Spatial Analysis
Vision Arden to be transformed into a new destination for commercial, shopping and leisure destination. Supported by seamless accessibility and a walkable neighbourhood.
Strategic Goals Source: SNAMUTS - Indicators by Areas (SA1) 2016
Source: VicPlan
Source: SGS Economics & Planning Effective Job Density Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) 2019
The site is located in inner City of Melbourne area, it has the highest density of 22,400 people per sq km, with density starting to drop further north and west. Dovey & Pafka (2020) suggested that high population density is one of the key elements to produce streetlife vitality.
The site has the second highest job density in Melbourne Metropolitan area. This showed there is high volume of people commuting to the area from the outer suburbs during weekdays. The role of the transport network is to facilitate commuting between homes and jobs (Li & Dodson, 2020). This explains the wide options of public transportation in the site area.
Melbourne has a mono-centric city center, this can be reflected in the public transport network pattern. It can be easily noticed train, tram and bus lines are spread outwards from the Melbourne CBD. The site is connected by a wide range of transport including train, tram, bus and the metro tunnel. Despite having good transport connectivity, demographic data reveals the population mainly travel by car instead.
Land Use (Prior to planning scheme admendment C407)
Transport Connectivity & Walk Catchment
% of Workers Cycling to Work
SNAMUTS assesses how accessible the city is by public transport. The site has good accessibility to public transportation and other amenities. However part of the site see a decrease in accessibility, the site is located at a gap between high accessible area. Showing that there is improvement in accessibility despite having adequate transportation connectivity.
1. Increase Urban Density
2. Create a community with diverse functional mix
3. Create a safe and walkable neighbourhood
4. Activate Streetlife
Building Height
Demographics
Weakness
Opportunity
• Large buildings blocks • Low-density buildings • Single-use urban landscape predominantly industrial and residential • Blank and non active frontage
Source: VicPlan
The site is divided into residential area in the east and industrial use land in the west, with a small amount of mixed-use land in between. C407 Planning scheme amendment converted majority of the industrial use land into the Arden renewal precinct. The site is historically an industrial area. Mono-functional zones had the effect of preventing close connections of home, work, leisure and recreation. Also, the area failed to provide passive surveillance due to the lack of activities beside office hours (Jacobs, 1961).
Source: Apple Map
Walk catchment analysis showed that the tram and bus stations in the east side of the site provided good walking distance to the residential area. However, accessibility degraded in the west side, surrounding Macaulay station and particularly in the future Metro Tunnel station. The chosen site reveals an accessibility gap. Pafka & Peimani (2022) identified high usage station should be able to access a key visit/ work destination located within walking distance.
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• Heavy traffic along Arden Road with the lack of road crossings
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Macauly Station
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Non-standard frontages are found on Arden Street. Source: Google Map
Source: Google Map
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• Transit-Oriented Development around existing public transporation infrastructure and future Metro Tunnel • Increase Permeability by creating pedestrian access in large urban block • Increase density and functional mix to include a wide variety of activities in the area • Redesign street layout that prioritise pedestrians and cyclists, promoting active transport • Brownfield development, industrial area renewal Mono-functional industrial faciliteis and buildings with a large lot size can be found.
Existing Conditions
Buildings edge is set back from the pedestrian path to manifest privatisation.
Fogar ty
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• Car oriented
The area is dominated by low rise residential and industrial buildings. There is a growth of mid rise residential building in the neighbourhood. The site is also subject to Design and Development overlay 31 which building cannot exceed 10.5m. Low urban urban density contribute to poor walkabilty and street vitality (Doovey & Pafka, 2020). High density is also crucial to successful TOD (Newman, 2005)
Building Frontage
Street
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interactions
The population in the area has a high percentage of workers cycling to work. This can be explained by the existing cycling network and infrastructure in the area and close proximity to the Melbourne CBD. This showed the need to consider active transport infrastructure planning for the subject site.
Street
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discourage public and private realm
Source: SGS Economics & Planning Increased bicycle ridership in Australian cities, VicPlan
Source: VicPlan
Block Size & Permeabilty
Functional Mix
200m x 200m Analysis
Level of Accessibility
Public Transport Connecctivity
Job Density
Doovey & Pafka (2020) develped the Urban DMA model to introduce the concept of how walkable an area is related to density, functional mix and access network. Therefore the level of walkability should not be only base on the measure of actual walking.
1km x 1km Analysis
10km x 10km Analysis
Population Density
Multi-scalar Mobility
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Car dominant streets, angle curb side parkings are found on Green Street. re
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57 Tram Route Statons
Black frontages are found on Fogarty Street and Green Street
Source: Nearmap
Dovey & Pafka (2020) developed the live-work-visit framework to understand urban life of an area, functional mix can shorten the distance between destinations and improve walkability. The analysis reveals a highly mono-functional urban life in the area, the industrial areas are destinations for work only, which prevents a close connection between home and work/ visit.
Permeability can be defined as the level of public access through urban morphology (Marshall, 2005). Block size in the site failed to be defined as good permeability as urban block length should range between 60 and 90 m (Whyte, 1988) with a maximum of 120 m (Jacobs, 1961). Potential pedestian access can be created by urban codes to enhance north-south permeability and reduce block length between Arden Street and Green Street.
Non-standard frontages are found on Arden Street and blank frontages are found on Fogarty Street and Green Street. Existing conditions discourage public and private realm interactions (Whyte, 1988). Pedestrians are isolated from uses and activities, exposed to traffic and forced to walk greater distances. Although walking path is provided, pedestrians receive the message that they are of secondary importance (SPUR, 2013). The lack of visual connections to the pedestrian also failed to provide passive surveillance, making streets dangerous to walk at night (Jacobs, 1961).
Urban Coding | Land Use and Urban Design ABPL90132 - Semester 2, 2023 | Pak Hei Cyrus Chung
Buildings in the site area are subject to DDO31 which has a maximum heightrequirement of 10.5m. New developmentfrom 2006 has to have a low-scale Arden Street has a heavy traffic volume, the street layout and design are not friendly to cyclist and buildform. This resulted in the low density ofbuildings. The height of the buildings pedestrians, revealing a car dominant urban environment. The lack of any road crossing in the site in thesubject site ranges from 7m to 9m, in theform of low-rise (1-2 storeys). making it almost impossible to cross Arden Street.
North Melbourne Recreation Reserve provides single large area of green space in the neighbourhood, with restricted sporting and leisure use.
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N o rt h M e l b o u r n e