No need to be spaced out, says town planner | Employment and Careers

Mark Bode | 9th November 2008

Breaking through the glass ceiling - and the garage doors... Kari Stephens with her award.

Kari Stephens sees the world differently from most people.

She sees a world in which people are enslaved by the very thing that supposedly provides them with the most freedom, and she sees them park their cars behind double garages in austere streetscapes.

The town planner wants to alter that picture by reconnecting the community.

"I think everyone wants to live in communities where they're connected," Ms Stephens said.

"The problem is how are we going to go about doing it? And it might take a long time."

The 40-year-old says we live in a world that was built in the 1960s and 1970s when roads and motor vehicles were the most important things.

The opportunity is at hand to embrace a new lifestyle but she is the first to admit many obstacles lie in the way.

The Buderim resident was acknowledged by her peers in Brisbane on Friday night when she received the top honour at the Urban Development Institute of Australia Queensland Women in Development Excellence Awards.

A partner at Maroochydore firm Dillon Folker Stephens Town Planners, she walked away with the outstanding achievement by a woman - strategic management award.

Yesterday she walked back into her office to continue reshaping the world around her.

"I'd like to see better spaces for people, where people walk and gather and meet and hopefully catch public transport as well," she said.

"Town planning is about creating communities. We want to know how people live, how they interact with what's next door, can they walk to the beach?

"While we're a technical profession, it's about people. I think if you always focus on the people it's going to be a better outcome."

What won't be a better outcome for the Coast, she says, is the proposed widening of Alexandra Parade to six lanes.

Having that many lanes between people and the beach will not only create a physical barrier, but a psychological barrier as well.

She says while it is important to have public transport, it should not come at the expense of other things we are trying to achieve as a society.

If it sounds like the married mother of two is lecturing us, it's because she is. Call it Town Planning 101.

"The more we educate the community as a general rule the better it is for everyone," she said.

It's not surprising to learn Ms Stephens enrolled in a town planning course at the University of Queensland one week after first hearing about the profession.

"It sounded like fun and I've loved it ever since," she said.

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