Evaluating the implementation of compact activity centres in greater Brisbane Mark Limb Masters of Urban and Regional Planning Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2019 i ii Table of Contents Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 16 1.1. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................................... 16 1.2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 18 1.3. RESEARCH APPROACH ............................................................................................................................... 19 1.4. RESEARCH OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................... 22 1.5. DISSERTATION OUTLINE ............................................................................................................................ 22 2. THE COMPACT CITY, ACTIVITY CENTRES, AND THE EVOLUTION OF PLANNING FOR GREATER BRISBANE .. .............................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.1. THE RATIONALE AND COMMON CRITIQUES OF THE COMPACT CITY ...................................................................... 25 2.2. PLANNING FOR COMPACT ACTIVITY CENTRES IN BRISBANE ................................................................................ 31 2.3. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 48 3. PLAN EVALUATION THEORY, RESULTS, AND METHODS ......................................................................... 49 3.1. PLAN EVALUATION ................................................................................................................................... 50 3.2. EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPACT ACTIVITY CENTRES ............................................................. 54 3.3. METHODS OF PLAN EVALUATION ................................................................................................................. 58 3.4. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 67 4. RESEARCH PLAN .................................................................................................................................... 69 4.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 69 4.2. RESEARCH METHOD ................................................................................................................................. 71 5. POLICY INTENT AND REALITY: CONFORMANCE OF 20 YEARS OF METROPOLITAN COMPACT ACTIVITY CENTRE POLICY IN GREATER BRISBANE ........................................................................................................ 125 5.1. CONFORMANCE WITH OBJECTIVES FOR HIGHER RESIDENTIAL DENSITIES ............................................................. 126 5.2. CONFORMANCE WITH OBJECTIVES FOR A DIVERSITY OF DWELLING TYPES............................................................ 134 5.3. CONFORMANCE WITH OBJECTIVES FOR EMPLOYMENT .................................................................................... 142 5.4. CONFORMANCE WITH OBJECTIVES FOR A MIXTURE OF USES AND ACCESSIBILITY ................................................... 152 5.5. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 162 5.6. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 182 6. PERFORMANCE OF POLICY IN INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF LAND USE REGULATIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 184 6.1. CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAND USE REGULATIONS ................................ 185 iii 6.2. CHANGES TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAND USE REGULATIONS AND THEIR ALIGNMENT TO ACTIVITY CENTRE POLICY ....... 188 6.3. CONFORMANCE OF LAND USE CHANGES TO PLANNING REGULATIONS ................................................................ 202 6.4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 213 7. COMPACT ACTIVITY CENTRE PROGRESS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO POSSIBLE EXPLANATORY FACTORS .. ............................................................................................................................................................ 216 7.1. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMPACT CENTRE INTENSIFICATION AND FACTORS ..................................................... 217 7.2. RELATIONSHIPS WITH COMPACT CENTRE INTENSIFICATION WHILE CONTROLLING FOR THE INFLUENCE OF OTHER VARIABLES .......................................................................................................................................................... 221 7.3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 226 8. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ....................................................................................... 229 8.1. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 230 8.2. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 233 8.3. DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................................................... 246 8.4. A FINAL SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 253 9. REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 256 10. APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................... 279 10.1. APPENDIX 1 – INPUT DATA AND MANUAL ADJUSTMENT OF WALKABLE CATCHMENT DATA ..................................... 279 10.2. APPENDIX 2 – COMPACTNESS INDICATOR DATA TABLES ................................................................................. 283 10.3. APPENDIX 3 – ADJUSTMENTS TO SHOPPING CENTRE AREAS ............................................................................ 297 10.4. APPENDIX 4 – DETAILS OF DOCUMENTS ANALYSED FOR PLAN PERFORMANCE ..................................................... 299 10.5. APPENDIX 5 – SUMMED LAND AREA OF DIS SCORES BY CENTRE AND YEAR ......................................................... 316 10.6. APPENDIX 6 – CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA FOR LAND USE CONFORMANCE ............................................................ 322 10.7. APPENDIX 7 - CORRELATION MATRIX OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES ................................................................... 324 10.8. APPENDIX 7 – SPRINGWOOD SUMMIT EVENT FLYER ...................................................................................... 325 iv Table of Figures FIGURE 1 - COMPOSITION OF THE REGIONAL PLANNING ADVISORY GROUP (ABBOTT 1995) .................................................... 33 FIGURE 2 - PROPOSED CENTRE NETWORK FROM THE 1993 POLICY PAPERS (THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND, 1993B) ..................... 35 FIGURE 3 - "THE PREFERRED PATTERN" (THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND, 1993A) .................................................................... 37 FIGURE 4 - A MORE "FLEXIBLE" IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS (THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND, 1994A) .......................................... 38 FIGURE 5 - MAJOR DISTRICT CENTRE SCOPING STUDY CANDIDATE CENTRES (PLANNING WORKSHOP AUSTRALIA, 1996).............. 39 FIGURE 6 - 2005 ACTIVITY CENTRE NETWORK (THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND 2005C) ............................................................ 42 FIGURE 7 - RESIDENTIAL DENSITIES FOR ACTIVITY CENTRES IN THE SEQRP2017 (THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND 2016B) ................. 47 FIGURE 8 – FRAMEWORK OF EVALUATION OF ACTIVITY CENTRE IMPLEMENTATION (AUTHOR) ................................................... 70 FIGURE 9 - OVERVIEW OF THE METHOD USED TO CREATE A LAND USE DATABASE .................................................................... 79 FIGURE 10- EXAMPLE GSV IMAGE (GOOGLE STREET VIEW) .............................................................................................. 81 FIGURE 11 - RELATIVE CHANGE IN NET POPULATION AND DWELLING DENSITIES, 1996 TO 2016 ............................................. 127 FIGURE 12 - CENTRE LOCATIONS WITH DENSITY INTENSIFICATION SCORES ........................................................................... 133 FIGURE 13 - PROPORTIONS OF DWELLING TYPES IN AND OUTSIDE CENTRES, 1996 & 2016, BY