Designing the Designers: Why Our Public Spaces Are Failing the 'Empathy Test'

We are facing the sixth industrial revolution, grappling with massive environmental and technological changes, yet our approach to building cities often feels stuck in the past.

We know the strategic goals: keep global warming under two degrees and create livable environments. Yet, at the “coal face” of development, we continue to make the same mistakes, trapped in a “predict and provide” mentality.

In this episode of The Placemakers, I spoke with Dr. Nick Stevens, Program Coordinator of Urban Design and Town Planning at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

With a diverse background spanning horticulture, landscape architecture, and town planning, Nick is now focused on the ultimate project: “designing the designers of the future.”

He argues that to build better cities, we don’t just need better bricks and mortar; we need better data, more empathy, and a radical rethink of who our public spaces are actually for.

Key Takeaways for Urban Planners:

The Planning Gap: While architects often understand their role in heat mitigation, town planners frequently struggle to see how they can influence temperature through breeze corridors and green infrastructure.
Designing for the Mind: The three biggest health issues in Australia are arthritis, heart disease, and mental health. We design for physical access, but we rarely design for cognitive impairment or mental wellbeing.
The Data Deficit: We are good at investigating accidents (what went wrong), but we rarely measure success (what went right). We need sensors and data to prove public space is a community resource, not just “space left over”.
Bioclimatic Design: It is not enough to have high-level strategies; these must be articulated in tender documents to ensure climate-responsive design actually happens on the ground.

🎧 Listen to the Episode
We discuss the “Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab” and why the next generation of designers needs to be braver than the last.

[Listen on Spotify]

📄 Accessibility & Reference
Prefer to read? Download the full word-for-word transcript of this interview.

[Download Transcript (PDF)]

The 'Predict and Provide' Trap

Nick is candid about the state of the industry. He believes we are “muddling through” massive environmental changes because we are relying on old habits.

“We continue to make the mistakes of the past—the ‘predict and provide’ mentality,” he explains.

This disconnect is most visible in how we handle heat. While we have the strategic intent to lower temperatures, it often fails to translate into action.

“Survey work shows urban designers and architects understand their role in mitigating heat, but planners often struggle to see their role,” Nick says.

Planners tend to view their job as strategic zoning, missing the opportunity to secure vital breeze corridors or integrate green infrastructure that makes a city liveable.

Designing for the Mind, Not Just the Body

Perhaps the most striking insight from the interview is Nick’s take on inclusivity.

“The three biggest health issues in Australia are arthritis, heart disease, and mental health,” he notes.

While we have standards for wheelchair ramps and physical accessibility, we are falling short on the cognitive side.

“We aren’t designing public spaces well for mental health or cognitive impairment (aging population),” Nick warns.

Successful public space requires an awareness of complexity—understanding that a space serves different roles for different people at different times. It demands a design philosophy rooted in empathy.

Measuring What Goes Right

How do we fix this? Nick argues we need to change the paradigm of data.

Currently, we treat public space as the “space left over after planning” rather than a critical asset. And we only measure it when it fails.

“We investigate accidents (what went wrong), but rarely investigate what went right,” he says.

Nick advocates for using physical data—sensors, heat mapping, and movement tracking—to build an evidence base. By proving the performance of a space, we can move from vague “intent” in strategic documents to hard requirements in construction tenders.

Advice for the Next Generation

For the students currently studying under him, Nick has a simple but powerful message:

“Listen carefully. But always step up for what’s right.”

He encourages young designers to put themselves forward. Even if a design is compromised by budget or politics, it is vital to have had a valid say about what the right thing to do was.