Redland’s town planners have officially swapped council chambers for classroom chairs, fronting up to Year 7 and 8 students who weren’t afraid to school the experts.
In a move that proves good planning really does start on the ground floor, Council’s clipboard-wielding crew recently marched into Victoria Point State High School, Capalaba State College and Ormiston College — and the kids wasted no time getting down to business.
City Mayor Jos Mitchell said the visits formed part of the humanities and geography curriculum, giving students a taste of real-world planning.
“The purpose of these sessions was to provide students some real-world learning on town planning – for example how Council uses planning principles to make decisions to improve liveability on Redlands Coast,” the Mayor said.
Turns out, Redlands’ future city-shapers are not messing around.
“The sessions were interactive and informative for students and allowed them to look at scenarios in their local area.”
At Victoria Point, students were already elbows-deep in a theoretical “Creative Valley” planning exercise — essentially a SimCity-style challenge with hills, forests, a highway, and a river thrown in for maximum chaos.
“The Victoria Point students were already working on a theoretical Creative Valley planning exercise in which the core challenge was to decide where to locate a new residential community.
“Officers reported that the students approached the challenge thoughtfully, as they actively weighed up accessibility to shops, services, and employment within a landscape of hills and forests, divided into quadrants by a major highway and river.
“In exploring location options with planners, students identified key issues, such as limited road underpasses and potential natural hazards, including bushfire risk and the likelihood that parts of the area are within a floodplain.”
Translation: the kids quickly discovered town planning is not just drawing boxes and arguing about car parks.
Over at Capalaba State College, students assessed the real-world development dramas of Capalaba Central — historic layout, ageing infrastructure and all.
“The planning presentations have also allowed students to be introduced to several easily accessible and highly useful information tools,” she said.
The digital toolbox included Red-e-Map, Economy.ID and the Your Say platform — basically everything short of giving the teenagers the Wi-Fi password to City Hall.
Planning and Regulation Portfolio representative councillor Rowanne McKenzie reminded everyone that the stakes are high, with a new City Plan on the way.
“Council was currently working towards a new City Plan to replace the Redland City Plan 2018, with the first round of community engagement on the drafting expected in early to mid-2026.
“The new plan will guide growth and change across our city for the next 25 years,” Cr McKenzie said.
And yes, the kids’ opinions actually matter.
“Part of the process in developing a new plan is seeking feedback and ideas from the community at key stages of the project.
“The school sessions are one element of a community education program designed to explain what town planning involves so people can give informed feedback.
“Council has also produced a suite of planning education videos and web content describing how city planning works, why it matters, and opportunities to be involved.
“I encourage you to check out these resources and others that are available on Council’s website, because community involvement is an integral part of the city planning process.”
For anyone keen to join the next generation of mini-masterplanners, the “Understanding the City Planning Puzzle” page awaits at redland.qld.gov.au.
Just don’t be surprised if a 12-year-old explains zoning to you on the way.
