Identifying and incorporating indigenous landscape values into regional planning processes
Funding body: Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning, South East Queensland Catchments and Griffith University
Project leader: Darryl Low Choy
Project members: Darren Burns and Jenny Wadsworth
Project description: This project attempts to address the following research question: Can indigenous landscape values be identified and represented in ways that respect indigenous culture and represent their interest in conventional regional planning processes? If the indigenous landscape does not receive the same degree of study and research attention as the other competing landscape types then indigenous values will not be identified, recognised and accounted for in future policies and planning initiatives. Successful landscape planning requires a multiple objective and multiple values approach that acknowledges the values of all stakeholders.
Expected outputs: Two workshops held to identify indigenous landscape values and their representations, which has produced two workshop reports. An interim report will integrate the workshop findings with the principal research question and a review of relevant literature. ARC linkage grant application to be submitted.
Status: Interim report to be completed February 2009
Nerang as a regional centre
Funding body: Queensland Development Research Institute
Project leader: Paul Burton
Project members: Matthew Burke, Rick Evans, Emily Hatfield, Caryl Bosman, Geoff Woolcock, Jason Byrne, Christina Qi Li
Project description: The QDRI has funded a team from the URP to carry out a series of studies of the potential for Nerang to become a regional centre on the Gold Coast based on the principles of transit oriented development. While many TOD studies seek to justify investment in public transit facilities on the basis of a critical mass of population and existing urban services, in Nerang a railway station on the Robina to Brisbane line already exists. In this case the challenge is to identify possible new developments that might make better use of the existing transit services in order to reach and then exceed the critical mass expected of a TOD.
The URP studies will focus on a number of key issues, including the existing regional and local planning frameworks, the constraints of the potential development sites around the existing station including those in flood prone areas, the location of the area in relation to the wider network of public transport services and the scope to incorporate innovative open spaces in any new development. One study will also analyse the social and economic impact of possible new developments in the area.
The studies form part of a larger project, supported by QDRI, to contribute to the master planning of Nerang and provide the team with excellent opportunities to contribute to the wider theoretical literature on TODs, on policy implementation and on the effectiveness of new models of transport accessibility.
The team is led by Prof Paul Burton and the studies include:
- The emergence of transit oriented development and the regional policy context of South East Queensland (Paul Burton)
- Review of the Nerang and Guragunbah LAPs in relation to the development of a TOD at Nerang (Caryl Bosman)
- The economic and social impact of developments at Nerang (Geoff Woolcock with Laurel Johnson and SGS Economics)
- Transit-oriented parks (Jason Byrne and Christina Qi Li)
- A sporting chance: the accessibility of proposed AFL stadium locations on the Gold Coast (Matthew Burke, Rick Evans and Emily Hatfield)
- Synthesis report: TODs for the future (Paul Burton)
Expected outputs: Reports to funding body and academic publications
- Research Paper 18 - A sporting chance: Accessibility of proposed AFL stadium locations on the Gold Coast (PDF 3270k)
Status: To be completed February 2009