Unveiling of new design concept for future urban developments

11/12/97

Planning Minister Graham Kierath has unveiled a new design concept for future urban developments in Western Australia.

The Liveable Neighbourhoods concept aims to foster a greater sense of community at the grassroots level, which Mr Kierath said would lead to a number of other important benefits.

"Among these are both direct and indirect environmental advantages, increased flexibility in living and working styles, greater efficiency in the provision of essential services and improved convenience for residents," he said.

"This concept proposes a modified grid layout for roads, rather than the curved roads and cul de sacs which have been the standard WA urban pattern for more than 20 years.

"The purpose of this change is to encourage walking, because the core of the Liveable Neighbourhoods is that nobody will live more than about five minutes' walk from facilities like shops and service centres, which will be the focal point of each locality."

Developed over more than two years by the WA Planning Commission with joint State and Federal funding, Liveable Neighbourhoods will be evaluated over the next 12 months and refined where practical experience reveals opportunities for improvement.

Mr Kierath said key features of Liveable Neighbourhoods were:

encouragement of walking and use of public transport to reduce car travel;

a range of lot sizes to create greater flexibility and variety in housing styles;

neighbourhoods would be grouped to form towns with higher-level shopping and other facilities, bringing jobs closer to where people live; in many cases topography could be used to turn natural drainage points into parks;

providing a saving in land without any loss of amenity; and -

increased pedestrian traffic and houses overlooking parks, footpaths and roads to increase confidence in personal security.

"Another important aspect is that Liveable Neighbourhoods will cater much better to the growing movement to work from home," Mr Kierath said.

"In addition to improving the home-office environment by creating an enhanced feeling of community, it will allow for combined residential/business development in which, for instance, people might live above a ground floor shop.

"It is in ways like this that Liveable Neighbourhoods responds to the evolution of the community which has been accelerating in recent years with advances in technology and changes in work patterns.

"It is important to note that the rapid growth in the State's population creates a different situation from that generally experienced in modern, westernised societies.

"We are emerging from a low population base to a stage at which segments of taste,previously too small for planners and developers to cater for, are reaching critical mass".

Mr Kierath said it was a natural evolutionary process which made urban design change necessary and at the same time made it socially and commercially feasible.

One of the most welcome characteristics of this evolution was the desire for a way of living which nurtured community spirit - the feeling of belonging that was encompassed by the word 'neighbourhood'.

''This, more than any other single factor, is the driving force behind the Liveable Neighbourhoods design code," he said.

Media contact: Steve Manchee 9481 2133