Designing for diversity, with Sacha Coles
Sacha Coles is a founding Director of ASPECT Studios in Sydney. ASPECT is an Australian owned Landscape Architectural company with seven studios across Australia and China with over 160 people. Sacha has led projects of transformational change spanning placemaking, infrastructure, play space, academic and civic institutions, and green infrastructure. He delivers innovative design within a social framework, reinforcing the role that cities can play in creating economic and social opportunity. Through his work, Sacha promotes uplifting quality of life, encouraging social equity and elevating the spirit through design.
What do you love about cities?
I love the cross-section of community, culture, and complexity in cities. I think the best cities always surprise and delight. I like cities which show evidence of life on the street, whether it's pot plants at the front of a house, whether it's people sitting on their front steps, or a back lane that's transformed into a place for people rather than cars. And when it's done well, cities can be the most generous and sustainable places, where sharing of resources between neighbours means we buy less, and we talk more.
What are the outcomes you strive for in every project?
I strive to design socially and environmentally responsible and inspiring projects that create memorable places for people. I want people to stop, take a moment, and appreciate something that maybe they didn't expect in a public space, and to know that the city actually cares for them. Someone has thought about this and designed it for their enjoyment. And the sign of a society, I think, is the way it designs its public spaces, the amount that it puts into them and what it says about its places is what it thinks about its people.
What are the key practices you draw upon to help you achieve these outcomes?
I design for diversity. I always try to create spaces that are suitable for different groups of people. I want the spaces to work for individuals to be by themselves, or around others. I want spaces to work for groups of five, or for groups of 10, or even 100, depending on what the space needs to provide. But I also think through a scenic, or an experiential lens when I'm designing, it's a sensory or filmic way to design seen through the eye of the user. And of course, I definitely use knowledge around the impact of climate and harnessing environmental conditions to create the most comfortable places that I can.
To be a great ancestor for future generations, what does our sector need to focus on today?
I think we need to be far more empathetic and more understanding of others in our day-to-day lives. In particular, we need to listen to and be respectful of our first nations knowledge, to ensure that country-centred design is done right. It should be the essence, or the foundation, of every project. The best landscape architecture comes from an understanding of how country works and how people and other beings have walked and experienced it for millennia.
“I want people to stop, take a moment, and appreciate something that maybe they didn’t expect in a public space, and to know that the city actually cares for them. ”
What has to change or be amplified in our individual practice to make these things a priority?
Surround yourself with the best knowledge holders and the best advice that you can get. And change tack. Usually we're paid to give advice, but in this instance, you should be paid to listen and then act. There is a different process that we all need to learn, and that's quite a humbling one… it's about listening and understanding old knowledge communicated in a contemporary way.
What's one piece of advice you would give to emerging urban leaders?
I would advise emerging leaders to define why you do what you do, to find your purpose and stick to it, even when you may be challenged. An opposing view is not always the end of a conversation. Accept their point of view, and then employ design thinking strategies to evolve other ideas, which may achieve your goals, but in a different way. And remember that you’re working in the service of society, so leave the planet and society better off for your endeavours.
