Sustainable Urban Form and the Shopping Centre: An Investigation of Activity Centres in Melbourne's Growth Areas

Abstract

In Victoria the current strategic plan intended to underpin the future growth in Melbourne, Melbourne 2030, adopts the framework of sustainability as its guiding ethos. Melbourne 2030 makes clear a preferred form for new activity centres through performance criteria and guidelines on preferable layout and structure. The research presented in this article consists of an analysis of 17 activity centres which have been planned for or built on greenfield sites in three growth areas of metropolitan Melbourne since 2002. These activity centres are rated against a framework of sustainability criteria adapted from Melbourne 2030. The study found that in many cases the recommended form and location of new centres are not being adopted and possible explanations are advanced.

Keywords:

• Shopping centres, sustainability, access, planning, Melbourne

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Aditya Andley who assisted with the initial data gathering for this article.

Notes

1. It should be noted that it was difficult to find indicators for the assessment of two of the performance criteria. Performance criteria 19: “Control noise emissions to achieve reasonable levels near sensitive uses”, relates at least in part to use rather than urban form and would have been very difficult to assess for activity centres still in the planning phase so was not included. It was also difficult to find an indicator for performance criteria 12: “Improve freight movement and business logistics”, as this could suggest locating all centres on major highways directly contravening several of the other criteria.