Extracts from the ACT Transport Strategy 2020 regarding the Movement and Place Framework.
Context
The future of the urban development in Canberra will be shaped by the Movement and Place Framework. The Movement and Place Framework is not in itself new, but rather new to Canberra. In a series of articles, we will consider what this could mean for Canberra.
This article captures the Movement and Place Framework from one of three ACT strategic documents.
- 2020 Transport Strategy (pre-election)
- 2018 Moving Canberra 2019-2045 Integrated Transport Strategy
- 2018 Planning Strategy
Extracts from ACT Transport Strategy 2020
The following are extracts from ACT Transport Strategy 2020. Section headers have been added to help retain the context of the quoted text.
It is apparent that the ACT Government recognises
- the importance of a Movement and Place Framework, but has yet to produce a guideline to implement the approach, and
- to implement the framework the directorates will need to work together.
The Movement and Place Framework is supported by Austroads (2020 Integrating Safe System with Movement and Place for Vulnerable Road Users, AP-R611-20).
Minister’s foreword
Policy response
The ACT Planning Strategy 2018 introduces the concept of ‘Movement and Place’ for the first time to Canberra. This is a framework for integrating land use and transport. It recognises that roads and streets have dual purposes, they are both places for people to move through and places for people to stop and spend time.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 5
Making it happen
REFOCUSED NETWORK PLANNING AND DESIGN which will increase our city building efforts by better integrated transport and land use. We will collaborate with partners across Government and the community to employ the Movement and Place framework to weave transport and places together; improving the social and urban fabric of our city. Importantly, we will work to improve safety on our roads for all road users by employing the Safe Systems Approach. This will support people through any transport choice to make the most of what Canberra has to offer by ensuring road environments are safe for all.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 6
Setting the scene
Policy context
ACT Planning Strategy 2018
The ACT Planning Strategy 2018 calls for the integration of land use and transport planning to make Canberra a more liveable city. It introduces the concept of Movement and Place to acknowledge the dual nature of roads and streets as places for both transport and people. Movement and Place provides a collaborative framework for ACT Government Directorates to work together and with the community to enhance the city by creating streets that work from both a place and a transport perspective.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 8
Where are we now
Current network opportunities and challenges
Need for more transport choice
Where we want to be
Canberra’s future transport network
Network structure
Movement and Place is a key shared concept of the ACT Planning Strategy 2018 and this strategy. Drawing on the Movement and Place concept, Canberra’s transport network will be structured through local, central, orbital and regional links. The combination of central and orbital links will provide the backbone of Canberra’s future transport network. Different links will focus on the most efficient and appropriate movement type for that link and surrounding land uses. This will encourage people to make appropriate transport choices depending on their destination, purpose and time of day. In this way, our network will operate to reduce congestion, reduce emissions and support a more liveable city.
LOCAL LINKS provide for short trips within local areas, focused on walking and cycling. These links will be highly integrated with places for meeting and interacting. They will also be connected into our public transport network to support safe, accessible access. Supporting the core of Canberra’s social fabric, local links are integral to the creation of accessible places for social interaction to enhance quality of life. Canberra’s city centre, town, group and local centres, as well as neighbourhoods, will feature
high quality walking environments to support liveability, social connection and vibrancy.CENTRAL LINKS will focus on the efficient movement between centres and urban intensification areas by public transport, walking and cycling. The primary function of the central links is to support the development of centres and urban intensification areas by moving people efficiently between areas that are likely to see more activity in the future.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 22
Future network overview
Map 1 shows the network for motor vehicles.
World class public transport for a compact, efficient city
Map 2 shows the public transport network – light rail and buses.
Walking and cycling for a liveable city
Walkable places – the City, Town and Group Centres
To support liveable neighbourhoods and urban intensification, the future transport network will feature high quality walking environments in the city and urban intensification areas, including town, group and local centres and school zones. These areas will see:
• high quality footpaths;
• seating to allow rest stops for older people;
• safe opportunities to cross the road; and
• clear walking priority at intersections.The Government has committed to trial new ways of using roads that most efficiently move people and goods and better support walking, cycling and public transport.
This work will also look at best practice road intersection design from around the world to inform trials of new intersection design, in areas supported by the Movement and Place framework, that prioritise walking and cycling.
The ACT Government will develop best practice guidance for industry and stakeholders to inform better design outcomes for active travel infrastructure.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 28
Build the CBR cycle routes network
Cycling is also an efficient way to support land use intensification in Canberra, as well as improve health outcomes and reduce carbon emissions. Due to Canberra’s low-density layout, local trips that cannot be made by walking are often more practical when made by bicycle. Electric bikes are also extending the distance over which it is easy to cycle and making cycling more attractive to a broader range of people. Canberra’s relatively flat gradients, dry climate and already existing off-road share path network, make it a transport mode with considerable potential for growth.
Canberra has an extensive network of off-road paths, but they don’t always connect people to where they need to go. Existing paths, like roads, also require ongoing maintenance. To make cycling a more attractive travel option, the future CBR cycle routes network will build new and upgraded offroad paths and protected bike lanes for trips across the city and to support urban intensification areas, the Parliamentary Zone and planned growth areas such as the Molonglo Valley. Recognising there are a wide variety of people who cycle or would like to cycle in Canberra, infrastructure will be suitable for all ages and abilities. We are using our stimulus program to accelerate the roll-out of CBR cycle routes by constructing key network and safety improvements, undertaking maintenance on existing paths, as well as installing wayfinding signage.
Bike and Ride particularly offers an effective way to connect more people to public transport, by integrating cycle parking and safe cycle routes with rapid transport. Our buses and light rail vehicles can also carry bikes which makes more places in Canberra accessible to people using a combination of walking, cycling and public transport options.
When new roads are built or roads are upgraded, they will be future proofed for cycling and walking, with the provision of infrastructure according to a case-by-case assessment based
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 28
on the future network of local links as well as Movement and Place and Safe Systems principles and Municipal Infrastructure Standards for Active Travel.
Street layouts that encourage walking and cycling
Our transport network will take a future focus to cycling and walking, recognising that facilities need to be built ahead of time to shape transport behaviour for the future. Footpaths and shared paths will be built in new suburbs to anticipate and build walking and cycling demand, ahead of the curve
The road layouts of Canberra’s infill and new estates will be designed to make walking and cycling the natural choice, to promote social and physical wellbeing. Drawing from the Movement and Place Framework, and demonstrated success of suburbs like Vauban in Germany and others from around the world, the layout of new infill places and greenfield suburbs will structure permeability in the following ways:
• Internal suburbs: walking and cycling;
• Inter-suburb and intertown permeability: public transport; and
• Cross city permeability: car and freight.This will reinforce Canberra’s network structure and contribute to liveable neighbourhoods and vibrant places.
The Government will look at improvements to lighting along key walking and cycling corridors to improve safety and make walking and cycling attractive to a wider range of people, across different times of the day.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 29
Making it happen
Refocusing network planning and design
Movement and Place
The Movement and Place concept balances the dual function of streets, which is moving people and goods and enhancing the places they connect and pass through. Movement and Place supports a 30-minute city by helping to create liveable places for mixed communities with amenities close by on the one hand and identifying roads for efficient movement on the other. This means the movement function of Canberra’s roads and streets will better align with the evolving place function and vice versa. At a high-level Canberra’s streets will be structured around a hierarchy of local, central, orbital and regional links which will reflect the changing role of transport according to location. Transport projects will consider the needs of all transport users both on their journey and as they complete it. To facilitate this further, we will develop a Movement and Place framework to guide design, collaboration and decision making for roads and places.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 40
Towards the future network
To achieve the strategic vision, development of guiding frameworks including the Movement and Place, Safe Systems Assessment, and Strategic Investment will be the key. Based upon these foundational frameworks, a program of work will be developed to translate the Strategy into action. This will encompass complementary plans and initiatives including but not limited to the ones indicated here.
ACT Transport Strategy 2020, page 42
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