Fighting the status quo to bring about change

Landscape architect Cam Perkins is the founder of a new business called Urban Pirates - a “change agency, navigating rapid urban transformation”. The self described “recovering Aussie” has made New Zealand home over the last few years, settling in Auckland to take on a role at Panuku. But a lot has changed since we last spoke to him.

LAA: What have you been doing with yourself? 

CP: I’d been at Panuku for around 18 months, after moving from Australia specifically for that role. I wanted to know more about public delivery agencies, and have a greater understanding of urban regeneration from inside government.

I had the express intent of shaping ‘The Brief’, which I knew I needed to do from the inside! What became apparent quite quickly was that Panuku was part of a much bigger system, and I needed to start working on (and in) Auckland Council. 

Cam Perkins (right) with food truck entrepeneurs – Maddie of Blitzd Smoothie Bowls and Pato of Good Karma.

I remember a phone call from the Auckland Design Office at the end of 2018, which went something like “Have you seen the front page of the Herald. Want to work on that?”

And “that” was Access for Everyone (A4E) – a new way of looking at the city as a system, firmly focused on transport.

The Urban Lab on Auckland’s waterfront replaced 50 car parking spaces with a place focussed on people.

This was an opportunity to shape the future of Auckland at scale and pace. A year in to that job, our team delivered the City Centre Masterplan Refresh, and a demonstration project that used A4E principles (High Street). 

High Street in Auckland’s city centre was a collaborative pilot approach to street transformation.

But there was something else going on in the background that was at first a distraction, and then an existential threat to the ADO’s mission to create a better city for Aucklanders. At the same time that we celebrated the adoption of the city’s 20-year vision, I was dealing with the fact that my role was being ‘disestablished’.  

That led to a number of conversations with organisations around the country who were committed to investigating change and implementing rapid urban transformation, and who wanted to work together, which gave me the confidence to branch out and scale up. 

And that was precisely when COVID came on to the scene.

LAA: What? You set up a new business while we’re in a global pandemic? Are you crazy? Or a visionary?

CP: Haha. What’s crazy is how much energy it takes to fight the status quo. Jumping out of that stream and into one where my mahi is valued and enabled, is the opposite of crazy! What I’ve come to realise is that people can see your purpose. They can feel it. This is what I’m about. My purpose is positive impact, and I want to work with people who share the same values. 

LAA: Now tell me how you really feel.

CP:  I’m feeling really positive and confident about the future of this country’s streets, towns and cities. There’s a couple of very innovative programmes being established to develop capability in rapid urban transformation. I’m involved in that work, and I can see where that can take us. 

I’m also incredibly frustrated and disappointed with Auckland Council around the changes to the Auckland Design Office. I don’t see the alignment between rhetoric and action, but I’m hoping that by setting great examples around the country, we’ll be able to turn Auckland, and others, around. I’m always looking for opportunity!

LAA: Why did you decide to go it alone? 

CP: I’m interested in where I can have the most impact, and working with people and organisations that want to enable change. I could see that there were quite a few people throughout Aotearoa who want to enable change – and I thought what better way to scale up my impact than to try to work with all them. 

Rapid urban transformation helps cities respond to challenges in a lighter, cheaper, quicker way. This image is from Auckland’s Queen Street. Photo credit: Claire Davis.

LAA: What does your tagline mean - Professional rule breaking for positive impact?

CP: Yesterday’s rules are holding back what we can do tomorrow: they were written for a different time (often a different decade, a different generation). Bending or breaking these institutionalised rules is no easy task – you need to demonstrate why they’re no longer relevant, and that requires a tactical, considered approach. We need to start with those rules and regulations that can unlock the most impact.

LAA: What is it about the experience you gained at Panuku and the design office that will be an advantage for your own business?

CP: I set out to understand the mechanisms of local government. I think the last time we spoke, I mentioned to you that I wanted to understand who was writing the briefs for projects and programmes. What I found was something much larger: a systemic aversion to risk, the imbalance of assessing perceived reputational risk against actual risk, and decisions being made that consider cost over value. I see that as stifling change and innovation, at a time when we need to be addressing what we know is coming. That’s really given me a greater appreciation of the way the system can either block innovation, or unleash it. Disestablishing the Auckland Design Office does the former. Its been demonstrated before that “integrating” departments across organisations leads to systemic failure. I’m not really sure that I’m out to gain sort of advantage – Urban Pirates is about connecting government together with agents of change. 

LAA: It’s been a crazy, unsettling year for everyone. What’s got you through?

CP: It’s been incredibly tough, particularly psychologically, as individuals and as society. What got me through? That glimmer of hope during lockdown that things can work differently, my wonderful partner who supported me through so much change, and the knowledge that we can achieve meaningful, positive change by addressing the system. It may not feel like it right now, but I can see we’re making progress. That’s exciting!