Newly appointed chair and deputy chair respectively to RDA Sydney, Lang and Taggart are facing the challenges in delivering a liveable global city with gusto.
Working closely with RDA Sydney executive officer Bob Germaine, Lang and Taggart know the challenges will be great but feel they are on the right road with their visions honed by community expectation and government thinking.
They are committed to RDA’s purpose in pushing ideas and real action beyond the three to four year political cycle.
“We need to build livable cities where people live near their work and with recreational and cultural facilities close by,” Dr Lang said in an interview with WSBA.
“People don’t want to travel too far to work or to enjoy recreation.”
However, Dr Lang is not a fan of the home office, saying people needed the interaction with work colleagues on a regular basis, although he supports work hubs where people can gather to work nearer to home.
Dr Lang is well-placed to understand what a liveable city is, having spent five years as CEO of Parramatta Council, helping to mould it into becoming a city worthy of the title of Sydney’s second CBD.
With experience as CEO of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and now as director of Evolve Housing, Dr Lang understands the interplay between commercial interests and creating a holistic community.
With people’s expectations of a home changing from the house on a quarter acre block to apartment living with open space nearby, the challenge is on developers to create spaces suitable for families as well as couples and singles.
“More young people say they don’t want to own a lawnmower - they don’t want houses like their parents did - but some do, and the challenge for all levels of government, and developers, is to provide that variety,” Dr Lang said.
Dr Taggart, a well-known face in the west as business and education leader, academic, author, radio broadcaster, teacher and motivational speaker, is looking forward to “bringing together the disparate voices” from business groups and the community to present ideas to governments for a workable, liveable Sydney - all of Sydney.
“We live in interesting times and there are a number of voices that need to be heard so we can find common ground,” Dr Taggart said.
Mr Germaine said he was looking forward to working with Lang and Taggart in what he agreed were interesting times indeed.
Focussing on the planned Badgerys Creek airport, Mr Germaine said it was vital to “get that right - the infrastructure, jobs and transport”.
Origins of RDA
RDA Australia started in 2009 from a Council of Australian Government’s initiative to merge the activities of the previous national Area Consultative Committees with the state regional development boards. Role of RDA committees is to build partnerships between governments, regional development organisations, local businesses, community groups and key regional stakeholders to provide strategic and targeted responses to economic, environmental and social issues affecting the regions of Australia. RDA Sydney is based in Parramatta.
