Gazing into a planner's crystal ball

SEQ hot and paved

A second scenario could be where SEQ could arrive at the fate of being “hot and paved”. Looking back, the plan needed far more teeth. While it was an admirable effort to take power away from local shires and put the region first, that is not how things have turned out. Market pressures kept housing prices going up (demand from other parts of Australia and overseas) continued. Developers gave lip service to green and social concerns and a two-class society has started to emerge. Traffic problems have not decreased, rather, every effort to widen highways has led to more congestion. The vicious cycle continues. SEQ is a long highway between Coolangatta and Noosa.

Global warming has only made life worse - temperatures continue to rise, water shortages increase. SEQ is full of hot, paved cities with higher than normal temperatures. Many have made money but the quality of life for others has gone down.

Health indicators continue to worsen - citizens look to local government to solve problems. Local government looks to state government which looks to federal. The federal government just seeks to stay in power. Capacity continues to shrink.

SEQ wired and miserable

Worse yet, 2026 could be wired and miserable. If the next 20 years play out like this we could face several dire consequences.

The last 20 years have been a series of confrontations between local authorities and regional government; between developers and environmentalists; between individual freedom and security; between councillors and state governments; between young and old; between rural areas and the beach; and between new migrants (many environmental refugees) and old migrants.

There is endless sprawl, congested highways, and gang warfare which has made SEQ a miserable place to live in. There are many gated communities that give some peace to the elderly, but outside these communities social tensions fester. Under these circumstances SEQ is a miserable place to live.

Peace is kept via surveillance and tough regulations. Citizens are monitored in every possible way. Technology and power is used to keep collective peace.

If our attempts to plan for the future, while admirable, are met with resistance at every level, with local concerns taking precedence over regional, this is the possible end result.

SEQ transformed

There is one other possibility. A possibility that could see SEQ transformed. In this instance, the concern for the long term future becomes the passion for many. The SEQ vision will enhance the capacity of shires all over Queensland to develop their own visions, for example: Logan 2026, Gold Coast 2046, and so on.

As a result, there is a community capacity to innovate. The “cultural creatives” - less than 20 per cent of the population in the early 2000's -have grown dramatically in the last 20 years. The values of sustainability, spirituality, innovation, and global governance will have become the official values.

Instead of suburbs, work-home-community electronically linked hubs have grown. Working in these hubs could lead to dramatic jumps in productivity (less time lost on the road, more control of one's work life).

Travel choices have been renegotiated - walking, bikeways, car, light rain - have increased. Organic gardens have sprouted everywhere. Smart green technologies exist all over Queensland. Indeed, not only does this transform Queensland, but exports of these technologies are slowly but surely changing Asian cities.