(MENAFN - The Conversation) With the re-election of the Berejiklian government, New South Wales now has a minister for public spaces, Rob Stokes. This portfolio was first mooted in February , when the premier announced one of the new minister's tasks would be to identify and protect publicly owned land for use as parks or public spaces.
From Barangaroo to Bonnyrigg, public spaces in new urban developments are often owned and controlled by private developers. The public has little say over the rules that govern these spaces and how those rules are enforced. Restrictions are often excessive, and private security guards are known to overstep their powers .
Too much publicly owned public space is under-utilised because it is locked up. Across the city, ovals and public school playgrounds are fenced off from the public for much of the year when they are not in use. We own these spaces – when they're not in use for sport or school, we should have access to them.
As minister for education, Stokes recently trialled a program of opening some school playgrounds during school holidays . This should be done across the city. And councils should be required to show cause if they want to restrict access to any public spaces they own.
A growing number of park authorities and local governments are doing deals with private companies to temporarily fence off public spaces for commercial activities . Sometimes they do this for days, sometimes for weeks and even months. They do it because they're short of funds and need the revenue.
The capacity of local governments to maintain footpaths is highly uneven . Public spaces in wealthy areas are gold-plated, while in other parts of the city footpaths are too often in poor condition or non-existent. The minister must think about the role that state government can play in evening things out, assisting local governments where required.
While advertising on the Opera House generated controversy , the creeping spread of commercial advertising in public space is also of concern. All this advertising is commercialising our public spaces and crowding out other forms of public expression – from neighbourhood notices about community events and lost cats to murals and street art.
This is not say that safety is unimportant. We know that fear of harassment and assault stops some people using public space , not least women who often experience this.
However, we must not equate 'feeling safe' with 'more police' and 'more surveillance cameras'. Indeed, sometimes these can have the perverse effect of making people feel less safe, by producing atmospheres of threat.
It must be hoped this new portfolio is more than a tokenistic attempt to create the appearance of action on public space, in the face of criticism of this government's record on privatisation of public assets .