How we can sustainably develop Australian cities and communities
Malcolm Griffin – Managing Director at PSA Consulting
As land use planning experts based in Brisbane, our team at PSA Consulting has contributed to several Growth Management Strategies for local governments across Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia.
What was once a focus of only metropolitan areas, it is now time for regional councils to deeply consider growth management and whether they need to update their planning to address it.
Strategies not just for our big cities
Growth management has been a constant consideration in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for the last 40 years. With regional Australia swelling since COVID-19 – particularly in Queensland – these strategies have also become more relevant for smaller local councils. Over 2022-2023, we saw:
3%
capital city population growth, doubling the 1.3% of the previous year.
Regional Queensland
was the fastest-growing rest-of-state area (at 2.2%).
1.4%
regional population growth, the highest seen since the late-2000s mining boom.
Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast
were the fastest-growing regional cities (2.9% and 2.7%, respectively).
Land use planners across more local governments than ever are under pressure to deliver robust, evidence-based strategies and policies that enable their cities, towns and communities to accommodate growth sustainably.
The question is… how can they best approach this task when effectively managing growth may not necessarily have been a priority before?
Why sustainability matters
Put simply, plans and policies that seek to ‘manage growth’ aim to minimise the negative impacts of population growth while maximising its benefits. We’ve all seen the effects on our society of poor housing availability and affordability, to which unsustainable growth contributes.
A good strategy provides a roadmap for well-planned and connected places and spaces – leading to:
More housing options and diversity
Stronger economic opportunities
Superior services, accessibility and infrastructure
Better lifestyles and environment
For land use planners, this process of determining where and how to invest to achieve the largest benefit for the greatest number of people is both complex and dynamic.
In the face of such a challenge, it can be tempting to retreat to simple answers and ignore consequences. Historically, some strategic plans have sought to control or limit growth. Such an approach has never gone well. The opportunity lies in framework of investigation, analysis and decision making which is flexible and robust.
A Growth Management Strategy framework
We’ve applied this flexible framework across multiple contexts and jurisdictions. It provides a robust way to understand the growth dynamic, articulate a preferred future and develop key policies and plans – all to improve growth management.
Stage 1
Investigate and analyse the three core building blocks of growth management:
Spatial growth
Where is growth and development desirable – and how much is manageable in that area?
Temporal growth
When will growth and development occur – and at what rate or over what timeframe?
Functional relationships
What is the relationship between areas – and how can these be facilitated and enhanced?
Stage 2
Overlay these building blocks onto quantified ‘drivers for change’, which can be grouped into:
Economic drivers
Those that enable access to jobs and services.
Amenity attractors
That make living safe, easy and desirable.
Environmental processes
Including change hazards and climate change.
Land use planners can also enhance and refine this framework through techniques and technologies that deepen our understanding of both the building blocks and drivers for change in a more detailed and quantified way. These include:
Urban & hazard modelling
Community engagement
Change management
Development monitoring
Are you part of a local council that’s grappling with unprecedented growth and how to respond to it? Talk to the experts at PSA Consulting.