Taking a long-term view, with Daniel Khong

Daniel Khong is an associate Director at Capella Capital, a financial sponsor, developer, and manager of infrastructure projects and assets throughout Australia. Daniel holds a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Planning & Design and has 20 years’ experience in Australia and New Zealand.

What do you love about cities?

I love cities for the sense of community and the people around you. Cities are great melting pots… they’re fantastic places to access a great variety of things that come from all around the world and all around our country.

What changes have you seen in cities over the past 20 years that matter the most to you?  

There’s a much greater focus and awareness now on the different kinds of people who are in cities and how that actually impacts the various practices of city-making or place-making projects. We have moved from aiming for project outcomes to understanding end-users and the different people that actually occupy and enjoy the places and spaces we're developing.  An exciting change is the greater awareness and engagement with traditional owners. There’s more aspiration to understand what happened in the land before we came along, and an attempt to celebrate some of those cultures. It’s remarkable to see that not only as an expression of projects, and not just engagement, but actually having the First Nations People involved in the projects. 

Tell us about a project you’ve worked on that has been important to you?  

The redevelopment of the Wynyard Quarter in Auckland was very important for me. It's a terrific mixed-use precinct with an innovation quarter within it, and a fantastic focus on the public realm. The components of the vision were not dissimilar to what you would see for mixed-use waterfront redevelopments around the world, but it had a local and place-specific flavour to it, and a desire to provide a focus for the emerging innovation ecosystem. Importantly though, there were First Nations Peoples in the project right from the beginning, which made it a really terrific experience.

How did this project shape your professional practice? 

In one of the project engagement sessions, when a design was presented to the group, one of the people said, "We've been telling you our stories and our history for the last couple of years. When do our people get a chance to actually draw and design what it is that we're talking about?" For me, that was a very important moment. Of course they should have a chance to express and represent those stories and important histories. So now we involve First Nations Peoples in all projects, not just through engagement, but as a community of professionals and part of the project team.

To be a great ancestor for future generations, what does our sector need to focus on today? 

To be a good ancestor, you've got to think much more long term. Some of the key investors in New Zealand are actually the Māori trusts. You might be thinking about an investment as being five years or 10 years, but these trusts remind you that the tribe will still be here in 1,000 years. It's a totally different mindset. Perhaps the best we can really try in a professional context is to start to think about 50-100 years. But I also try to consider: "What is it to be here for 1,000 years or 10,000 years?"  It’s a good check on yourself, and I think the more organizations start to think about criteria for their projects beyond the investment horizon, the better we will be.

What's one piece of advice you would give to emerging urban leaders?

You need to get out and look very closely at your city. It’s hard right now, but I think you have to go and travel to other cities too, and talk to other people and observe what it is that is done differently in other locations. Because I think it is only through seeing and appreciating the differences of how things are done elsewhere that you really begin to understand in great depth why where you came from is the way it is.