2015 Landscape Architecture Australia Student Prize: University of Western Australia

Project statement

The aim of this project is to analyse, assess and visualize the extent of the effects of the State Planning Policy 3.7 – Planning for Bushfire Risk Management on the Shire of Mundaring, thirty-five kilometres east of Perth.

The project identifies effects of the SPP 3.7 on biodiversity, environmental assets and landscape ecology, including through a case study interrogation over various scales. It also visualizes potential spatial implications for the future, if practices continue as they are now, and proposes solutions in order to bring all stakeholders together to understand the long-term implications of SPP 3.7.

The Office of Bushfire Risk Management is preparing a state bushfire-prone area map that, when released, will underpin the application of a number of planning documents that relate to bushfire risk management guidelines and development regulations, including the SPP 3.7. While these documents refer to different stages of the planning process, they work together to collectively achieve the objective of reducing bushfire risk in Western Australia. During the public comment period for the SPP 3.7, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects submitted a response paper that outlined serious concerns about the SPP 3.7 and its impacts on urban and peri-urban areas. These concerns are supported by some environmental officers and bushfire planning consultants who are witnessing and managing the ongoing tension between the environment, vegetation and safety of the community.