We all have the ability to build a better city. Every single one of us. It’s easy. If you asked anyone I’m sure they will be able to think of some ideas to improve the city, make it more lovable, more livable, just by showing them a picture like these and let the ideas flow.

Bus stop benches, external retail displays, relevel pavers, better lighting, facade upgrades, replanting gardens. Easy.

But why are these improvements so important? Why are they better than the silver bullet, mega-project? For that I have two answers, one of which I have gone over on here before.

First, diversity mitigates risk. Everyone knows the saying don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Well, mega-projects are analogous to doing exactly that — all eggs, one basket.

The second is a little more nuanced. Who bids on the mega-projects?

A job worth $150 million (the price tag for the CBD redevelopment) will attract attention from all over the country, perhaps even internationally. While the project will create some local jobs, a lot of their staff will be located in the developers head office, which will more than likely not be in Ipswich.

Who bids on $10-20 thousand jobs? These jobs go to local builders, local plumbers, local artists, local concreters, local electricians, and local arborists. What’s further is that these same local business people employ local accountants, local architects, local website developers, advertise on local radio stations and in local newspapers. This is not the case for the large corporation that will be doing the CBD redevelopment. They have their own media staff, their own lawyers, and their own accountants.

For the price of one Ipswich CBD redevelopment we could do hundreds, if not thousands, of small, localised projects to create hundreds, if not thousands, of localised jobs.

Scholars in the field of economic development call this The Local Premium. While typically associated with Big Box vs. local retail, the same can be said for construction projects.

Building smaller, localised projects will do far more to help Ipswich create jobs than any large project. The reason it goes unnoticed is that it comes in trickles instead of buckets. Local, State, and Federal members won’t cut a ribbon when G.J. Walsh & Co. bring on two new staff members. No one will sing them praise when McNamara and Associates hire a new property paralegal. But they still need to appear to be doing something for Ipswich, that’s why we see politicians with their helmets on, and the reason we will continue to see mega-projects go ahead instead of the maintenance projects our city centre desperately needs.

Small projects have the ability to do so much for Ipswich. Local jobs that really make a difference in peoples lives. Someone needs to do something to change the paradigm in Ipswich City Council.

Let me know what you think; do you think the CBD redevelopment will be the “game changer” that council hopes for? Let me know in the comments.