Deicke Richards provided urban design and graphic design expertise to the award winning Next Generation Planning (NGP) handbook. The publication was developed to assist local authorities to accommodate growth while maintaining character, lifestyle and affordability.
We worked with lead consultants, Buckley Vann Town Planning Consultants, and the project’s partners. The guidelines dealt with four key topics: affordable living, smart growth, form-based codes and the SEQ Place Model. The themes link to issues that have long been central to DR’s advocacy for sustainable regional urbanism.
The handbook promotes a form-based approach to codes – an alternative to conventional zoning’s focus on land use as an 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 their components. It promotes a more compact urban form, with increased diversity of housing, walkable neighbourhoods, mixed-use communities, accessible and active transport, and protection for natural landscapes.
The NGP handbook was 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. Although it was first published in 2011, the handbook remains a valuable resource for local authorities.
- Client
Council of Mayors (SEQ) and Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning; lead consultant – Buckley Vann
- Year
2011
