Planning for walkable neighbourhoods

Image credit: Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia

Action 1.14, Action Plan for Walking 2019–2021

Status: Complete

Update and promote Complete Streets: Guidelines for urban street design (IPWEAQ, 2010) to enable comfortable and green walking friendly streets to be implemented in Queensland, in collaboration with the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEAQ).

Achievements

The Queensland Government collaborated with IPWEAQ to release the Street Design Manual: Walkable Neighbourhoods in August 2020. The manual builds on the previous IPWEAQ publication, Complete Streets, and draws on material from Economic Development Queensland guidelines and relevant codes.

The Street Design Manual recognises streets and pathways are the building blocks of every residential neighbourhood. It includes comprehensive guidance to plan and design streets in new residential developments that encourage walking and deliver safer neighbourhoods and a sense of community.

The manual complements the Queensland Government’s Model Code for Neighbourhood Design and Planning Regulation 2017. For more information see Action Summary 1.1 Neighbourhood design and planning and Action Summary 1.3 Planning Regulation: Walkable Neighbourhoods Amendment. It provides advice on new Queensland mandatory requirements including:

• connected streets for walking through a grid-like street layout
• maximum block length of 250m
• footpaths on at least one side of the street and on both sides of main streets
• street trees every 15 metres on both sides of the street
• blocks within 400 metres of a park or open space.

Through the provision of this detailed practical guidance and an accompanying set of practice notes, the Street Design Manual will be a valuable resource for local governments, engineers, planners, designers, practitioners and decision makers involved with the planning and design of walkable neighbourhoods.

Next steps

To support the release of the Street Design Manual, IPWEAQ facilitated training to assist practitioners to read, interpret and apply the guidance in a consistent and effective way.

The manual will be reviewed based on practice experiences.

Lead agency

Department of State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning (note that the relevant government department is now called the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning).

More information

You can download the suite of walkable communities planning guidance by visiting the Queensland Government planning pages.

To find out more about training on using the Street Design Manual visit the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia Queensland website.