LAND MANAGEMENT & PLANNING

COASTAL TOWNS DESIGN FRAMEWORKS

The Coastal Towns Design Frameworks is the largest urban design framework project to be conducted in regional Victoria.  It comprises planning and design studies of 19 settlements and adjacent areas located along over 300 kilometres (approximately 40%) of Victoria’s coastline. 

The project analyses coastal development pressures and the adequacy of existing planning policy to manage development pressures in non-urban areas.  It also provides guidance on the location, type and extent of future development along the coast of the Wellington and East Gippsland Shires, with specific emphasis on the 19 nominated settlements. 

Landscape Principles in Practice:

• Value Our Landscape: An understanding of local landscape issues and aspirations for each settlement was gained from a comprehensive community engagement program that incorporated input and feedback opportunities at various stages of the project.  A wide-ranging analysis of landscape values was employed to inform the local and broader urban design framework, to respect and enhance local landscape character and environmental functionality.
• Protect – Enhance – Regenerate:  A set of design principles was formulated from the landscape analysis which aims to protect, enhance and regenerate natural and cultural landscape values.  Design principles for proposed improvement actions in each of the towns included headings such as ‘enhance local character’, ‘conserve the environment’, ‘promote activity to sustain communities’ and ‘improve access’.
• Design with Respect: The frameworks enable an integrated landscape decision-making process which respects and enhances environmental functionality across local and broader landscape scales.
• Design for the Future:  Master Plans were developed for each nominated settlement, including simple 3D computer modelling of built form & landscape development proposals.  These were described, costed and prioritised over a 15 year time horizon, providing Councils with a comprehensive overview of cost/benefit ratios of alternative development scenarios as well as strategic tools for planning and implementing change. 
• Embrace Responsive Design:  Project demonstrates how integrated approaches to broad-scale landscape management can be guided by the development of such frameworks when planning for long-term sustainability in the built environment, especially in relation to adaptive solutions to the impacts of climate change.

>>>    About this project     /       list of case studies     /       The Landscape Principles