Sustainability Frameworks for Transit Oriented Development in South East Queensland

Introduction: Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) are higher density mixed use residential and commercial developments set within walking distance of key transit nodes such as rail or bus stations or around activity centres such as major shopping centres or offices. While higher densities are promoted closer to the transit nodes, lower density development is allowed further away from the transit nodes. TODs aim to encourage increased use of public transport, to efficiently integrate land use and transport, and to create integrated liveable communities (Calthorpe and Fulton, 2001; Dittmar and Ohland, 2004; Denphy et.al, 2004). Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is currently being advocated as an effective land use planning strategy to manage metropolitan growth in South East Queensland (SEQ). Recently, the Regional Plan for South East Queensland has proposed to develop a series of TODs in the region as a way to manage its rapid growth (OUM, 2004, 2005a).
In view of the current developments that are taking place in SEQ, this paper sets out to:
1) discuss the strengths and weaknesses of theTODconcept;
2) examine the merits of the idea of TOD being proposed for SEQ;
3) highlight some planning issues associated with TOD development in SEQ; and
4) propose a holistic conceptual framework to integrate key planning and urban design principles related to the implementation of sustainable TOD in SEQ.