Jan Scheurer

Density and Outer Urban Development in Melbourne

The issue of residential density is again an important issue in strategic land use planning in Australia. For decades, Australian planners generally have accepted the conventional position that increasing the density of urban settlement on the urban fringe will achieve negligible land savings because the amount of land required for non-residential purposes remains constant. This position continues to affect government policy and practice. This article analyses the role of residential density in debates about urban form, and shows the potential for land savings from different scenarios of increased residential density and urban design. The article demonstrates the capacity for increased residential densities in new outer suburbs of cities to significantly contain outward urban growth.

Planning transport infrastructure: examining the politics of transport planning in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth

Abstract Australian cities have observed a “consensus turn” expressed as broad public support of greater accessibility and public transport provision as revealed in metropolitan strategic plans. In contrast large-scale road projects proposed to traverse the inner-city of three major Australian cities reveals an ongoing and deep-seated attachment by some to car-based travel in Australian urban transport planning. Comparative case studies of these three road projects in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth explores the impact that an antagonistic relationship between the state and community has on the culture of transport planning. Through observational insights, policy and media analysis and interviews with community groups, we show that this antagonistic planning culture arises when there is a fracture between metropolitan strategic plan-making and project planning, and when clear channels of communication and deliberation are undermined.

Achieving Mode Share Targets in Australian Cities through Policy Integration: Are we on Track?

Over the past 25 years, Australian cities have experienced a substantial reinvigoration of their traditional, inner suburban neighbourhoods. These areas are characterised by medium to high urban densities and a fine-grained diversity of residential and nonresidential land uses. Their walkable layout and the presence of reasonable public transport services produce patterns of movement that are similar to those found in many European cities. Economic activity and property prices in these districts are consistently strong, and some high-profile redevelopment programmes of formerly industrial land in their vicinity (such as the Ultimo–Pyrmont scheme in Sydney, Southbank and Docklands in Melbourne, East Perth and Subiaco in Perth) have succeeded in translating the qualities of older inner suburbs into a contemporary urban form. Simultaneously, most Australian cities still grow at a rapid rate—for example, metropolitan Melbourne’s housing stock increased by 18 per cent during the 10 years to 2001 (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2002). This continues to lead to a substantial proportion of new residential areas to be developed on greenfield sites at the urban fringe. For nearly half a century, such urban extensions have been built at very low densities, a near-complete segregation of land uses and a street layout/infrastructure provision that was all but designed to marginalise walking, cycling and public transport. Life in a detached house on a suburban block with a spacious backyard was heralded as the ‘Australian Dream’ (Davison & Yelland, 2004), but it entrenched a level of automobile dependence in the middle and outer belts of Australian cities that is clearly at odds with sustainability objectives (Engwicht, 1992; Newman & Kenworthy, 1999) and has led, in Sydney and Melbourne at least, to a chronic condition of traffic congestion and inefficiency of access in both inner and outer suburbs.

Planning the driverless city

ABSTRACT AV technologies have the potential to transform urban landscapes and existing transport systems and networks. Yet, the utopian imaginary of reduced automobile ownership and a new shared economic future sits in tension with suggestions that car dependency, urban sprawl and transport inaccessibility will be exacerbated. The issues are situated in a complex governance landscape involving an influential private sector who are increasingly setting the agenda. The public sector may be forced into reacting to the new innovations by information technology and automobile companies as they are introduced into existing built environments. Drawing on an extensive literature base and interviews with public sector planners, this paper reveals the conceptual gaps in the framing of AV technology – the prospects and limits – and how these are conceived. The paper raises questions about the role urban planning can play in the rollout of AVs in order to anticipate and mediate unwanted built environment and socio-spatial impacts, as well as reconciling the ambition of transport innovation with the public purpose of planning.

Planning for Disruptive Transport Technologies: How Prepared Are Australian Transport Agencies?

In this context, we present data from a recent survey of planners in state and national land-use and transport agencies. The survey, conducted through semi-structured interviews, gathered information about the expectations of these organizations in relation to the nature and timing of the deployment of new AV technologies; about the potential implications for achieving environmental and social planning objectives; and about the collective infrastructure investments that AV technologies may require. This work is being used to shape a new research agenda to explore the planning and regulatory frameworks that are needed to ensure that the AV technologies can be deployed in ways that maximize the public good.