accordance with the highest professional and ethical standards and a strong affiliation with the Planning Institute of Australia.

PIA Post Nominals can be used on your email signature block, on business cards, in résumés or in other formal correspondence, and all eligible members are encouraged to display them proudly (you may wish to check your employer’s policy regarding professional affiliation before doing so, however).

These are the post nominals for each eligible grade:

• Student member – MPIA (Student)

• Graduate member – MPIA (Graduate)

• Full member – MPIA

• Full member with CPP accreditation – MPIA CPP

• Fellow – FPIA

• Fellow with CPP accreditation – FPIA CPP

• Life Fellow – LFPIA

• Life Fellow with CPP accreditation – LFPIA CPP

• Honorary Fellow - MPIA (Hon Fellow)

NB: Associate members do not have PIA Post Nominals.

Here are two examples of proper use of PIA Post Nominals: Solomon Grundy MPIA(Graduate) or Maximilian Grandiloquist MPIA CPP.

If you aren’t sure what post nominals to use, or how to use them, please contact the PIA membership team at our National Office on 02 6262 5933 or at membership@planning.org.au.

PIA Employment Directory - new feature

In 2012 a new feature has been added to the PIA Employment Directory.  All new job listings will be posted on Facebook and Twitter as soon as they are listed on the Employment Directory.

If you are looking for a new challenging position or if you wish to advertise a position vacant go to http://www.planning.org.au/employment to find out more.

2012 Division Conference

SA Active Living Coalition

South Australian Active Living Coalition was formed some four years ago as a partnership between government departments and agencies, such as the Heart Foundation and PIA, to provide a collaborative forum for the planning and coordination of communities that support active living in South Australia. Encouraging urban managers and developers to promote a greater emphasis on people friendly streets, as a catalyse for urban regeneration, has been a hallmark of the Coalition.

During this time the Coalition has identified a number of issues and opportunities to improving the health of people and their lifestyle through urban planning initiatives. Not only is the focus on walkable places and streets, cycling and recreation, being part of Developments Plans and Local Government policy, but to provide tools and practical examples to promote strategies aimed urban design of spaces and development sites that provide social interaction and a sense of character.

“Streets for People - Compendium for South Australia Practice” is one such resource to be launched this year to assist professionals and authorities grabbling with the issues of creating people-friendly streets whilst meeting national standards and regulations applicable to street and road design. Likewise “Healthy by Design SA” guidelines are being prepared in 2012 incorporating advice and guidance for retro-fitting existing urban environments and adopting good design principles for all ages.

National Awards for Local Government 2012 – Planning and Disaster Resilience

The Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) sponsors the Land use planning – Addressing disaster risk and enhancing resilience award in the 2012 National Awards for Local Government.

The National Strategy for Disaster Resilience makes the case for reducing risk in the built environment. Comprehensive consideration of hazards and risk in the planning system needs sound understanding of the hazards and risks. An understanding of risk management principles and approaches to strategic planning and development controls that will adequately mitigate identified risks is also required.

This award recognizes councils that work to better serve their communities by strengthening disaster resilience through innovative risk-based land use planning and is open to all councils – large, small, capital city and non-capital city.

Entries opened on 1 December 2011 and will close on 17 February 2012. For more details please visit the National Awards for Local Government on the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport website at www.regional.gov.au/local/awards

AGD also hosts a Risk-based Land Use Planning course at its Australian Emergency Management Institute. Details of the course are available at www.em.gov.au/aemi

Global Planning Village

Global Planners Network Congress – Los Angeles – 14-17 April, 2012
Game Changers: Energy, Climate Change and the Green Economy. Call for Papers submissions due August 23 2011, www.planning.org/conference/proposals.htm

Water Management Short Courses 

* PIA members are entitled to a 5% discount on course fees. Select the PIA Members Discount section on the registration form.

Community Economic Development Conference

Indigenous Land Management & Economic Development Conference

3rd Annual Aligning Indigenous Land Management with Economic Development

Maximising land tenure & Native Title opportunities for improved socio-economic outcomes
21st & 22nd March 2012, Novotel Perth Hotel Langley

Exclusive 10% discount for PIA members! Quote the discount code CC*PIA when registering