Urban Planning Report: Southport Priority Development Area Scheme

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Southport Priority Development Area (PDA) scheme in Queensland, Australia, which aims to stimulate economic and community development. It identifies Southport as a significant business hub requiring strategic planning to support its growth. The report outlines the four key precincts within the PDA: the Central Business District, Residential Neighborhood, Garden Residential Neighborhood, and Open Space, detailing their intended land use and infrastructure requirements. It further assesses the strengths of the development plan, such as minimizing the 'wall effect,' enhancing community interactions, and promoting active transportation, while also addressing weaknesses like the lack of green space and potential environmental concerns. The report concludes with recommendations for improving the planning to better support business and residential life in Southport.

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Executive Summary
The state government of Queensland, Australia has a scheme for bringing economic and
community development to the particular sections of their cities. They named it Priority
Development Area. The significant growth of business in the Southport area seeks for
implementation of PDA. This will enable the CBD to support the growing innovative business in
the area. The finding of the report identifies four precincts that are CBD, residential
neighborhood, garden residential neighborhood and open space. The report further identifies the
infrastructure sought to support the modification planned. The report further identifies strengths
and weaknesses of the planning and recommends some of the modification that can potentially
improve the planning and better support the business and residential lives of the city.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Objective of the study......................................................................................................................4
Overview of Southport Priority Development Area........................................................................5
Declaration and Adaptation.........................................................................................................5
Location.......................................................................................................................................5
Elements of PDA Scheme...........................................................................................................6
Land Use Plan..............................................................................................................................6
Precinct 1.................................................................................................................................7
Central Business District.........................................................................................................7
Precinct 2.................................................................................................................................8
Residential Neighborhood.......................................................................................................8
Precinct 3.................................................................................................................................9
Garden Residential neighborhood...........................................................................................9
Precinct 4...............................................................................................................................10
Open Space............................................................................................................................10
Infrastructure and Implementation strategy...............................................................................11
Strengths and weaknesses of the development plan......................................................................12
Strengths....................................................................................................................................12

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Minimization of the ‘Wall Effect’.........................................................................................12
Crime detection and safe dwelling place...............................................................................12
Innovative designs.................................................................................................................13
Well connected designs for enhancing community interactions...........................................13
Active transportation.............................................................................................................13
Weaknesses................................................................................................................................14
Lack of green space...............................................................................................................14
Continuous business environment.........................................................................................14
Lack of EPA..........................................................................................................................15
Status quo...............................................................................................................................15
Key issues..............................................................................................................................15
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18
Appendix........................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
The state government of Queensland, Australia has a scheme for bringing economic and
community development to the particular sections of their cities. They named it Priority
Development Area. The local government loses its authority for planning urban development to
the particular area of the city where the PDA scheme is initialized. However, the already lodged
applications with the local government continue to be assessed under the Sustainable Planning
Act 2009 (Gchaveyoursay.com.au 2017). The PDA facilitates in removal of the barriers that have
been preventing the businesses from starting and thriving in the particular area. Several factors
have influenced the government of Queensland to mark Southport as the PDA. The area
considered by many is the traditional centre of Gold Coast city that reflects the highest
concentration of employment, greatest share of office space with a workforce of 24,857
individual. This is also the most populated area of the city with a resident population of 28.315
and growing (Burton 2017). These growing factors have called for the PDA scheme in the
Southport for providing the opportunity to facilitate the growth and advancement that is required
for supporting the growth of the business district. This report provides a detailed overview of the
Southport PDA and identifies the strengths and weaknesses within it. It further recommends the
modification required in the planning.
Objective of the study
The objective of the study is to provide a greater insight of the priority development area
scheme undertaken for the development of the Southport area of the Gold Coast city. The
Southport area of the city is known as the business area supporting the highest concentration of
industries. The residential concentration level is also highest in Southport compared to the other

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parts of the city. The purpose of the scheme is to develop this particular part of the city for
supporting future development and business growth. The study reviews the Southport Priority
Development Area Scheme that has been proposed. It further identifies the strengths and the
weaknesses within the development scheme taken for the economic development in the area. It is
to analyze the efficiency of the scheme and provide further recommendation based on the
identification made. In other words, the purpose of the report is to increase the efficiency of the
priority development area scheme made for the Southport section of Gold Coast city.
Overview of Southport Priority Development Area
Declaration and Adaptation
This declaration of the PDA scheme in Southport took place on 4th October 2013 and was
approved by the state government on 5th September 2014. The notification for the scheme came
out under the Economic Development Act 2012 that invited the interested business
organizations, residents, communities and major stakeholders to view the proposed scheme and
submit their concern within 22nd May 2014, so that the Minister for Economic Development
Queensland can consider the proposals. The government Gold Coast cities reviewed the
submissions received and prepared a report accordingly, which was then forwarded to the
MEDQ (Dilgp.qld.gov.au 2017).
Location
The Central Business District and former Gold Coast hospital sites are the locations
under development within the Southport Priority Development Area. The areas falls under the
195.7 hectares of the PDA are Broadwater Parklands, north of Railway Street, south of Queen
Street (Goldcoast.qld.gov.au 2017).

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Elements of PDA Scheme
The PDA scheme proposed for the Southport consists of three elements that are land use
plan, infrastructure plan and implementation plan. First element of the scheme proposes the
vision of future Southport as the Gold Coast CBD, whereas, the second element narrates the
infrastructure required for supporting the land use plan in PDA. The last element describes the
strategies and mechanisms that are planned for implementation of the land use plan and
infrastructure plan in the Southport PDA (Wearegoldcoast.com.au. 2017).
Land Use Plan
The vision of the scheme is to turn CBD of Gold Coast into world-class centre for
employment, community services, commerce and retail. The future Southport will offer its
residents a wide variety of housing options and highly desirable lifestyle amenity. The complete
Southport according to this vision is divided into four segments or precincts that are Central
Business District, Residential neighborhood, Garden Residential Neighborhood and Open Space.

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Figure 1: Map of Southport PDA
Precinct 1
Central Business District
This segment of the PDA will be comprised with the commercial offices and medium to
high retail organizations. The will be marked as the business district of Southport. The main
streets of Scarborough and Nerang will be supporting the high end retails. This will be the
central hub for innovative businesses and it will thrive for 24 hours and 7 days continuously
(Wearegoldcoast.com.au. 2017).

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Figure 2: Central Business District
Precinct 2
Residential Neighborhood
This area of the PDA will be highly urbanized supporting the largest residential segment.
The residential buildings of this area will be high-rise supporting maximum population per sq-ft.
It will further support the non-residential purposes like small-scale businesses in the
neighborhood along with local services where necessary.

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Figure 3: Residential Neighborhood
Precinct 3
Garden Residential neighborhood
This area will be comprising medium to high density residential colonies ranging from
town houses to medium rise residential buildings. This will also be supporting the non-residential
uses such as street level small scale neighborhood business and services where the people will be
getting some of everyday household items. In addition to these amenities, the place will be
covered with a degree of greenery with prominent green streetscapes.

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Figure 4: Garden Residential neighborhood
Precinct 4
Open Space
The open Space in Southport PDA will be a combination of naked nature and technology.
The development of this particular segment will be focused is such a fashion that it can support
the major events like commonwealth 2018. This will provide the residents to perform the leisure
activities in their daily lives. The open space is constituted with the parks and water bases that
will be recreated to support the development of the rest of the segments. These areas will be free
from the physical dominance.

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Figure 5: Open Space
Infrastructure and Implementation strategy
The infrastructure of the Southport PDA will have a proper network chain with
modernized building to support the business growth. The networking infrastructure includes
water supply, wastewater infrastructure, storm-water, and modernized transport and recreation
facilities. Moreover, the CBD building infrastructure includes addresses the economic growth of
the area. The funding for network infrastructure will base upon the approvals for provision and
agreements. Funding for the CBD building infrastructure on the other hand will be shared by
both public and private sector organizations under special rate or charges
(Wearegoldcoast.com.au. 2017).