PROGRAM – SESSION 5

What + Why
1 Urban Design + Placemaking 101
2 Civic Principles
3 Place Qualities
8 Outcomes
4 Place Typology (P50)

How + Who
5 Place process
6 Place roles
7 Toolkit - placemaking ideas
9/10 Links+ conclusions

Frank Gehry Building, Ultimo Rd, Sydney, NSW, AUS

4. URBAN DESIGN AT DIFFERENT SCALES
▸ The region: metropolis, city and town

▸ The neighbourhood, the district, and the corridor

▸ The block, the street, and the building

▸ http://www.cnu.org/charter

▸ “without design, planning is all talk; without planning, design is

arrogance.” Jarvis (1992)

Urban design at different scales (Deicke Richards)

4.1 THE REGION
▸ Finite boundaries and identifiable
centre and edges

▸ Infill development

▸ Costs of business as usual

▸ A framework of transportation
alternatives

▸ A broad spectrum of public and

private uses on streets in centres

Coogee Beach, Sydney (Randwick City Council)

4.1 THE REGION
▸ Delivering good design through core
strategies

▸ how a place works

▸ what makes it special

▸ and the opportunities it offers

▸ Clearly state UD expectations as

part of an overall vision for a city.

▸ Judicial language vs wider

understanding

▸ Anhttp://www.cabe.org.uk/files/pl
anning-for-places.pdf
4.2 NEIGHBOURHOODS, DISTRICTS, CORRIDORS
▸ Identifiable areas

▸ Neighbourhoods .

▸ Districts

▸ Corridors

▸ Interconnected networks of
streets

Inner Brisbane (Deicke Richards)

4.2 NEIGHBOURHOODS, DISTRICTS, CORRIDORS

▸ Transit corridors, organize

metropolitan structure

▸ densities and land uses support

transit

▸ Public, institutional, and

commercial activity should be
embedded in streets and centres

▸ Graphic urban design codes -

predictable guides for change

Inner NE Busway - Brisbane, QLD (BVN Architecture,

Department of Transport and Main Roads and Christopher Frederick Jones)
4.2 NEIGHBOURHOODS, DISTRICTS, CORRIDORS

▸ A network of open space and recreation

areas with planned functions

Comberton Loop, Butler, Perth, WA, AUS

4.3 THE BLOCK, STREET + BUILDING
▸ A primary task of architecture and
landscape design is the physical
definition of streets and public
spaces

▸ Accommodate automobiles but

respect the pedestrian and the
form of public space

Tanderrum Way, Broadmeadows, Melbourne, VIC, AUS

4.3 THE BLOCK, STREET + BUILDING
▸ Civic buildings and
public gathering places
require important sites.

▸ All buildings provide

their inhabitants with a
clear sense of location,
weather and time

▸ Preservation and
renewal of historic
buildings, districts, and
landscapes

▸ Urban design relies on

sound planning and
design at all scales to
create (and manage)
the best cities and
towns possible Bendigo Town Hall, Hargreaves St, Bendigo, VIC, AUS
4.5 STREETS
“People have always lived on
streets. They have been the
places where children first
learned about the world,
where neighbours met, the
social centres of towns and
cities, the rallying points for
revolts, the scenes of
repression... The street has
always been the scene of
this conflict, between living
and access, between
resident and traveller,
between street life and the
threat of death.” Appleyard,
1981

Graceville, QLD, AUS

4.5 WHAT MAKES A GOOD STREET?
1. Connectivity in the surrounding ▸ Streets as movement
network corridors or outdoor
rooms?
2. Fine grain street system
3. Streets with low traffic speed ▸ “Lost the art of the small”
(but not necessarily low Rob Adams (43:12:00)
volume)
4. A street that has an equal
interest, activity and buildings
on both sides (some
exceptions)
5. A proportion of street width to
building height of 1:1?
6. Width of footpath (as well as
the quality of the surface) is
relevant (width vs critical mass)

Musk Ave - Kelvin Grove Urban Village, Brisbane QLD

4.5 WHAT MAKES A GOOD STREET?
7. Points of entry and transparency
to buildings and other spaces

8. Detailing of shop fronts

9. Provide active uses at street

level

10.Informal spaces including entries

11.Shop fronts that open to the

street

12.Small parks, green patches or

landscaped courtyards

13.Water

14.Seats

Royal Arcade, Bourke Street, Melbourne City, VIC, AUS

4.5 WHAT MAKES A GOOD STREET?
▸ “Traffic is a civil problem
15. Trees and planting not a design problem”
David Engwicht
16. Protect the pedestrian with awnings

17. Variety of uses and activities

18. Encourage day and night time

activities to extend its active life

19. Make sure to cater for children as

well as the elderly

20. Is there variety and interest in

building form

21. Coordinated and integrated signage

22. Underground powerlines

Orion Springfield Town Centre - Springfield, QLD, AUS

 4.5 WHAT MAKES A GOOD STREET?
22. “Rooms within rooms” ▸ “Diverse businesses, with windows to look
into and with personalised frontages,
23. “Make the experience cross the prompt people to linger and window-shop.
road” This increase in staying activity makes
streets livelier and is self reinforcing,
24. Engwicht Secret 5 - slow people
because ‘people come where people are”’
flow – linger nodes
Grattan Institute 2012)
25. Engwicht Secret 6 – cultivate the
anchoring presence

26. Engwicht Secret 7 – expand the

experience envelope

▸ Micro level diversity

▸ Blurred boundaries
▸ Senses
▸ Everchanging places
▸ Street of characters
▸ Welcome mat Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW, AUS
4.0 A VERSATILE STREET?
4.0 STREETS – NEW YORK, NY