Adelaide topped the list of Australian cities in terms of urban planning, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council said.

The report was based on a review by the COAG of Australian cities using 12 key criteria that includes global competitiveness, productivity, sustainability, livability, social inclusiveness and being well placed to meet future challenges and growth.

It studied if planning was integrated and hierarchical, provided for nationally significant infrastructures, took into account population growth and climate change, allowed for ordered land releases, encouraged world-class urban design and architecture, and had performance measures.

Based on these criteria, COAG found that Adelaide was consistent with 10 of the 12 criteria used. In contrast, larger Australian cities such as Sydney met only one criterion and Melbourne none.

Sydney was largely consistent with three criteria and partially consistent with seven, but failed on performance measures. Although the council found Sydney's performance measures had strong planning and policy content, it did not have hard-edged accountability, performance and implementation measures to drive these policies.

Melbourne was found to be largely consistent with four criteria and partially consistent with seven, but failed on accountability. COAG found Melbourne to face major challenges accommodating future growth in freight in terms of port capacity and infrastructure to supported expanded capacity.

Both New South Wales and Victorian governments, the report pointed out, have relatively new governments that have introduced planning reforms which are indicators their systems are in transition.

Darwin and Hobart were also considered relatively poor performers, while COAG noted that the plan for greater Adelaide provides a framework for integration and supported by strong performance measures and implementation monitoring. The council took note that Adelaide enjoyed the advantage of not growing at the same pace as Sydney and Melbourne which allowed it to avoid many pressures.

Paul McClintock, chair of the council, conceded that it is more difficult to coordinate planning in bigger cities.

"Many of the problems of congestion, poor design and lack of infrastructure relate to failures and poor planning in the past," he said.

In response to the COAG report, Infrastructure Australia Chairman Rod Eddington urged the state and federal governments to co-operate on addressing the problems of cities. Business Council of Australia Chief Jennifer Westacott added that states must improve their city planning systems particularly through the provision of more timely land releases and better policies to support private investment in urban infrastructure.

Mr McClintock blamed the failure of many city plans to the planning stage done with very loose timelines, objectives and outcomes.

"And that is a huge weakness because they tend to have very long lead times. The plan comes out, but because nobody is measuring it, you can't measure it, you find accountability falls away," The Australian quoted Mr McClintock.

"People lose sight of it, they don't know why it's important, political pressures build up and nobody remembers why a particular decision was made," he added.

Source:IBTimes