Next Generation Planning

12 Sep 2011

Deicke Richards provided urban design and graphic design expertise to the Next Generation Planning (NGP) handbook, released in April 2011 by the Council of Mayors (South East Queensland – SEQ) and the Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning. The publication is intended to assist local authorities to accommodate future growth while maintaining character, lifestyle and affordability.

We worked with lead consultants, Buckley Vann Town Planning Consultants, and the project’s partners. The guidelines deal with four NGP concepts: affordable living, smart growth, form-based codes and the SEQ Place Model. The publication’s themes link to issues that have long been central to Deicke Richards’ advocacy for sustainable regional urbanism and to the practice’s research interests.

The handbook promotes a more form-based approach to codes – an alternative to conventional zoning’s focus on land use as its organising principle. A form-based approach considers the relationship between building façades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings and their relationship to each other, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. It gives more certainty about what a new development will look like and contributes to a high quality public realm.

The publication also describes the SEQ Place Model as a useful planning framework and communication tool. The model identifies eight place types in SEQ and the elements that make up each place. It promotes a more compact urban form, including increased availability and diversity of housing, walkable neighbourhoods, mixed-use communities, accessible and active transport, and protection for natural landscapes.

The NGP handbook is a joint project of the Council of Mayors (SEQ) under the Australian Government’s Housing Affordability Fund (HAF) and the Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning.