Place Reimagined: 4 essential ingredients for a successful precinct

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19 October 2022 | 7 min | Article

A people-centred approach for connection and collaboration

Precincts are places with purpose, underpinned by a strong and enduring vision. They are curated and coordinated to drive greater collaboration, better placemaking outcomes and economic growth, supported by better integration of land use and infrastructure investment planning.

At the heart of all precinct and city shaping projects are the people, communities and businesses they serve. Whilst precincts vary greatly in size, from whole cities to regional centres to neighbourhoods, they all aim to facilitate one or more of these objectives:

Stimulate growth and opportunity
Promote equity
Focus on a special purpose

The success of a precinct is dependent on how it serves and responds to its users’ needs. For instance, precincts focused on a special purpose, such as renewable energy, education, health or sports and entertainment have specific visions and goals. So, while success looks different from one place to the next, the measure of it, and key ingredients to achieve it, remain the same.

The following four aspects are vital to the underpinning of successful precincts that are economically and environmentally sustainable, highly liveable, and leave a positive legacy for the future.

1. Put people at the heart of everything

What is a place without its people? Collaborating with and responding to the people who will live, work and play in a precinct is critical to success for both the place and its users. From setting the strategic vision, through to design and ongoing evolution, when the community, stakeholders, businesses and investors have a sense of ownership and vested interest, their participation increases and drives long-term success.

To slightly misquote Aristotle, a precinct or city is greater than the sum of its parts. Every element of a place, from its buildings and infrastructure to its green spaces, services and connections to its surroundings needs to be considered holistically and with people in mind. Gone are the days where our precincts and places are planned, designed and delivered by disparate subject matter experts.

Taking an integrated human-centred design approach connects all parties to form a collective understanding of the place and how it will be designed and delivered, with the end-user at the heart of all decision-making. This user-centred, integrated design approach drives efficiencies and delivers results that are inclusive, enhance quality of life and connect people to place.

How can the 2032 Brisbane Games fundamentally transform our communities for the better?

2. Set a clear and enduring vision

Many of the world’s most famous cities are renowned for their precincts: the Marais in Paris, New York City’s Greenwich Village, London’s Soho, Barcelona’s Barrio Gotico, are some examples. These places have had the luxury of developing over hundreds of years. Creating new precincts in decades is a multidisciplinary challenge, requiring a clear and enduring vision.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each place should be curated with purpose, whether it is to cultivate knowledge or innovation, such as university or research-led hubs, initiate industries, or create jobs and sustainable neighbourhoods. A clear vision that outlines the aspirations to be achieved will guide all development and ensure that unique urban character is reflected.

It is important that the vision continues to be reinforced throughout the development lifecycle of a place. Not only that, but those communities and businesses that occupy the precinct must also be inspired to live and breathe the vision. This requires leadership; from government, the private sector, and the communities who bring a precinct to life.

Successful precincts are filled to the brim with places and spaces that reinforce their unique purpose. A clear vision for a place should identify and define its character, activities, uses, and purpose for the communities it serves. While we aim to create enduring visions for places that span the evolution of a precinct over many decades, our places are never complete; they continually flex and change in response to people’s needs.

CASE STUDY

Fishermans Bend Precinct

Fishermans Bend is Australia’s largest urban renewal precinct covering approximately 480 hectares in the heart of Melbourne. The vision is that by 2050, it is home to approximately 80,000 residents and support 80,000 jobs.

Five sub-precincts will be developed to connect it to Melbourne’s CBD and the bay, consisting of an employment and innovation precinct, along with residential and mixed-use precincts.

Aurecon is working with various stakeholders, from developing the business case, to communicating the vision, and designing potential transport links and infrastructure for Defence and the University of Melbourne.

3. Clearly define governance and accountability

The establishment of a framework for governing place with representatives from all levels of government, the community, private sector, and technical experts is essential. From Aurecon’s experience shaping and designing precincts, the most successful ones have carefully considered governance models that clearly define the precinct’s objectives and drive alignment across key stakeholders.

These frameworks not only deliver functional and enjoyable places for their users, they also define how, about what, and by whom, decisions are made. Clear roles are defined for multiple levels of governance with plans that enable the precinct-wide vision to be achieved. Aspects integral to a precinct governance framework include:

Stakeholder mapping – identifying and managing key stakeholders across the precinct, their power, influence and level of engagement
Risk management – tracking emergent risks to the precinct development and outcomes and providing early warning to decision makers
Decision making – aligning and deconflicting precinct decisions, especially across organisational boundaries and scope for investments
Accountability – ensuring all the decision makers understand their roles in the precinct development

Governance frameworks ensure value from the precinct can be realised and community outcomes delivered but require active management across all the critical aspects defined above.

By their nature, precinct developments are highly networked and ambiguous in their development stages. This high level of uncertainty and complexity in design means the governance processes are critical to success. They require frequent management and support, especially with respect to communication and engagement with key stakeholders and communities.

Studio in-house designers transformed a high-level masterplan into a convincing urban proposition. Image courtesy of Studio Magnified (acquired by Aurecon in 2018).

Funding mechanisms

Precincts are best set up when they are funded according to the opportunity they present. For example, a funding mechanism designed to increase outdoor recreational activity may not be suitable for a high density, inner-city precinct with a focus on entertainment, nightlife, or hospitality.

Successful funding models also consider precinct operations and maintenance costs up front in the design phase. For instance, understanding and accounting for costs specific to delivering community services bring confidence to investors. This might include the maintenance of streetlights, facilitation of circular economy loops in supply chains, road planning that factors in traffic flows and activations that will attract people to live, work and visit the precinct such as fairs or art installations.

4. Future-proof for resilience and flexibility

Pushing the envelope to achieve principles around sustainability, decarbonisation and the circular economy creates future-proofed places and spaces that are adaptable and respond to societal values.

Elements relating to future technology, future energy, the movement of people and goods, and climate resilience, can be challenging to articulate in a precinct brief. However, they are key to long-term success.

As cities and precincts curated today will need to serve our future generations, they must be integrated hubs that consider adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts, such as from rising temperatures, severe storms and floods, bushfires and increasing sea levels.

For instance, many new precincts are actively grasping the opportunity to push the boundaries of waste reuse, decarbonised transport, water harvesting and recycling, along with power generation from future energy technologies.

Catalysts such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane in 2032 and Commonwealth Games in Victoria in 2026 are providing opportunities for governments to fast-track aspirations towards net zero carbon, net zero waste and circular economy regions, as well as better transport and mobility to connect people and places.

We can apply tools and techniques today to navigate uncertainty and anticipate changes in societal values and emerging technologies, allowing us to make informed decisions and build-in flexibility to future-proof our cities, places and public spaces. This optimises results and avoids costly rework or user disadvantage during development which can span decades.

As our cities and communities change and grow, precincts breathe new life into areas, unlock public land and enhance life for their users. With the right ingredients, precincts leave extraordinary legacies that tell the story of places and people.

Contributing authors & reviewer: Julian Mitton and Kate McCauley.