REBECCA CARMODY (PRESENTER): Perth has long been described as a boring place to live and visit. While it's not a view shared by everyone, last year the Government created the committee for Perth, to come up with ways to shake the dullsville tag. Impatient for change, Perth's arts community with the backing of big business, have flown in world renowned planner, Charles Landry, for his expert advice. Leonie Harris has the story.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): There are no signs everywhere; don't do this, don't do that, no access, no entry, no smoking, no parking, no standing, no stopping.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): If first impressions count .. it seems the West Australian capital leaves much to be desired.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): We've got stuff that's going to hang around in its ugliness for 50 years and every time we see it it will pin prick us, the ugliness will pin prick into our brain.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): Charles Landry is a world renowned planner and he's in Perth with an ambitious brief. Compile a report on the city's failings and then provide solutions, 10 big ideas and 100 smaller ones that can be implemented in one-thousand days.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Obviously we know you've got a brilliant setting in terms of nature, water and the dunes and the beaches and so on, the river so I think it's really about making the city heart, as one starting point, to make that a place which feels as welcoming as I know Perth people are.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): Over the years Charles Landry has helped revitalise what are already regarded as beautiful cities from Helsinki to Barcelona, Saint Petersburg to Amsterdam. Perth could present his biggest challenge.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): This is where you see all the problems of Perth in one and many people have talked about this for years you know there's no engagement with the river really, hardly any. And as we look towards the convention centre there's a spaghetti of roads. I mean we're standing here, is it a lovely or is it a horrible feeling, you tell me? The city sometimes feels as if it's been constructed through roads and then we'll have some mediocre buildings in between.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): He says he main problem facing Perth is its overall atmosphere. Put simply, the city lacks imagination. This will be a key theme in his final report. And the one structure that lacks more imagination than any other is the Convention Centre.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Normally you'd never put a convention centre bang in the centre of a city because convention centres are rarely used I mean it would be ok if it was in a wasteland but this is the heart of a great Australian city called Perth.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): The solution for the Convention Centre: lease the building which he calls 'mean spirited' to a university.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Obviously a big project would be to have many more students in town to inhabit the city, those are types of big projects.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): Another big idea would involve Perth's road system, roads that separate the city from the river, and separate Perth from Kings Park. His suggestion is to create a platform over the Freeway.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): Is there a way that it can be changed now that it's been built this way?
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Well, everywhere in the world people are retro-fitting car driven cities. It's really just shifting priorities, asking always the question, what makes a livable place? And then asking the question, how do cars fit in? Rather than the other way around.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): On a smaller scale Mr Landry has no shortage of ideas. For starters, Perth should change its signage to make visitors feel welcome.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Here it feels slightly punitive. Private parking, offenders will be prosecuted. How about please don't park here. It's a completely different message.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): And blank walls should be banned. The Central Law Courts a prime example of Perth's boring architecture.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): This is the court building that says you are guilty before you've been proved innocent. It's really a disaster.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): And Charles Landry's message isn't just for big business and the Government but for the entire community. New York for example has more than 3000 foundations focused on the city's future funding art galleries, parks, libraries and universities. Meanwhile Perth, which has more millionaires per capita than any other Australian capital, has the lowest percentage of giving. Philanthropy it seems is almost non-existent.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): Being generous as a city and the people within it being generous is an absolute key sign of a city that's maturing. It's often older cities that have more foundations and often there's more corporate responsibility and so on and that's what often makes a difference between an ordinary project and extraordinary project.
LEONIE HARRIS (REPORTER): He suggests the economic boom is the time to start making changes and he says it's time Perth decides if it wants to be known internationally as a quarry, or as a vibrant, imaginative metropolis.
CHARLES LANDRY (CULTURAL PLANNER): The problem with Perth is that it lacks a sense of urgency. This is your moment really. This is seize the moment time. It would be very unwise if you did not leave a legacy for future generations. This is the time to really be courageous, bold, not in a trivial way, really think hard, but do some things that are quite difficult really to do.