Street Design Manual - Walkable Neighbourhoods and Practice Notes

Abstract

Several major changes to urban development have occurred since Queensland Streets and Complete Streets were released, including: • the adoption of several important state government policy documents (e.g. the State Planning Policy, Regional Plans and a Model Code for Neighbourhood Design); • the creation of the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) which evolved into Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) and its approval role in major greenfield areas in SEQ; and • greenfield development densities rising from around 10dws/ha in the early nineties to 15-20+dws/ha today. While development densities have been steadily rising, many regulations, guidelines, standards, and practices have not been revised since they were established to support much lower density forms of development. Unfortunately, during this period the overall health of our communities has declined when measured against a range of benchmarks. Our communities are experiencing high levels of chronic disease which are partially contributed to by our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Queensland is part of a growing international movement that is implementing measures aimed at making our neighbourhoods more walkable and healthier. The objectives of this document therefore are threefold: 1 to complement and support the implementation of key state government policy initiatives such as the Model code for neighbourhood design; 2 to provide leading practice guidelines to facilitate healthier communities by maximising active transport and recreation in our new neighbourhoods; and 3 to provide a resource document of leading practice solutions to assist developers, designers, and local authorities to plan and deliver high quality attractive neighbourhoods with a great sense of place and community. This document is focused on greenfield development with a predominately residential land use focus. Designing for other land uses and brownfield development introduces a breadth and scope of issues and challenges beyond the intent and scope of this publication. However many of the principles, objectives, and strategies provided are still applicable to brownfield development. The Manual has been produced to reflect the key principles and objectives espoused by the state government policies and other sources of leading development practice. Our new communities: • are founded on a site-responsive design approach; • incorporate a diverse range of housing options with residential densities achieving expressed policy targets; • provide safe, comfortable, and convenient walking environments for all members, in particular unescorted primary school children, carers with babies in prams, people with walking impairments, and the elderly; • ensure all active transport modes and public transport are prioritised and catered for; • have streets that are fit for purpose and reflect their role within the wider urban context; • have open spaces that are sized, located, and embellished to support the needs of their residents; and • ensure land is treated as a finite and precious resource that is used as efficiently as possible