PLAN30005 Urban Precinct Studio - C3 2021

Shaping a

Healthy Neighourhood in Tarralla Creek Precinct

PLAN30005 Urban Precinct Studio Yingqi Zheng 1152632 November 2021

Acknowledgement Shaping a Healthy Neighbourhood in Tarralla Creek Precinct Prepared by Yingqi Zheng (1152632) The University of Melbourne PLAN30005 Urban Precinct Studio Semester 2, 2021 Course Coordinator: Professor Sun Sheng Han Studio Tutor: Lakshmanan Madhu Tarralla Creek Precinct Group 3 Members: Supported by:

Yingqi Zheng 1152632 (Author) Yifan Zhang 1050027

Content This report acknowledges that Tarralla Creek Precinct sits on the traditional land of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and I offer my respects to the connection of land, water and culture and to elders past, present and emerging.

This repost is created by Yingqi Zheng. As the author, I would like to thank my studio leader, Lakshmanan Madhu, who gives me guidance, inspiration and valuable feedbacks and supports.

Also I would like to recognize the efforts and contribution made by my group mates: Yifan Zhang, Yuxuan Shi and Zijun Feng as well as other fellows in the tutorial discussion. The work is supported by the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne as well as the Maroondah City Council.

Yuxuan Shi 1051394

1. Introduction

01

Purpose of Structure Plan Healthy City Site Context Site Profile Policy Analysis

2. Site Assessment

09

Land Use & Housing Accessibility & Connectivity Public Realm Issues & Opportunities

3. Design Strategies

34

Vision & Objectives Actions: Land Use & Housing Development Actions: Accessibility & Connectivity Actions: Public Realm

4. Implementation

56

Implementation Plan

Zijun Feng 1106302

5. Reference

November, 2021

59

1.1

Introduction

Purpose of Structure Plan Structure plan is a detailed planning tool that proposed a future vision and every stage of strategies as well as a framework to guide the development or redevelopment. The plan has purposed on urban renewal area coping with its current existing issues, managing growth and development and upgrading the infrastructures.

Tarralla Creek Precinct contains two SA2 regions: Croydon East and Croydon South and Tarralla Creek sit on the southeast part of the precinct.

The precinct is abundant in natural resources and has plenty of natural parks and reserves. The natural advantages make the precinct with huge development potential and opportunities.

Introduction Purpose of Structure Plan Healthy City Site Context Site Profile Policy Analysis

There are many ongoing planning projects in the precinct, from Croydon South 20-minute neighbourhood aiming to improve residents’ living experience and belongings to the communities and Reimagining Tarralla Creek focusing on the enhance the water integration to the Melbourne water system as well as the surrounds in Croydon etc.

Therefore, this structure plan will guide the future development in housing, transportation, public realm as well as multifunctional areas, maintaining a better people-first community in Tarralla Creek Precinct, to achieve the Maroondah 2040 goal, as a great place to live, work, play and visit.

1

2

Croydon South Our 20‑Minute Neighbourhood Neighbourhoods are the foundation of our city — they are the places we live, connect and build communities.

Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 is a long-term plan to accommodate Melbourne’s future growth in population. The 20-minute neighbourhood concept is a key principle of the strategy. The 20-minute neighbourhood is all about ‘living locally’ — giving people the ability to meet most of their everyday needs within a 20-minute walk from home, with access to safe cycling and local public transport options.

Re-imagining Tarralla Creek The project is one of five trial sites for Melbourne Water’s ‘Re-imagining Your Creek’ program and looks to enhance the natural environment, create a place for community to connect to nature and one another, improve connectivity, and deliver a resilient and maintainable waterway.

The project will also seek to create a space for arts, culture, and education opportunities.

Objectives of the project include: · To ‘daylight’ the creek and promote opportunities to interact with the creek. · Provide habitat and increase biodiversity of the site. · Improve local and regional connections.

Source: 1. https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/515242/Croydon-South-Our-20-minute-neighbourhood.pdf 2. https://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/Development/Developing-Maroondah/Maroondah-projects/Maroondah-projects/Re-imaginingTarralla-Creek

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 1

1.2

1.3

Introduction

Healthy City

Site Context

WHO has defined the health as: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.”

--World Health Organization, 1948 Individual health has a strong relationship with the living environment. The city, as the main human habitat, can have a great impact on residents’ health. The WHO definition of health challenges the conventional assumption of health which is only relating to the health care professionals (Barton & Grant, 2012). While many countries have already concentrated on health policy and well-being issues. Hugh Barton claimed that promoting health and well-being should be reinstated as the prime purpose of planning (Barton et al., 2017). Therefore, the proposition of shaping a healthy city/ neighbourhood is feasible and achievable. In addition, the Maroondah Planning Scheme Act. 15.01 also mentions that achieving a healthy neighbourhood as well as foster a healthy, active living community, which is in line with the long-term planning and development goals of the local government.

Introduction

Metropolitan Context The City of Maroondah is located in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, which has 25 kilometres far away from the Melbourne CBD fringe. Maroondah City is a predominantly residential area, with some commercial, industrial and semi-rural areas and substantial parklands. The City has a 119,401 population and more than 40,000 households in 2020 (id. community, 2020). The City is served by the Maroondah Highway, Eastlink and the Belgrave and Lilydale railway lines.

What Healthy City can do?

"Reduce the inequalities exist in access housing, facilities and transport for different socioeconomic groups and vulnerable groups in the population; "Increase the amount of incidental physical activities necessary to reduce the burden of disease by improving access and providing walkable, mixed use communities; "Contribute to the improved health of the population by reduction of air and water pollution and greenhouse emissions;

Local Context

Figure 1. The determinants of health and well-being in our settlements.

Image source: Land use planning and health and well-being, Barton, 2009.

"Contribute to a changed social environment by improving the liveability of streets, making them safer, improving communication between people and therefore improving community cohesion.

--VicHealth, 2000.

Tarralla Creek precinct is a multicultural residential suburb, governed by the Maroondah City council. It is located about 28 kilometres east of Melbourne CBD, possessing a comprehensive bus public transportation and road infrastructure. For those private vehicle owners, they can take a 45- minute drive to the Tullamarine Airport, which is 50.7 km away.

Moreover, this area is within key transport routes such as the metropolitan train network and bus network.

Figure 2a. City of Maroondah in Metropoliatan Context.

Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Precinct Boundary The Precinct of Tarralla Creek is combined by two SA2 regions, Croydon East and Croydon South. Hence, the boundary of Tarralla Creek Precinct is the same boundary of the SA2 regions. It is noticeable that the northwestern boundary is along the railway route of Lilydale.

Figure 2b. SA2 Regions in Maroondah City.

Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 2

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 3

1.4.1

1.4.2

Introduction - Site Profile

Introduction - Site Profile

Population

Age

Figure 3a. shows the population distribution in Tarralla Creek Precinct in SA1 Regions. The distribution of population in the precinct is not even and the gap between the nearby regions can be huge. The most crowded SA1 regions are up to more than 600 people which both located in Croydon South. The north part region and some regions in the Croydon East and South SA2 boundary have the least population, which is less than 200 people.

The median age observed in Tarralla Creek Precinct was 36.8 in Croydon East and 37.3 in Croydon South. And it could be illustrated from figure x that the proportion of people in this area is more evenly distributed by age group, while the age range 30 to 39 took up the highest was 16.74% and age group named 10 to 19 obtained the lowest was 9.79%.

Figure 4b shows the largest age group in each SA1 region in Tarralla Creek Precinct. Most of the area in the precinct dominates by young or medium-aged people between 2039 years old. Some SA1 areas like the one in the southwestern corner and some on the south boundary of Croydon South and northern part of Croydon East have the largest number of people aged under 20.

As illustrated in figure 3b, population growth observed in Tarralla Creek Precinct had an increment by 6.38% from 2016 to 2020 (Croydon south: 3.36% & Croydon East: 7.32%) and the surrounding suburb – Ringwood East was 4.34%, however, there was still a huge gap compared with Melbourne's data of 32.35%. Moreover, through the annual growth data that Tarralla Creek Precinct’s increasing rate (1.60%) is relatively slow compared with Melbourne CBD’s 8.09%.

Figure 3a. Total Population of Tarralla Creek Precinct in SA1 Regions.

Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Population Growth 2016-2020 Annual Population Growth 2016-2020

Croydon South

Croydon East

Tarralla Creek Precinct

Ringwood East

Melbourne 3000

3.36%

7.32%

6.38%

4.24%

32.35%

0.84%

1.83%

1.60%

1.06%

8.09%

Figure 4a. Age Distribution in Each Area by Percentage (2016). Data source: ABS, 2016.

Figure 4b. The Largest Age Group in each SA1 Area. Data source: ABS, 2016.

Figure 3b. Population Growth. Data source: ABS, 2016.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 4

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 5

1.4.3

1.4.4

Introduction - Site Profile

Introduction

Household

Employment & Education

Figure 5c gives information about the household types and their proportion in Tarralla Creek Precinct and a nearby suburb, Ringwood East and Melbourne. The table shows that there is approximately one-third (28.95%) population live alone which is a quite high figure compared to Ringwood East at 24.2%, more accurately, 2,233 persons are living by themselves. The largest household type in Tarralla Creek Precinct is family household, which accounts for 67.82%, while the data is slightly lower than it in Ringwood East. The smallest household type in the two suburbs is couple household which only accounts for near 3%. In addition, the total household number in Tarralla Creek Precinct also outnumber the figure in Ringwood East.

For the average person in a household, Melbourne only has 2 people in a single family while In the other suburbs in the table, they have more than 2 persons: 2.5 in Tarralla Creek Precinct and 2.6 in Ringwood East.

Employment status The total labour force in Tarralla Creek precinct in 2016 was 10160. Among these working people, there is 59.6% labour force were employed as full-time, 30.6% of the labour force were engaged in part-time jobs and the unemployment rate was around 5.28%. Also, there is 4.52 percent of the labour force were not actively looking for jobs. However, the number of the unemployment rate is relatively lower than the great Melbourne area which is 6.8%. Because of the large distribution of commercial and industrial space in Tarralla creek, it can provide more job opportunities which can lower the unemployment rate.

Fi gu re 5

Description (no.)/Region Single Households Couple Households Family Households Total Households Average Person pre Household

Fi g u r e

5b

Ringwood East

Melbourne 3000

2233 (28.95%)

1785 (24.20%)

5964(36.63%)

249(3.32%)

244(3.31%)

4613(28.33%)

5231(67.82%)

5346(72.49%)

5704(35.03%)

7713

7375

16281

2.5

2.6

2

Figure 5c. Household Information. Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021.c

Total Household

a

Tarralla Creek Precinct

Figure 6a. Employment status in Tarralla Creek Prencinct. Data Source: ABS, 2016

Single

Couple

Family

29%

3%

68%

7713

Occupation In these employed people, the most common occupation was the Professional job and Technicians and Trade workers which take up 21.42% and 17% of the employed labour force. People who are employed in other jobs or inadequately describe occupy 1.46%. There were 14.71% of workers occupied in clerical and administrative work, followed by Community and personal service work (11.54%). There is not much difference in the number of Managers, Sales Workers, and Laborers, which were 10.63%, 9.13%, and 8.81%.

Education In 2016, only 3.5% population in Tarralla Creek Precinct graduated with a postgraduate degree while Melbourne 3000 and Ringwood East had 10.8% and 6.1% separately. Overall, Melbourne 3000 occupied the largest percentage of higher education among these areas. However, the difference in this data may come from the distribution of educational resources, local economic conditions, public transportation construction, types of local jobs, and local cultural traditions.

Image source: Figure 5a.https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionImages/family-400.jpg Figure 5b. https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/pexels-photo-1251852-1024x683.jpeg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 6

Figure 6b. Occupation in Tarralla Creek Prencinct. Data Source: ABS, 2016

Tarralla Creek Precinct

Ringwood East

Melbourne

Figure 6c. Education (top 3). Data Source: ABS, 2016

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 7

1.5

Introduction

Policy Analysis Maroondah Planning Scheme, 2021 The objective of achieving a healthy neighbourhood is mentioned in the planning scheme, with active living and community wellbeing. The local government planning scheme is one of the most important disciplines of precinct planning. The strategies in the planning scheme claim some directions including the walkability and 20-minute neighbourhood, the safety of the streets, the recreation and leisure public realm, reachable public transport service and the convenient amenities.

Planning Melbourne 2017-2050 The plan supports the investment with employment opportunities, also provides the outcome of diverse housing choices with accessible services. The envision of the transport network helps to gain better connections to the people and service. In addition, shaping a healthy neighbourhood is also listed as one of the outcomes in the planning strategies.

Melbourne 2030 Planning for sustainable growth The plan points out some detailed planning policies. Within the 9 directions, the plan admits the growing population with affordable housing opportunities, promotes the transport network and has a supervisor on the environment protection, which are some leading guidelines of the precinct planning.

Site Assessment Land Use & Housing Accessibility & Connectivity Public Realm Issues & Opportunities

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 8

2.1.1

Land Use & Housing

2.1.1

Land Use & Housing

Zones The planning scheme zones are used for controlling and regulating the use of the land, to achieve the further strategic development and objectives set by the city council. Tarralla Creek Precinct includes two SA2 regions, namely Croydon and Croydon South. Figure 66 illustrates the planning zones in Tarralla Creek Precinct, which is divided by the road networks of some main roads also known as Road Zone in the planning scheme controlling, including Dorset Rd, Bayswater Rd, Mt Dandenong Rd and Hull Rd. Tarralla Creek Railway is one of the components of the Public Use Zone, the railway is also across the study area from east to west.

Commercial Zone (C1Z, C2Z) Tarralla Creek Precinct is dominated by the Commercial Zone and the Residential Zone, which account for more than 70% of the whole area.

Commercial Zone (include Commercial 1 Zone and Commercial 2 Zone) is applied in mixed use commercial activities such as retail, office, business, entertainment and community use as well as some mixed commercial uses like offices associated with business and commercial services and the industry or retailing. The construction of a supermarket requires a permit if the area is more than 1800m2.

Public Use Zone (PUZ1, PUZ2, PUZ4, PUZ6) The Public Use Zones are scattered throughout the precinct, which is the main zone for public purposes and public land use for utility or community service provision by the government and authorities. The planning scheme allows some open spaces and some public community facilities and services in this area and other use of public land needs specified requirements.

Figure 8. Zone Map. Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Industrial Zone (IN1Z, IN3Z) It is noticeable that the south-eastern corner of the precinct is occupied by the Industrial Zone, where is a cluster area of warehouses and factories. In addition, the green spaces. Some convenience shops, small scale supermarkets and associated shops are also appropriated in these locations.

Residential Zone (GRZ1, GRZ2) The Residential Zone (refer to GRZ1 and GRZ2, General Residential Zone in Tarralla Creek Precinct) allows the construction of high-density dwellings, such as some apartments and 4-storeyed townhouses (Planning Scheme of Maroondah, 2021). GRZ allows a maximum of a building’s height up to 9 metres.

Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1, NRZ2, NRZ3, NRZ4, NRZ6) This zone is intended for areas where single dwellings prevail and change is not proposed, such as areas of recognised neighbourhood character or environmental or landscape significance. Up to 8 metres building height is allowed, unless a schedule to the zone specifies an alternative maximum building height.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 11

2.1.2

2.1.2

Land Use & Housing

Land Use & Housing

Land Use

1. Dwelling, Dorest Rd 2. Wyreena Community Arts Centre 3. Retail Store, Main St 4. Croydon Community School 5. Mooroolbark Superclinic 6. MFB Fire Station

Figure. X identifies the distribution of existing land use in Tarralla Creek Precinct and the percentage of each function is also developed in the analysis. The predominant land use within Tarralla Creek Precinct is residential. In those clustered residential areas, there are a few retail stores and facilities such as community clinics and child-care centres. Almost all the dwellings are following the setback regulation which makes a good barrier between the public roads and private living space. Thus, the streetscape in the residential area would be better than other functional areas. While due to the high ownership of cars, some of the road space is occupied by the cars, which results from the fact that the street space is narrow especially in some laneways.

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4

The services also occupy a large are, which almost are some shopping malls, public parks, academic training centre, repairing and libraries.

They are usually in the commuting centre with public transport or within the cluster residential area, providing adequate parking space and allowing more convenience for the residences.

In terms of manufacturing and industry use, most of them are gathering in Croydon South, including vehicle repairing, stores of automotive, hardware and tooling, storage, and warehouse.

The channel and aqueduct area are some spaces for infrastructure facility which has fewer impacts on the other functional usage of land. The land for minimal use mainly refers to some mixeduse land space and some land under construction and vacant currently.

1 2

4

6

Image source: figure 9b-g: Google Map, 2021.

Figure 9a. Land Used Map. Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 12

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 13

2.1.3

2.1.4

Land Use & Housing

Housing Overview

Housing Price & Intensity

The Maroondah Housing Strategy which is supported by Maroondah 1040 Community Vision outlines a vision for housing in Maroondah:

Housing Price Housing supply always has a strong relationship to the price, which not only reflects the risk of the developer’s need to offset the risks associated with producing housing, but also the trade-off between consumers' purchase of new housing supply and existing market choices (Cramer, 2015).

Figure 11a. shows the average price of the new project identified over 2013-2014.

The west of Croydon South has the highest average sale price. In general, the average housing price in the precinct is not so high except for two SA1s regions. One is in the west boundary of Croydon South, which is also the highest average housing price in the precinct. The other one is near the Dorest Recreation Reserve, where the average sale price is between 475,000 to 525,000.

"In 2040, Maroondah will have high quality housing environments in appropriate locations that meet the community’s diverse and changing needs. There will be a wider range of living options and housing will increasingly be revitalised in affordable, sustainable and well-designed ways. Maroondah’s activity centres will be more accessible and provide a broader range of services that meet community needs. In partnership with the community, Council will continue to plan for housing growth strategically backed by a strong evidence base."

-- The Maroondah Housing Strategy, 2016 The objectives of the Maroondah Housing Strategy: - To establish future policy directions and guide future residential development to protect and enhance the places we live; and - To ensure that the municipality will meet its housing requirements through to the year 2040.

Housing has two key attributes: - The individual dwellings as home for residents; - The overall housing stock which forms a large part of our living environment.

5 key focus areas to achieve the vision and actions: - Responding to social, economic and demographic change - Managing growth and changing housing needs - Protecting and enhancing our environment and neighbourhoods - Improving affordability, accessibility and social housing opportunities - Building on and improving the planning framework.

(Resource: The Maroondah Housing Strategy, 2016)

Land Use & Housing

Accessibility to housing is one of the essential factors that affect a person’s life, while accessibility not only provides shelter and security but means a stable foundation and space to build a family life and a sense of belonging, which is also in relation to an individual’s health. The housing development is one of the main focuses of the Maroondah city council and according to Charter Keck Cramer, the suburb of Croydon, one of the SA2s region in Tarralla Creek Precinct, has experienced the most significant levels of project activity within the Maroondah LGA. Figure x gives information about the detail that new housing supplied projects in the precinct and the LGA region. 27% of the new housing projects are constructed in Croydon and 7% in Croydon South. Although the project precinct only includes part of the suburb of Croydon, the precinct also has strong development potential for the housing industry.

level price segments, which place continued downward pressure on prices (2015).’ Parts of the new projects are clustered in the central part of Croydon South, and the rest of the new projects are in Croydon East which is a large area place.

Intensity The red colour represents the highest intensity of the new housing project in the precinct. There are three high-intensity spots in the precinct as shown in Figure 11b, which are up to 6.8 projects in the red catchment centre. The largest area is covered by the medium intensity around 2 while the southeast part of the precinct is the second class of the intensity around 2.45. In addition, the fewer intensity areas tend to appear in the northern part of the precinct.

Figure 11a. Average sale price in Tarralla Creek Precinct by SA1s region.

Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

In terms of the collected new projects, they are not in the high average price region, which reflects what Cramer states in the Housing Supply Report that ‘The new housing enters the market at the most affordable entry-

Suburb

Completed

Under Construction

Yet to Commence

Total

Croydon Croydon South Maroondah

65

10

3

78

18

2

0

20

229

55

10

294

Figure 10. New Housing Supply Project in 2013-2014. Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 14

Figure 11b. Housing intensity in Tarralla Creek Precinct by SA1s region.

Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 15

Suburb

2.1.5

Croydon Croydon South Ringwood Maroondah

Land Use & Housing

Projects (Townhouse)

Projects (Apartments)

Townhouse (%)

Apartment (%)

Total

73 20

5

94%

6%

78

-

100%

-

20

68

6

92%

8%

74

282

12

96%

4%

294

Figure 12a. Apartment project level data -- by suburb (2013-2014) Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Housing Type

Suburb

Cramer examines the housing market in Maroondah City and concludes that: "The suburbs of Croydon, Ringwood, Ringwood East and Heathmont have all been identified by the market as attractive locations for higher density living containing apartment stock. This is due to the locational advantages offered, including transport links and social and physical infrastructure. " --Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, 2015.

Figure 12a. shows the number of housing projects in Maroondah LGA and some higher density development suburbs. Over the period 2013-2014, there are 294 housing projects in Maroondah city and 96% of them are townhouses. There are only 12 projects are apartments and Cyodon has five and Ringwood has six. While the number of units in figure 12b shows that these two suburbs have a gap. Ringwood is the only suburb that really develops in apartments. Half of the new units in Ringwood are apartments and the figure only has 50 in Croydon, which accounts for 22%.

In terms of the situation in the Activity centre, 72% of the housings in Croydon Major Activity Centre is apartment. Although the proportion is still lower than that in Ringwood Metropolitan Activity Centre, considering

the scale limitation of the activity centre, Croydon has the potential to develop in the apartments. The activity centres within the suburbs of Croydon and Ringwood East, which were also earmarked for higher density development are not producing the level of stock to support higher density living (Cramer, 2015).

Croydon Croydon South Ringwood Maroondah

Units (Townhouse)

Units (Apartments)

Townhouse (%)

Apartment (%)

Total

228

50

78%

22%

294

24

-

100%

-

24

143

148

49%

51%

291

760

222

77%

23%

984

Figure 12b. Apartment Unit level data -- by suburb (2013-2014) Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Suburb

Apartments

Townhouses

Total

Croydon (Major Activity Centre) Heathmont (Structure Plan) Ringwood (Metropolitan Activity Centre) Ringwood East (Structure Plan)

72%

28%

100%

0%

100%

100%

98%

2%

100%

32%

68%

100%

Activity Centre Total

68%

32%

100%

Figure 12c. Product type within Activity centres (2013-2014) Data resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Maroondah City council has specifically nominated the Ringwood Metropolitan Activity Centre and the Croydon Major Activity Centre as the priority area for the high-density housing development area in the future. The final objective of the areas is based on the existing detached dwellings to transition to the higher density townhouse and predominately apartments to fits the foreseeable housing demands.

2.2.1

Accessbility & Connectivity

Street Hierarchy Main road Tarralla creek precinct has four typical street typologies, which are main roads, collector roads, local roads, and laneways. As figure 40 states that there are mainly two main roads in this area, one from north to the south called Dorset Road and the other east-west is called Mt Dandenong Roads. While each one has connected with one or more other main roads. Main roads were major roads used to connect Tarralla creek with the surrounding community and other areas.

Dorset road can be considered as one of the most important major roads in Tarralla. It crossed the whole area from south to north.

It was mainly made up of six driving lanes which have the most mobility than other roads.

Collector road There is one collector road called lacey street, it provides the connection with main roads and local roads and it normally has a limit of 3555 miles per hour on speed. The mobility is also less than main roads.

Lacey street was mainly containing four driving lanes, but two of them were used as parking lanes due to the less traffic on this street. There was a sidewalk on both sides of the street which provide better walkability

Local road Tarralla creek has a large number of local roads, local roads were used to connect neighborhood areas and facilities, such as local residential areas and short-distance destinations. It usually has a speed limit from 20 to 45 mi/h. It has less mobility and shorter distance than collector roads.

The Eastfield road was made up of only three driving lanes, the space was more for a pedestrian walk and green space. There is a parking lot on the left side of street which is connected with the Eastfield roads Laneway In the figure 13, the laneway is a narrow path which mainly connected with local roads. It was a pedestrian-orientated alley which has the least mobility and smallest size than other types of streets. For example, it has a speed limit of 0-5km/h and some of the small size laneways will have a limit of vehicle access.

Homer Ave is the smallest size of the road which only have two driving lanes and shorter width, there are residential buildings on both sides of the street. And the house is connected closely with the street.

Figure 13. Road Classification. Data source: Spatical Datamart Victoria, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 12d. All Projects by Activity Centre – Maroondah LGA (2013-2014).

Resouce: Housing Supply Analysis for Maroondah City Council, Charter Keck Cramer, 2015.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 16

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 17

2.2.2

2.2.3

Accessbility & Connectivity

Transport Profile

Public Transport Profile In figure 14a, it shows the percentage of public transport users within the precinct is relatively lower than that of Greater Melbourne. Of which Croydon South has the lowest percentage of residents taking public transport to work (9%) whereas a high proportion of its residents prefer driving to their places of work. Regarding the use of private vehicles, people living in the study area present a significantly higher dependency on cars. There are up to three quarters of employed people (ABS, 2016) driving to commute (either as driver or as passenger).

The major mode of transport within the precinct is buses and it was well integrated with the Croydon Railway Station that is located in the eastern boundary of the study area. More than 10 bus routes serve as the transport link of Croydon Railway station, and most of them are connected to the local community services. For instance, 690 buses run on the Mount Dandenong Road can access the university (Figure 15b) while 664 buses run on the Bayswater Road can reach the dental care centre (Figure 15c).

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roydon.

c.

Di

l Care.

Fig u

15

e nta

Figure 14b. Method of Travel to work. Data sourse: ABS, 2016.

Fi g u r e

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Figure 14a. The distribution of employed people working outside. Data sourse: ABS, 2016.

Figure 15a. Bus Route in the precinct. Data sourse: City of Maroondah Welsite, 2021.

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A total of 9,527 people were employed, where 71% of them are living and working in the precinct while the rest 29% employed people are living in the area but work outside or without fixed working places. On average, residents living in the Tarralla Creek Precinct are required to travel to their workplaces that are approximately 16 kilometres away from places of usual residence. This long commuting distance requires the local public transport system to be well integrated into the metropolitan public transport system.

Moreover, there two popular workplaces for people living in the area but working outside are Ringwood and Melbourne. Therefore, the local public transport network should pay more attention to its connection to these two metropolitan activity centres.

Accessbility & Connectivity

Image source: figure 15cd: Google Map, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 18

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 19

2.2.5

Accessbility & Connectivity

Transport Frequency Each of the bus routes provide between one to two services per hour in each direction, which indicates that the frequency of most bus routes is relatively low. If residents miss a bus, they will probably be required to wait for another hour. Besides, all bus routes are not connected to the CBD, instead, they arrive in even more eastern or northern suburban areas. Although most routes have night buses, few of them cease operating before 5 p.m., as the Bus 689. Also, not all of the buses will increase their vehicle frequency in the peak period, of which only Bus 664 has shortened its departure interval from 40 minutes to 20 minutes in the morning rush hour. As mentioned above, Ringwood is one of the most popular workplaces for people living in the precinct.

Accessbility & Connectivity

Accessbility of Public Transport The customer base is a key factor that should be considered when designing the public transport network. The number of inhabitants and workplaces within the geographical area determine the travel demand. As shown in Figure 16b, most bus routes within the precinct run through the residential areas with high populations. Nevertheless, there are only two bus lines serving the most populous southwest corner of the precinct. Although the frequency of these two bus lines are well performed, it still seems difficult to keep up with the rising demand, especially during rush hours.

Figure 16a. Public transport vs total population.

Data source: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021 & ABS, 2016. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Catchment areas of bus stops are commonly used to estimate the potential number of passengers. According to Andersen and Landex (2008), one key factor in determining the geographical catchment of public transport is the willingness of travellers to walk. Walker (2011) points out the reasonable walking distance to transit should be 400 meters. Therefore, in this case, the catchment area indicates a 400m reach from each bus stop and railway station in the precinct. As shown in Figure 98, over 80% of Tarralla Creek Precinct is within the public transport catchment area, and most of these areas overlay the residential areas, indicating that the bus routes are highly accessible to the local community.

of the most popular public realms within the precinct, the lack of good connectivity to public transport will discourage travellers from getting here or increase their reliance on private cars.

However, some places within the public transport catchment area are still in poor connectivity, like the bus stop on Dorset Road (Figure 101). The bus stop is set in the middle of the motorway and there is no crossing to guide the way. Furthermore, it is unreasonable to set the bus stop next to the bicycle lanes, this may provoke conflict among bus drivers, passengers and cyclists.

The main entrances of the town park and the bus stops in front of the Swinburne Children’s Centre lack a crosswalk to connect. There are also no warning signs to give way to pedestrians and signal lights to indicate when pedestrians can cross.

Nevertheless, the main entrance of Eastfield Park on Eastfield Road (Figure 100) map remains outside the catchment area. As one Ea

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Figure 17a. Public Transport vs Land Use. Data source: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

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However, as the key bus route connecting Ringwood and Tarralla Creek Precinct, the 664 bus only runs on a moderate frequency, making it challenging to meet the high demand. The train is the most significant public transportation within the precinct because it is the only way to reach the CBD without change other than driving a private vehicle.

The train frequency is very high compared to that of buses, on average every 8 minutes there is a train. And the trains also of highest accessibility for it can reach to more further areas like Canterbury, Hawthorn and Richmond.

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2.2.4

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Low Very High Figure 16a. List of Public Transport Servise in the precinct. Data source: Public Transport Victoria Website, 2021. Made by Zijun Feng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 20

Image source: figure 17cde: Google Map, 2021.

Figure 17b. Catchment of public Transportation.

Data source: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 21

2.3.1

Accessbility & Connectivity

Public Realm

Bicycle Network

Tree Density

Within the precinct, there are a few off-road trails located along the Taralla Creek and around the Dorset Recreation Reserve, while some on-road bike lanes are located at Dorset Road and Mount Dandenong Road (see Figure 18b for more details). The possibility to cycle within and through the area is relatively lower. Furthermore, it is very common that the on-road cycling lanes are occupied for parking, particularly for those around the public realm (Figure 18d).

In general, around 50 percent area in the Tarralla Creek Precinct has been covered by tree shrubs. The tree density map illustrated that the western part of the study area obtained higher density data, and the medium result mainly occurred in the north-eastern and southern part of Tarralla Creek Precinct. However, the lowest density regions were presented in the east and through the central part of Tarralla Creek Precinct.

Besides, cycling is not a popular mode of transport in the study area.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in 2016, only 52 employed residents chose cycling as their way of commuting. Moreover, it is challenging to provide infrastructure for bicycles onto the road network, and for bike parking as well.

The on-street bicycle lanes network is sparse and poorly connected.

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And look at Figure 18c, the bicycle lanes on Dorset Road lack a considerable design, it suddenly merges with the motorway, which may increase the risk of cyclists being hit by vehicles as the traffic volume increases. The off-road bicycle lanes are able to provide low-stress environments for bicycling and walking since they are separate from motor vehicle traffic. Thus, people cycling along the Tarralla Creek can enjoy a much safer environment and they can view the beautiful landscape as well.

a ro Figure 19a. Tree Density.

Data source: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

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Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 22

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 23

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Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 24

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Cheong Park Adams Peserve Brentwood Reserve Charles Allen Reserve Dorset Recreation Reserve Belmont Park Woodland Park Shane Crescent Reserve Cheong Wildflower Sanctuary Eastfield Park

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Accessibility Walkability Infrastructure

Open park/Community

30782

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26229

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7250

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26289

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5365

moderate

moderate

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15095

Communtiy/Bushland/Reserve/Playground 235392 Figure 21a. Parks and reserves rankinganalysis. Data source: Google Map, 2021. Made by Yuxuan Shi, 2021.

Figure 20. The location of the parks in the precinct and the area of the parks.

Data sourse: Google Map, 2021; Nearmap, 2021, Google Earth, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

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Reserve Trail There are three reserve trails in the precinct, Tarralla Creek Trail, Carrum-Warburton Trail and Dorest Recreation Trail. Tarralla Creek Trail is the most famous one in the precinct and Carrum-Warburton Trail is highly recommended in the social restriction period.

They are both parts of the 8.3-km Kilsyth to Lilydale station trail. The roads of the trail have well maintained, while the pavement for pedestrians and the cycling lanes are not separated.

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It can be illustrated from the ranking table that the majority of parks and reserves obtain multiple functions such as sports and community, etc. Moreover, the Dorset Recreation Reserve is the largest green space among the whole Tarralla Creek Precinct which is around 774341 m2. And there is a specific feature of the Dorset Recreation Reserve is the 3.5-kilometer walking trail around Dorset Golf Course, and the reserve also has provided complete facilities such as a nature-based playground, fitness track, shelters, water fountain, and etc.

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Dorset Recreation Reserve, Eastfield Fenced Park, and Croydon Town Park are three essential green spaces that have high tree density and good vegetation. And there are two places named Croydon Oval and Benson Oval, providing opportunities for holding sports events and activities, which may increase citizens’ walkability and community engagement.

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However, the Cheong Wildflower Sanctuary receives the lowest ranking result which may be due to the none-accessibility, and its extensive weed control improved the quality of the bushes but did not prevent species loss.

Overall, the construction and development of green areas still need to be improved, and the city council can strengthen the infrastructure of some plots to meet the needs of the surrounding residents.

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Green Space The green area in the Croydon Creek Precinct is mainly located in the central part, and there are some small parks and reserves occurs in both the northern and southern parts of the study area. Moreover, the Tarralla Creek site is the most representative green area which extends from southwest to northeast within the research area.

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Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 25

2.3.3

2.3.3

Public Realm

Public Realm

Outdoor & Indoor Sports Site The healthy city disciplines allow people to have an easy-access sport site for regular exercise, including outdoor open space exercise and indoor sports hubs. Figure 22 collects the location of the open space and some indoor sports spots. In general, the distribution of the exercise spot is uneven and lacks a comprehensive sports hub.

Most of the sports spots are clustering in the parks near the Croydon Major Activity Centre, including most of the functional sports hub, from swimming, chess club, bowling club, gym and all kinds of outdoor sports sites like the track playground, skate park, oval court. The whole east of Dorest Rd is a typical area lacking these sports resources. There are only fewer small-

scale parks, children playgrounds, and two tennis clubs for the area in the north of the Hull Rd and the situation in the south of Hull Rd is worse. Except for the largest reserve – Dorest Recreation Reserve in the middle, there are only a Kiloran Park (21), Kilsyth Centenary Pool (22) and two children playgrounds here. There are more inner parks in the residential area in Croydon South while the sports spots are not provided there.

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Figure 22. The location of the sport spots in the precinct.

Data sourse: Google Map, 2021; Nearmap, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 26

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 27

2.3.4

2.3.4

Public Realm

Public Realm

Public Facilties The north-eastern of the precinct and the main residential area in Croydon South are underserviced, which means there are hardly covered by the amenities as well as the educational resources. It is noticeable that the west of Croydon South has the most population within the whole precinct, which also means the most demands of those facilities.

The most number of the facilities are schools and health care facilities currently while they are not allocated according to the age demands or the actual residential population.

For example, the largest age group in the western part of Croydon and the northern part of Croydon East are children or teenagers aged 0-19 years old, while there is no any school located around this area. It also can be found in Figure 24, the health care facilities including some aged care centres are clustering along Mt Dandenong St, which is only considering the convenience of transportation instead of the demands of some elderly people. Figure 1f illustrates that most elderly people live in the north-eastern Croydon East.

Figure 24. The location of the public facilties in the precinct.

Data sourse: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 28

of the most popular public realms within the precinct, the lack of good connectivity to public transport will discourage travellers from getting here or increase their reliance on private cars.

However, some places within the public transport catchment area are still in poor connectivity, like the bus stop on Dorset Road (Figure 101). The bus stop is set in the middle of the motorway and there is no crossing to guide the way. Furthermore, it is unreasonable to set the bus stop next to the bicycle lanes, this may provoke conflict among bus drivers, passengers and cyclists.

The main entrances of the town park and the bus stops in front of the Swinburne Children’s Centre lack a crosswalk to connect. There are also no warning signs to give way to pedestrians and signal lights to indicate when pedestrians can cross.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 29

2.4.1

2.4.1

Issue & Opportunity

Issue & Opportunity

Issues Land Use Less efficient Land Function The less efficient functional area includes some urban greyfield areas, some existing actual function has a conflict with the planned function area and some separated industrial land use surrounded by the residential area. These problematic areas are able to have better management and re-allocate the land usage for better efficiency.

Area with parking issues Tarralla Creek Precinct has many parking lots while the site assessment shows that some parking lots have negative management, for example, the stop mark and lines are not clear which may waste some parking space.

Accessibility & Connectivity High congestion Road & Busy intersection Tarralla Creek Precinct is a car dominant precinct and people tend to drive a car to commute, which cause some traffic issue especially on some main roads. In the foreseeable future, the precinct will become the main workplace in the whole Maroondah city with more employment opportunities. The increasing employed population puts additional strain on already congested arterial roads that carry high volumes of both local and through traffic.

Figure 25. The issue map of Tarralla Creek Precinct. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 30

Low bus frequency area Although there are more than 10 bus routes serving this area, their frequencies are at a relatively low level (Figure 6b). For instance, the bus route transport local residents to their popular workplaces in Ringwood depart every 40 minutes. If users miss the bus, they will be late for work. And some bus stops where users can wait for the bus also show an absence of humanized design. The interface of the bus shelter is toward the pedestrian, passengers have to go around the shelter to get on. And the locations of the stops are not made use of the tree shading (Figure 6d).

Local bus networks are unchanged for years and thus cannot comply with the new developments of the precinct (Melbourne on transit, Peter), where some routes are indirect of ambiguity and miss many homes and workplaces (Figure 6b).

the cyclists. Some bus stops are set in the middle of the motorway and there is no crossing to guide the way. Most of the roads lack pedestrian crossing, which puts passerby’s safety under threat.

Poor condition street & Lack of pedestrian crossing The poor condition streets have negative connectivity. The pavements are usually very narrow and do not allow a specific lane for cyclists. Therefore, the cyclists have to ride a bike on the pavement with the pedestrians or directly on the vehicle road which may cause traffic accidents. Also, the conflict between cyclists and bus stops are a very common scene.

Some bus stops are built on the on-road bike lanes and there is a lack of warning signs for

Existing negative parks These inner parks are usually small-scale with no specific function and do not offer some sports facilities in the park. As a result, the accessibility to the parks are quite low and the residential may not choose the inner park as an exercise destination. This park also lacks maintenance. Some plants have withered and the grass is bare with revealing bare soil.

This not only affects people’s perception of experience and the landscape view but also has some potential safety issues.

Public realm Area with less public services The main public facilities are within a 1-2km catchment from Croydon Major Activity Centre.

The residential areas near the northeast and the southwest boundary lack those resources, which is a spatial uneven distribution of public services.

Unsafety Spot These unsafety spots are usually not on the main road where lacks the infrastructures like road lighting, CCTV and urgent for better governance.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 31

2.4.2

2.4.2

Issue & Opportunity

Issue & Opportunity

Opportunities Land Use Rezoning area The rezoning areas have different land function transitions. For example, some residential regions near the Croydon Major Activity Centre change to a mix-use function area supporting high-density development in the future. Some existing industrial function areas are surrounded by other land functions like public use and residential currently. The cluster industry factories have better efficiency and also save the transport expense. Therefore, some scattered industry areas are planning to change to the nearby land use function and move to the southeastern industry cluster area.

Accessibility & Connectivity Proposed Bicycle Lanes & Proposed bicycle facilities The completed bicycle infrastructure not only encourage people to ride a bicycle for the short-distance commute but also protect their safety as a cyclist. The proposed bicycle facilities allow the max convenience to the cyclists.

Figure 25. The opportunity map of Tarralla Creek Precinct. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 32

Streetscape Improvement & Proposed Tree Canopy Based on the previous investigation on the tree density, those streets and pavements with little scatter canopy cannot offer a good walking experience to the pedestrians. The low greening rate is not able to provide shading in the heat day and tends to cause the urban heat island effect.

Pavement improvement The pavement improvement mainly focuses on the intersection of some main roads. Some new crossing, signal lamps and obvious warning signs that give way to pedestrians should be considerably distributed to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, particularly for the bus stops located along high traffic roads.

Public realm Mix-use building A mix-use building allows as much as possible different functions in a single building, where meets with the demands of the residents and reduces the limitation from existing amenities.

Upgrade inner park The inner park with some specific functions (like a sports area, a children playground or a place for community activities) can attract people’s visit and improve the usage of the place.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 33

3.1.1 Vision Statement Tarralla Creek Precinct will be a healthy neighbourhood concentrating on happiness, health and well-being.

Sustainable housing development as well as the infrastructure serves the growing population and their demands.

The improvements in streetscapes and open spaces create ongoing opportunities for outdoor activities and public transport travelling.

Objectives Objective 1 - Housing Development Establish more efficient and flexible mix-used buildings as well as diversified and affordable housing, attracting more enterprises investment and more local employment opportunities.

Objective 2 - City Built Form

Design Strategies Vision & Objectives Direction 1: Land Use & Housing Development Direction 2: Accessibility & Connectivity Direction 3: Public Realm

Control the housing density and building height in the residential area and integrate nature cohesively into built form.

Objective 4 - Community Inclusive Foster happy and active community with a harmonious atmosphere and easily access to the community services.

Objective 5 - Resident Health Improve the infrastructure quality in the open space and encouraging incidental physical activities

Objective 3 - Transportation Promote people’s connection via public transportation and built an integrated pedestrian and bicycle network with better streetscape and governance.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 35

3.1.2

3.1.3

Framework Plan

Direction 1: Land Use & Housing Development Action 1.1 Reorganize the land use function by existing issues and residents' demands.

Action 1.2 Control the housing density and building height in the residential area and ensure housing diversity.

Action 1.3 Support some mix-use buildings or areas and affordable apartments.

Direction 2: Accessibility & Connectivity Action 2.1 Reduce traffic speeds on some main streets and roads in the residential area.

Action 2.2 Build more cycling lanes on the main streets (Dorest Rd, Baywater Rd, Mt Dandenong Rd etc.) and achieve the connectivity of the cycling network.

Action 2.3 Updates the public transportation service through its frequency and the catchment.

Direction 3: Public Realm Action 3.1 Renewing pedestrian streets and the streetscape.

Action 3.2 Re-organize the distribution of some amenities to serve residents equally.

Action 3.3 Creating more opportunities and participation for public activities, organize some activities for the community residents.

Action 3.4 Have more indoor/outdoor activity hubs to ensure residents have enough space for physical exercises.

Action 3.5 Increase the number and the types as well as the quality of the city furniture and some infrastructure in the green space.

Action 3.6 Improve the existing residential inner park and the use frequency.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 36

Figure 26. Framework plan of Tarralla Creek Precinct. Base Map: Nearmap, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 37

3.2.1

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

Rezoning Framework Plan

Action 1.1: Reorganize the land use function by existing issues and residents' demands.

The potential rezoning area

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Initiatives

Field 2: Integrated and well-located the industrial area Considering the transport cost, the resources and the influences of the residential area, integrating the manufacturing space instead of allowing them scatted can improve the productivity (Withers, 2013), saving cost and reducing the negative impact on both living and natural environment.

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Field 1

Field 1: Residential Area change to Mix Use Area Metropolitan Melbourne has sprawled progressively and Tarralla Creek Precinct, as a predominantly residential area in the Middle Ring of Melbourne, will have massive population growth in the foreseeable future. The desires of the public facilities and services will increase along with the residential population growth. Some new land should be released by the city council to facilitate and coordinate the provision of the infrastructure.

Based on the previous site investigation, the proposed spots of the rezoning areas are able to serve as many as possible residents within a determined distance of the catchment. A mix-use area allows multiple usages of property function, including residential area, commercial area and some public use function. The housing types here are diverse and allow inclusionary development.

Private property, government-supported social housing, marketing rental housing are available in the new proposed mix-used area. In addition, some planned high-density developing areas like Croydon Major Activity Centre should be able to allow multiple usages of land. Some more than single-storey houses can shift to some apartments.

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Existing Land Use Map

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

re 28b. Top view of

3.2.1

Figure 27a. Existing Land use map.

Data sourse: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 27b. Proposed Rezoning Framework map.

Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Image source: Figure 28a-d: Nearmap, 2021.

Figure 28e: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/holst//images/portfolio/slabtown-market-place/_desktop/Slabtown1.jpg?mtime=20160509095328 Figure 28f: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1e/e4/11/1ee4113b334e5fbc149437886c5615dd.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 38

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 39

3.2.2

3.2.2

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

Maximum Built Height

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

Action 1.2: Control the housing density and building height in the residential area and ensure housing diversity.

Built Density & Height Tarralla Creek Precinct is predominated by residential areas, with a Croydon Major Activity Centre on the southwestern boundary and a clustering industrial area in the southeastern part.

More than 85% of buildings in the precinct are residential houses and most of the houses are individual townhouses (Cramer, 2015). Therefore, the main area in the precinct is low-density while the study shows that low-density developments have negative impacts on encouraging people’s activities (Giles-Corti et.al, 2014). As a typical suburban developing area, Tarralla Creek Precinct is highly dependent on cars, with consist of uniform residential dwellings situated on large lots. The lowdensity community usually has poor accessibility and is not friendly to pedestrians.

The Maroondah Planning Scheme (2021) states the maximum built height in the main residential area in the precinct which shows in figure 29. In addition, Croydon Major Activity Centre has the potential to become one of the main commercial centres in the local government context and it has the capacity to embrace higher density development. Then, a smooth transition of building height and mediumdensity development within the 1 to 1.5 kilometre buffer can be created to activate the community.

Figure 29. Maximum Built Height.

Data sourse: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 40

Housing Diversity Housing diversity includes the size, cost, number of bedrooms, character and age of dwellings (Plan Melbourne, 2017), also the way to get the use of housing, like by renting or pursuing. The objective dwellers of the housing also can be specific, including the elderly, the disabled people, the low-income people and students. The housing diversity also considers the various household types of the local residents. For example, the different family structure includes parents and single parent, the number of children; a couple or lone person of different age. They have different demands and lifestyles and we can engage in community consultation with the residents to understand their actual needs and suggestion.

Initiatives

Figure 30. Diversity housing. Image source: https://images.adsttc.com/ media/images/58c3/ef88/e58e/ceaf/b700/0009/slideshow/_07_ Diversity_in_Forms.jpg?1489235835

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 41

3.2.3

3.2.3

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

Action 1.3: Support some mix-use buildings or areas and affordable apartments.

Mix use building The mix-use development usually can provide more local employment opportunities, and is located in some central area of a region. Croydon Major Activity Centre is one of them while a smallerscale mixed-use building with various public facilities and functions can serve the neighbourhood better and equally.

Additionally, an active community is able to situmulate the willingness of walkability which is essential to build a 20-minute neighbourhood.

Social housing Australians generally like to live in the townhouse with yards, which is also the reason that they live far away from Melbourne CBD. While it’s important to consider those people who are not able to afford the housing expense. This can be achieved by a housing uplift program, where the multi-storey housing should be included 1520% social housing. This action encourages the developers to invest in the property industry in the precinct and also helps those people under the middle-income line. The action is also considered with the strategy in ‘Melbourne 2030—Planning’, which states that the council has the responsibility to support affordable housing within future highdensity development.

Direction: Land Use & Housing Development

Placemaking idea: Modular Mix-used Building

What is affordable housing and what is social housing?

Affordable housing is housing that is appropriate for the needs of a range of very low to moderate-income households, and priced (whether mortgage repayments or rent) so these households are able to meet their other essential basic living costs.

The mix-used building is the most efficient way to include different functions in a single building while the demands are varied by different regions. In the previous site analysis, it is can be found that the precinct has a limited number of indoor activity spaces and the single use of the sports hub is hard to fulfil residents’ needs. The modular mix-used building is combined with different small cells. There are more than 24 different usages of the room based on the local demands. The building is assembled by these cells in multiple ways, which creates more possibilities in urban streetscape.

Figure 32a. Illustration of Proposal of modular building applied in mix use building. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Social housing is a type of rental housing that is provided and/or managed by the government (public housing) or by a notfor-profit organisation (community housing).

Social housing is an overarching term that covers both public housing and community housing.

-- Plan Melbourne 2017.

Figure 31. Illustration of Affordalbe housing. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 32b. Reference of Modular building.

Image source: https://www.the-lsa.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/01/ADS-Website-Images-5-1414x2000.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 42

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 43

3.3.1

3.3.2

Direction: Accessibility & Connectivity

Action 2.1 Reduce traffic speeds on some main streets and roads in the residential area.

Direction: Accessibility & Connectivity

Action 2.2 Build more cycling lanes on the main streetsand achieve the connectivity of the cycling network.

The previous investigation claims that the neighbourhood is low density residential predominated area and a highly car-dependent community.

Speeding cars can limit physical activity, use of public space and the quality of life (Sharpin, 2017). The conflict between the existing situation and the planned envision of a walkable community is likely to be addressed by slowing down the car speed and the dependency on cars. In addition, the lower speed improves the safety of the pedestrians and reduces the possibility of traffic accidents.

The limited speed guides the divers to have a better observation of the road situation and better focus on other road users.

The existing bike lanes are mainly on the Dorest Rd and some on the internal roads along the reserve trail (figure 34). These fragment cycling lanes is lacking maintenance and poor connectivity, which means the cyclists would break their cycling trip in these particular lanes and shift to the sidewalks or vehicle roads with some potential risk no matter for the cyclists themselves or the other road users. The new proposed cycling lanes cover the main road network in the precinct including Bayswater Rd, Eastfield Rd and Hull Rd and also build a cycling-like integrated network. The proposal try to improve the trip experience of the cyclists.

The lower speed allows a narrower vehicle road and gives more space for the cycling lanes or pedestrians pavement which is beneficial to design a walkable community and encourage more walking and cycling trips. As figure 33 shows, the roads within the residential area can be classified according to the distance and the number of the dwellings that arrive. 15% of the current car speed of the red internal roads illustrated in figure 33 can be reduced and 20% for the yellow secondary internal roads.

Lincoin Rd

Dorest Rd Coolstore Rd Hull Rd Mt Dandenong Rd

Dorest Rd Baywater Rd Eastfield Rd

Merrindale Rd

Figure 34. Proposed Bicycle Lane Network. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 33. Internal Road Classification in residential area. Base Map: Nearmap, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 44

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 45

3.3.2

3.3.2

Direction: Accessibility & Connectivity

Initiatives 1: Diverse Cycling Lane

Proposed Cycling Land on Bayswater Rd After

Direction: Accessibility & Connectivity

Action 2.3 Updates the public transportation service through its frequency and the catchment.

• Enhance the accessibility of the popular destination: Many short routes previously operated by different companies can be merged together as the ownership consolidate. Extend the scope of trips on one bus and possibly connect it to popular destinations such as Ringwood and Croydon.

Protected Bike Lane On the main streets i.e. Dorest Rd, Mt Dandenong Rd, Baywater Rd.

• Increase public transport users in off-peak time: set the minimum standards of bus service for 7 days on all residential area routes. And upgrade the Lilydale line trains to run every 20 minutes offpeak, which may accordingly motivate the bus routes of significance to be upgraded from every 40 to every 20 minutes weekdays。

Shoulder Bikeway On some secondary roads and off-street areas.

Before

Initiatives 2: Bicycle Facilities

• Identify the underutilized open public space that surrounded the bus stops, develop them into a new public realm, so that can add more functions to the bus stops and active street life。 Also, find out pathways that can link the existing landmark, such as the Dorset reserve and Croydon railway station, with public transport routes. These routes could be extensions of existing routes or entirely new routes.

Figure 36. Bus in Melbourne. Image source: https://comfortdelgro.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ CDC-Hybrid-Buses-Zone-in-on-Zero-Emissions-on-Melbourne-Streets-4-scaled-1-1024x682.jpg

• Shorten the departure interval of the bus in rush hours, especially the bus route that transfers people to major workplaces in surrounding communities and Croydon Railway Station, like the 664 bus, 737 bus, and 689 bus.

Auto Bike-Sharing System Provide flexible sharing bikes to people then they can shift quickly from being cyclists to being pedestrians.

Private Bike Parking Area Provides safe bike parking area for people which is also a designable street furniture and city decoration.

Figure 35ef. Snapshot from Google Map and illsustrated by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 35ab. Bicycling lane illstration. Made by Yingqi Zheng.

Figure 35c. Image source: mart Cities Get on Their Bikes, 2015. Figure 35d. landezine.com, 2011.

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 46

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 47

3.4.1

3.4.1

Direction: Public Realm

Direction: Public Realm

Action 3.1 Renewing pedestrian streets and the streetscape.

Action 3.3 Creating more opportunities and participation for public activities, organize some activities for the community residents.

Most of the pedestrian streets are cement pavement, which is kind of a non-designable pavement. Porous paving (figure 37ab) allows rainwater to pass through and enter the soil below directly, which can recharge soil moisture and groundwater (City of Melbourne, 2020).

A good view of the streetscape and a creative community offer more opportunities for residents to enjoy their community life and come to the street. Therefore, the blocks near the Croydon Major Activity Centre has a large area for public activities. A better design project in the area can improve the capacity, reputation and participation of the local residents. It is possible to increase the interacting furniture in the parking lots, encouraging people to walk there instead of driving a car.

Some community activities like the open-air theatre, charity fair, flash activities and short art exhibitions are welcoming (Figure 38cde).

Figure 37c. Image source: https://www.gta.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Croydon-South_1600x820.jpg

Figure 37ab. Porous paving.

Image source: https://xbijo1ps2oz3dwnvd2eyv3i1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6508.jpg http://urbanwater.melbourne.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/12981-CoM-Raingarden-infographic-Porous-Pavement-1090px2.png

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 48

Figure 37de. Image source: https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/2013/sasaki/TT/07_Cass-Ave.jpg https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/2013/sasaki/TT/09_Fall_Maker-Fair.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 49

3.4.2

3.4.2

Direction: Public Realm

Existing Public Facility

Proposed Public Facility

Direction: Public Realm

Action 3.2 Re-organize the distribution of some amenities to serve residents equally.

The Tarralla Creek Precinct is a car-dominated community and most residents are available to have good access to a wide range of services and facilities. While some vulnerable populations – often some aged, disabled and low-income people are getting difficulties finding, reaching and using those amenities. Achieve fairness is one aspect of the residential’s mental health outcomes and the inconvenience and inadequate access has negative impacts on fostering a happy and harmonious community as well as their induvial well-being. Therefore, some particular public facilities like the schools and health care as well as a comprehensive community mix function building can be established in the precinct (figure 38b).

Figure 38d. Health care.

Image source: https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictur es/2013/1/3/1357206857037/2.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4324 65c2dcf4f75e80fde00829fb0405

Figure 38a. Existing public facility map.

Data sourse: Spatial Datamart Vic, 2021. Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 38b. Proposed public facility and mix use building map.

Made by Yingqi Zheng, 2021.

Figure 38c. Community centre.

Image source: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/emap-nibiru-prod/wp-content/uploads/ sites/4/2020/11/13142641/Larick-Centre-4.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 50

Figure 38e. Kindergarden & Playgournd.

Image source: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Forfatterhuset-Kindergarten-Copenhagen-byCOBE-b_dezeen_468_0.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 51

3.4.3

3.4.4

Direction: Public Realm

Direction: Public Realm

Action 3.4 Have more indoor/outdoor activity hubs to ensure residents have enough space for physical exercises.

Action 3.5 Increase the number and the types as well as the quality of the city furniture and some infrastructure in the green space.

The previous investigation claims that the neighbourhood is low density residential predominated area and a highly car-dependent community.

Speeding cars can limit physical activity, use of public space and the quality of life (Sharpin, 2017). The conflict between the existing situation and the planned envision of a walkable community is likely to be addressed by slowing down the car speed and the dependency on cars. In addition, the lower speed improves the safety of the pedestrians and reduces the possibility of traffic accidents.

The limited speed guides the divers to have a better observation of the road situation and better focus on other road users.

The site assessment shows that the parks in Tarralla Creek Precinct are natural reserve parks without any manufacturing management. Although it keeps their original natural characters while in other aspects, it is not easy to access for some people. Lacking the fundamental infrastructure may lose the appeal and attraction to the visitor. On the premise of not destroying the original ecological environment, we can find a balance point that can not only facilitate tourists to a certain extent but also retain its original ecological characteristics. Some wooden trails, benches for rest, disabled ramps are available in those natural sites (figure 40 ).

The lower speed allows a narrower vehicle road and gives more space for the cycling lanes or pedestrians pavement which is beneficial to design a walkable community and encourage more walking and cycling trips. As figure 33 shows, the roads within the residential area can be classified according to the distance and the number of the dwellings that arrive. 15% of the current car speed of the red internal roads illustrated in figure 33 can be reduced and 20% for the yellow secondary internal roads.

Figure 41. feature in the parks.

Image source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/91212511/Landscape-Diagrams-for-Design-Strategy-and-Programming

Figure 40. Outdoor sport centre.

Image source: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2017/05/shore-to-core-ecosistema-urbano-winning-design-palm-beach-florida-usaproposal-landscape-and-urbanism-architecture_dezeen_1-1704x2258.jpg

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 52

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 53

3.4.5

3.4.5

Direction: Public Realm

Direction: Public Realm

Action 3.6 Improve the existing residential inner park and the use frequency.

The inner parks are surrounded by residential houses and in the density area.

The proposal encourages residents of all ages to use and exercise in the nearby park. Some reasons for the poor accessibility are the non-specify function area in the site and lack of interaction fitness facilities. From the community activity perspective, the inner park doesn’t have a gathering place or function to organize some social activities. Hence, the use frequency of the inner parks is getting lower. According to the situation, every park has at least one area for adult’s doing sports and one for children playgrounds. Some city furniture like the benches and the small pond improve the landscape in the park and provide seats for people to have a rest, which increases the opportunities to socialise and interact with their neighbours. ea

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Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 54

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 55

4.1

Implement Plan

Direction 1: Land Use and Housing Development Action

Timeframe

Authorities/Stakeholders

Action 1.1 Reorganize the land use function by existing issues and residents' demands.

L

Maroondah City Council

Action 1.2 Control the housing density and building height in the residential area and ensure housing diversity.

L

Maroondah City Council

M-L

Maroondah City Council

Timeframe

Authorities/Stakeholders

Action 2.1 Reduce traffic speeds on some main streets and roads in the residential area.

M

Maroondah City Council, VicRoad

Action 2.2 Build more cycling lanes on the main streets (Dorest Rd, Baywater Rd, Mt Dandenong Rd etc.) and achieve the connectivity of the cycling network.

S

Maroondah City Council

Action 2.3 Updates the public transportation service through its frequency and the catchment.

M

Maroondah City Council, PTV

Action 1.3 Support some mix-use buildings or areas and affordable apartments.

Direction 2: Accessibility & Connectivity Action

Implementation

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 57

4.1

5.1

Implement Plan

Reference List Barton, H. (2009). Land use planning and health and well-being. Land Use Policy, 26, S115–S123. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.09.008

Direction 3: Public Realm Action Action 3.1 Renewing pedestrian streets and the streetscape.

Action 3.2 Re-organize the distribution of some amenities to serve residents equally.

Actions 3.3 Creating more opportunities and participation for public activities, organize some activities for the community residents.

Actions 3.4 Have more indoor/outdoor activity hubs to ensure residents have enough space for physical exercises.

Actions 3.5 Increase the number and the types as well as the quality of the city furniture and some infrastructure in the green space.

Action 3.6 Improve the existing residential inner park and the use frequency.

Timeframe S S S M S-M S-M

Authorities/Stakeholders Maroondah City Council

Maroondah City Council Maroondah City Council

Maroondah City Council Maroondah City Council

Maroondah City Council

Barton, H., & Grant, M. (2012). Urban Planning for Healthy Cities. Journal of Urban Health, 90(S1), 129– 141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9649-3 Barton, H., Thompson, S., Burgess, S., & Grant, M. (2017). The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being: Shaping a sustainable and healthy future (1st ed.). Routledge.

Doney, R. H., McGuirk, P. M., & Mee, K. J. (2013).

Social Mix and the Problematisation of Social Housing. Australian Geographer, 44(4), 401–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2013.852500

Sharpin, A. B. (2017, May 9). The Need for (Safe) Speed: 4 Surprising Ways Slower Driving Creates Better Cities. World Resources Institute. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.wri.org/ insights/need-safe-speed-4-surprising-ways-slowerdriving-creates-better-cities Withers, K. (2013, August 6). 5 Advantages of Cluster Manufacturing :: Omni One. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.omnione.com/careerresources/detail/2941/5-advantages-of-clustermanufacturing World Health Organization. (1948). International Organization, 2(3), 540–542. https://doi. org/10.1017/s0020818300020312

Giles-Corti, Billie. (2014). Low density development: Impacts on physical activity and associated health outcomes. ISBN 978-1-74345-085-7 Maroondah City Planning Scheme. 2021.

Plan Melbourne 2017-2050. Metropolitan Strategy Planning. Victoria State Goverment.

S - Short term M - Medium term L - Long term

Melbourne 2030 Planning for sustainable growth.

(2002). Department of Infrastructure

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 58

Shaping a Healthy Neighourhood 59