Rewilding Industrial Land

rewilding industrial land Planning Project 3: The Sprawling City UPD5001 - Semester One 2020 Giselle Osborne

Acknowledgment of Traditional Owners This project recognises the rich Aboriginal heritage within Melbourne and acknowledges the Wurundjeri as the Traditional Custodians of this land. This project pays to Elders past, present and emerging.

Table of Contents Executive summary

4

Patterns of industrial land use

6

Biodiversity and urban sprawl

7

Locating industrial land

8

Locating keystone species

9

Patterns of interaction

10

The Strategy

14

Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design

15

Case study: Maygar and Campbellfield

16

3

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Executive summary Rewilding industrial land is a strategy for metropolitan Melbourne which seeks to build a network of biodiverse green infrastructure on employment land.

Employment land presents a unique opportunity to protect, connect and rewild the Greater Melbourne. Attributes like large lot sizes, distance from residential land uses and location on the urban fringe have supported the maintenance of habitats - both biodiverse and highly degraded - for Melbourne’s unique native flora and fauna.

This strategy draws on emerging literature highlighting the health benefits of biophilic connections with nature, the existance of vestigates of biodiversity within urban areas and the importance of small remnant patches for biodiversity, particularly for grassland species in Melbourne. It challenges the existing Victorian framework for biodiversity planning which focuses on offsets to mitigate urbanisation, and offers an alternative way forward to connect remnant patches on both public and private land to incorporate them within the open space network.

Protect Connect Rewild

5

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Patterns of industrial land use

1929

1954

2017

Urban Sprawl and biodiversity An unfolding body of research demonstrates the health benefits of incorporating nature into cities (Craig and Prescott 2016; Garrard, Williams and Bekessy 2018). This research supports rewilding exercises to bring endemic species who play important roles in ecosystems back into the urban environment. Australian cities present a unique opportunity to do this. According to Ives et al.

(2015) Australian cities are ‘hotpots’ for biodiversity and support more species richness on a unit-byunit basis than non-urban areas. This is particularly the case for plant species. The importance of small remnant patches of habitat are also beginning to be recognised for maintaining the health of ecosystems. In Melbourne, 80 percent of grassland species now occur on 20 percent of locations, with much of it located on private land (Williams 2015)

Today

This research challenges traditional conservation efforts which focus on preserving habitats in national parks outside of the city. Using the opportunities presented by green infrastructure on large industrial land parcels, this projects attempts to protect and restore ecosystems within the city.

7

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Strategic Biodiversity Value Less

(2) North SSIP More

Industrial land

(1) West SSIP

The strategic biodiversity map models the biodiversity values of each location in Victoria, accounting for the relative biodiversity of land, presence of threatened species and condition of native vegetation. Each pixel within the map has a value, making it an accessible tool that can trigger planning controls regulating the removal of native vegetation (Clause 52.16 and Clause 52.17).

Overlaying data about industrial land and biodiversity identifies many locations where they coincide. Three State Significant Industrial Precincts (SSIPs) are highlighted which contain high levels of biodiversity and habitats for nationally significant keystone species. This strategy responds to this pattern seeking to protect, connect and rewild green infrastructure on employment land.

(3) Packenham/Officer SSIP

Melbourne Strategic Assessment - Keystone species habitat Golden Sun Moth Growling Grass Frog & Southern Brown Bandicoot Growling Grass Frog Native vegetation area Matted Flax Lily Native vegetation & Southern Brown Bandicoot Spiny Rice Flower Southern Brown Bandicoot

The Melbourne Strategic Assessment (MSA) is the Victorian Governments attempt to quantify and mitigate the risks of urban development on the fringe and within established urban areas. This map uses data about the habitat distribution of nationally recognised keystone species that drive ecological processes. The MSA proposes four actions to minimise the impacts of development based on a model of offsetting: • Establishment of a grassland reserve to offset removal of Natural Temperate Grasslands • Establishment of a woodland reserve to offset removal of Grassy Eucalypt woodland species for development • A network of conservation areas within the UGB to provide habitat linkages • A network of conservation areas outside the UGB to link on the Victorian Volcanic Plain.

9

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

1.

2.

11

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

3.

Observed patterns Erasure

In this scenario in Campbellfield, smaller subdivisions and high levels of impervious surfaces have destroyed habiitats. Very little biodiversity remains on these industrial lots.

Adjacency

Coexistence This example is within Gilbertsons Industrial Estate in Derrimut.

A large lot allows for minimal site coverage and the retention of healthy grassland ecosystems.

A waterway bisecting industrial allotments retains biodiverse ecosystems (Angliss Grassland, Laverton North).

While some lots are very depleted, larger industrial lots with less site coverage also contain remnant habitat with potential for further restoration.

Low

High 13

Model of remnant vegetation. Adapted from the Native Vegetation Information Management (NVIM) map (2020).

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Plan for rewilding employment land Vision A network of biodiverse green infrastructure on employment land which connects to and enhances existing green wedge corridors in Melbourne

Aims 1. Protect

2. Connect

3. Rewild

Maintain remnant biodiverse ecosystems on employment land

Create linkages between ecosystems using green infrastructure on employment land

Restore biodiverse ecosystems on industrial land

Strategies

1.1 Document biodiversity on employment land including presence of indigenous species and past habitats and species which have been displaced by urbanisation.

1.2 Creation of a ‘biodiverse employment area’ overlay to be considered for rezoning, and urban regeneration and growth area development sites.

1.3 Development of a framework for Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design for employment areas

2.1 Map biodiversity and consider the role of ecosystems on employment land for wider connectivity 2.2 Investigate mechanisms for the transfer of development rights to the relevant authority for conservation purposes

3.1 Investigate options for incentivising rewilding of degraded ecosystems on private employment land 3.2 Ecosystem restoration for all new masterplanning projects on urban regeneration sites on employment land

Strategies for Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design

Streetscape

Water sensitive urban design

Gaps and setbacks to facilitate movement

Minimise fencing

Buffers around buildings for vegetation

Maximise permeable surfaces

Waste and wastewater management

Buildings

Environment

Environmentally sensitive landscaping

Educate with ‘cues to care’

Improve and provide habitat

Indigenous planting

Management of weeds

Minimise removal of indigenous vegetation

Vegetation

15

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Maygar and Campbellfield This site is located in the southern-most part of the North SSIP and comprises the Maygar Barracks and adjacent employment land to the north and south. Since European colonisation, this land has transitioned from Plains Grassland, to farmland, to an army barracks and industrial land. It contains both Commonwealth and privately owned land, such as the CSL Behring facility, the only site in Australia to manufactur plasma. Although urbanisation has resulted in widespread habitat loss, the site sites still contain some remnant vegetation and biodiversity values.

Site selection: The land contains two future urban regeneration sites: Maygar Barracks and Campbellfield with the potential to include conservation strategies as part of the master planning and remediation processes. Proximity to waterways and public conservation zones also provide the potention for habitat connections.

Large amounts of green vegetation exist on private land within the area.

Image from the 1945 aerial survey of Melbourne 17

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Planning Zones Commercial 1

Public Use

Commercial 2

Residential Growth

Commonwealth land

Road Zone

General Residential

Road Zone

Green wedge

Special Use Zone

Industrial 1

Urban Floodway

Industrial 2 Mixed Use Public Conservation Public Park

Most of the land within the site is zoned Commercial 2, while the Maygar Barracks site is zoned Commonwealth land and is outside the jurisdiction of the Victorian Planning System. Northcorp Boulevard Reserve is identified as a public park..

Planning Overlays Design and Development

Public Acquisition

Develop Contributions

Rural Floodway

Development Plan

Special Building

Environmental Audit Environmental significance Erosion Management Heritage Land subject to inundation Melbourne Airport

An Environmental Significance Overlay has been applied to Northcorp Boulevard Reserve. The remaining open space on private land within the case study site is not protected by any further overlays. There is no obstacle to the removal of vegetation on private land.

19

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Existing conditions

Wide roads around Maygar provide good opportunitiy for tree planting and WSUD interventions like swales

Presence of large degraded grasslands within Maygar Barracks, with the potential for revegetation and incorporation into a network of open space.

Remnant vegetation next to commercial buildings and the road reserve, currently protected by fencing.

Large grassland meadow on private land within industrial site. Potential for protection and rewilding.

21

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Proposal for Maygar and Campbellfield

Protect Connect Rewild

23

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land

Works cited Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, 2017. ‘Planning for biodiversity’, Parliament of Victoria, State of Victoria: Melbourne, accessed via online via: https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/91220/Planning-for-biodiversity-Guidance.pdf Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, 2014. ‘Land Protection under the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy. State of Victoria: Melbourne Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, 2017. ‘Protecting Victoria’s Environment – Biodiversity 2037’, State of Victoria: Melbourne, cccessed online via: https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/51259/Protecting-Victorias-Environment-Biodiversity-2037.pdf Department of Planning and Community Development, 2009. ‘Delivering Melbourne’s Newest Sustainable Communities’, State of Victoria: Melbourne, accessed via: https://www.msa.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/64813/DMNSC-Program-Report-December-2009.pdf DeWeerdt, S., 2016. Threatened species live in every Australian city. Conservation Magazine. Accessed via https://www.conservationmagazine.org/2016/01/threatened-species-live-in-every-australian-city/ Ives, C, Lentini, P, Threlfall, C, Ikin, K, Shanahan, D, Garrard, G, Bekessy, S, Fuller, R, Mumaw, L, Rayner, L, Rowe, R, Valentine, L and Kendal, D 2016, ‘Cities are hotspots for threatened species’, Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 117-126.

Garrard, G., Nicholas S. G., Williams, L.M., Thomas, J., & Bekessy, S., 2016.

‘Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design’, A Journal for the Society of Conservation Biology, Accessed via: https://nespurban.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Garrard_et_al-2018-Conservation_Letters.pdf Garrard, G., Williams, N., Bekessy., 2018. ‘Here’s how to design cities where people and nature can both flourish’, The Conversation , Published online via: <https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-design-cities-where-people-and-nature-can-both-flourish-102849> Williams, N., 2015. Land of Sweeping Plains: Managing and Restoring the Native Grasslands of of South-eastern Australia. Csiro Publishing: Clayton South, Victoria.

25

Sprawling City Studio - Rewilding industrial land