Auranga Community Master Plan

Urbacity was engaged to determine the role and constituent parts of the Auranga project within Drury West in southern Auckland. Always the biggest issue for fringe growth is to find a strategy and development sequence that builds a sustainable employment base. Working with urban designers and transport planners, Urbacity demonstrated how the area could grow its employment base to almost 100% self-sufficiency. The orderly development of large areas of greenfield land requires the widest possible symphony of skills. Urbacity’s role within the team is to provide ongoing strategic advice on what, where, how and why for this large greenfield project in southern Auckland.

• Employment Analysis & Projections

• Urban Design/Master Planning

• Town & Village Strategies

• Movement systems evaluation

• Consultation

• TOD Analysis & principles

• Expert Evidence

Darwin City Centre Master Plan

Urbacity was employed to consider the social and economic opportunities available to the Northern Territory’s capital city through a complex Master Planning study. In partnership with the project’s leader Design Urban (Melbourne), and Space Syntax (London), Urbacity heat mapped the entire CBD using lasers (pedestrian comfort assessment), provided employment projections, a retail strategy, a public space dining strategy and responded to and guided the urban design process.

• Urban Heat Mapping

• Employment Projections

• Retail Strategy

• Employment Strategy

• Public Space Dining Strategy

• Consultation

• Urban Edge & Pedestrian Comfort Analysis

The Rocks Markets

Michael Cullen was asked by the NSW government to critically review the performance of The Rocks in Sydney. Michael created The Rocks Markets and universally re-merchandised The Rocks over a two year period to make the place more relevant to Sydney-siders on the basis of the mantra "Tourists like to go where the locals go". Despite major opposition from The Rocks tenants, the strategy went ahead and The Rocks today generates millions of more visitors per annum than before the strategy (and substantially improved retail turnover).

• Destination Strategy

• Retailer and business consultation

• Retail Strategy

• Weekend Market

Sydney CBD Retail Strategy

Urbacity was retained by the Central Sydney Planning Committee to undertake a retail strategy for the City of Sydney. Design Urban (Melbourne) assisted with design analysis and studies. The strategy proposed no longer protecting the core retail area but encouraged the evolution of precincts within the CBD to exploit their own character. George Street was proposed as the city’s main pedestrian spine and buses were to be removed eventually from the city’s most important street. The strategy proposed changing George Street as the main bus route through the city through a “bus as tram” interim strategy that moved the buses away from pedestrians and the edges of footpaths. Ultimately the City went one step further and introduced LRT into the centre of George Street and moved the buses to parallel streets.

• Movement analysis

• Precinct analysis

• Built & urban form analysis

• Walkability analysis

• Retail analysis

• Trends analysis

• Retail Strategy

Gungahlin

Michael Cullen was retained by the ACT Government to assist with the planning of a new town in Canberra. He worked with a range of consultants to deliver a town plan with retail facing streets.

Michael worked with MGT Architects to design the first urban town to be built in Australia since the early 1900s. The town core was designed around a series of perimeter super blocks capable of dealing with the major anchor retailers, fine grain buildings addressing streets and intra-block car parking.

Michael was appointed to the Gungahlin Development Authority charged with building the town for around 80,000 future residents.

• Movement analysis

• Precinct analysis

• Built & urban form analysis

• Walkability analysis

• Retail analysis

• Trends analysis

• Retail Strategy