Title: Activity Centre Planning
1Activity Centre Planning
- RMIT University
- Environment and Planning Program
- 4th and 5th July 2003
2Presentation Outline
- What are activity centres and why should we have
a policy about them? - The key role of retailing and bit of retail
planning theory central place theory. - The pattern of Melbournes centres and the growth
of the stand-alone shopping mall. - The challenge for planning.
3What are activity centres?
- Broad definition (descriptive)
- - Any place which attracts people to it for a
variety of activities such as shopping, working,
studying, recreating or socialising.
4What are activity centres?
- More specific (prescriptive)
- - A mixed-use centre (including retail and
employment centres) of a reasonable size which is
based around a public transport node, preferably
including fixed rail. - Activity centre not universal term. Has been
District Centres , or town centres, key sites
etc..
5What are activity centre policies?
- Activity centres policies are policies about
directing the location of those things which
attract people. - Such policies seek to cluster these uses around
public transport rather than allowing them to
disperse along main roads. - Increasingly, a higher density of housing around
these centres is also advocated.
6Why should we cluster activities?
- Environmental reasons - locating a number of
activities together makes multi-purpose trips
possible which - Reduces number of trips
- Reduces fuel consumption
- Is more efficient
- Saves time and money
- So AC policy is actually a policy about
sustainable urban form.
7There are also social reasons
- Mixed-use places are more interesting and
dynamic, mono-functional areas (such as office
parks) are dull and sterile. - "In these areas a single group of people, a
single occupation, a single social group or age
group has been more or less isolated from the
other groups in society resulting in a poorer and
more monotonous environment", (Gehl and Gemzoe
1987104).
8There are also social reasons
- Activity centres which can be walked to, and
walked around within, promote social contact,
better health and interest. - "People's love of watching activity and other
people is constantly evident in cities
everywhere", (Jane Jacobs 196137).
9And economic reasons.
- There are economic advantages to businesses to
locate within mixed use centres where synergies
can develop.
10Why should we locate these clusters around public
transport?
- To encouraging a mode shift away from car travel
so as to - improve the environment
- encourage walking (for health and sociability)
- cut down on the amount of land needed to be
provided for car parking - increase the return on public sector investment
in public transport etc
11Key role of retailing
- Retailing is a key attractor of people. It
generates more trips, (and less predictable
trips), than many other major activities. - Activity centres are often equated with shopping
centres, but not all shopping centres are
activity centres. - Can you have a viable mixed use centre without
retailing?
12Key role of retailing
- It is the retail sector that is the most visible
and the most widely experienced. The vitality of
its retail sector in many ways underpins the
downtown's overall success. Shopping is an
activity that almost everyone doesWhere we shop
very much defines the way in which we experience
our community, the places that become familiar to
us and the routes we learn about. A strong core
of shopping provides a reason for the general
public to come downtown on a regular basis - City of Toronto Land Use Committee Report No. 9,
1994.
13Retail Planning in Theory
- Much is still based on the work of Walter
Christaller, (1933). - Christaller wanted to discover what determined
the pattern of settlement in a scientific manner
by looking at towns in Southern Germany. - The theory he developed was called Central Place
Theory.
14Central Place Theory
- A central place is simply a place, or a town,
which is at the centre of a region. - Christallers theory predicted that central
places would be evenly distributed across the
landscape in a nested hierarchy. - Places or towns whose regions extend over a
larger area, and in so doing incorporate the
regions of smaller places, are called higher
order central places.
15Central Place Theory
- A few key terms to understand
- Each type of good will have its own range. The
range of a good is the maximum distance which
people will travel to buy it, and this is
determined by both the price of the good and the
cost involved in travelling to buy it. - People will travel further and at greater expense
to purchase goods of greater value (higher order
goods)
16Central Place Theory
- Multiple purchase trips lowers the cost to the
purchaser in both travel and time, so people
favour destinations that offer a variety of
functions. - This characteristic, the extent of a place's
range of functions, is called its centrality in
central place theory.
17Central Place Theory
- Each retailer will have a minimum trade area, or
threshold market, necessary in order to make
their business viable. This will be determined by
the number of people willing to buy the goods
within that area, given their other available
options.
18Central Place Theory
- Places which only supply lower order goods, with
smaller threshold markets, can therefore be
spaced closer together without losing viability. - Larger central places, which supply not only
lower order goods but also higher order goods
with a larger threshold market, will need to be
spaced further apart in order to be viable.
19Walter Christaller 1933
20Walter Christaller 1933
21Melbourne 2030
22Does this describe Melbourne?
- Melbourne has one predominant central place, the
CBD. - It has a number of very large regional centres
(Super Regional or Principle) such as Dandenong,
Frankston, Box Hill, Chadstone, Highpoint,
Ringwood, Prarhan, Footscray etc.. - Then far more middle range centres such as
Carnegie, Sandringham, Niddrie, etc.. - And a great many neighbourhood centres
23Criticisms of CPT
- Central Place Theory ignores many complex
variables such as - differences in the individuals ability to travel
- the ease of travel in different directions
- individual choice and taste
- the effect of advertising and promotion
- the difference in spending for necessities and
discretionary purchases.
24Is it now out of date?
- Does this pattern of hierarchy fit with a
dispersed pattern of car based shopping? - What type of a place is a Bunnings or a Harvey
Normans in Central Place Theory? - Where do the specialised smaller centres that do
not supply local needs fit? (e.g. Brunswick St,
Lygon St etc)
25Modern trends in retailing
- Retailing has decentralised because of
- Increased car usage
- Larger format of retailing requiring cheaper
land - Increased affluence of consumers (Bromley and
Thomas 1993). - New forms of retail development resulting from
retail decentralisation, especially out-of-town
developments, have distorted the traditional
retail hierarchy and heightened the issue of
sustainable development at both local and global
scales - Ibrahim and McGoldrick (200336).
26Trends in retailing in Melbourne
- Melbourne has many traditional shopping centres
which are - Based around public transport routes (tram, train
station) - Have multiple owners
- Offer a broad range of goods and services.
- This is still by far the most common form of
shopping centre in Melbourne (around 65).
27Trends in retailing in Melbourne
- The stand-alone shopping mall (single owner,
car-based, built on greenfield site) was
introduced to Melbourne with Chadstone in 1960. - This was followed by Northland in 1966, Eastland
1967, Southland 1968, Doncaster 1969 and
Highpoint 1975.
28Trends in retailing in Melbourne
- Corporately owned stand alone shopping centres
account for just under 25 of all retail
floorspace in Victoria, (Jebb Holland Dimasi
200020). - Melbourne has the lowest rate of all Australian
capital cities apart from Adelaide, but it is
growing. - Tracking retail changes has become more difficult
since the demise of the retail census. Now
floorspace can be used in place of sales.
29Top 20 centres by retail floorspace in 1979-80
30Top 20 centres by retail floorspace in 1985-86
31Top 20 centres by retail floorspace in 1991-2
32Top 20 centres of retail floorspace in 2000
33Trends in retailing in Melbourne
- Figures for 2003 would show more increases,
(remember only out of top 20). - Stand-alone shopping malls are increasing in size
and dominance in the higher order end of
retailing. - However the CBD retains its predominant role
34The challenge for planners
- Stand alone shopping malls are a problem for
planning policy makers. They - Are mostly car-based
- Have a negative impact on the economic viability
of more traditional centres - Are owned by large (and powerful) capital
investors - Continue to want to expand.
35The challenge for planners
- The problems associated with increased car
dependency and dispersal must be addressed by - Strategic policy e.g. Melbourne 2030 or
international examples - Integration of land use and transport planning
e.g. Transit Cities program - Protection and promotion of traditional shopping
strips
36The challenge for planners
- Economic development to ensure local employment
opportunities and vitality of local areas - Urban design which encourages walking etc
- Location of further housing around activity
centres and public transport nodes - Local area plans to address specific problems and
develop individually tailored solutions. - --------------
37Activity Centre Planning
- RMIT University
- Environment and Planning Program
- 4th and 5th July 2003