Developing a vision for a town, or growth or spatial plans as part of rezoning and structure planning processes under the District Plan and Long Term Plan (LTP), is a hugely complex process that requires the collaboration of all parts of council including community facilities, three waters and transport to understand what drivers and challenges we will face. Land use planners are at the centre of this work, collaborating with all these departments as well as partners such as Kainga Ora to come up with an integrated plan that will provide for great communities where people will thrive and enjoy living, working and playing.
The ONF reflects how transport fits into the wider built environment, and incorporates performance measures to promote better outcomes for movement, people, place and the environment. The framework supports a more holistic approach to plan transport networks as roads and streets change over time and cities and town grow.
The ONF can be a used as a tool to aid discussions and agree a shared vision for our place-making aspirations, and how transport will shape and serve it. The resulting classifications, Street Categories and levels of service can then become a ‘common language’ which can be referred back to in other planning processes so that we can align our subsequent development and infrastructure plans, urban design and ongoing department operations and maintenance.
Multi-disciplinary conversations can better consider different space allocation, network planning, mode share, surrounding land use, community access, economic activity and urban development aspirations.
For example, land use planners can use the ONF to talk about what city centre upgrades will achieve, or how new corridors being planned in new greenfields areas that will be rezoned will function. The service outcomes and performance measures can be used when working with private developers to help ensure consistent standards in vested assets and urban form. And guidance can be provided for overall experience outcomes for urban designers working on designing street level treatments, such as pedestrianised areas or adjacent green spaces.
Queenstown Lakes District Council trialled the ONF in integrating land-use planning, urban design and transport planning and Palmerston North City Council trialled in in balancing the demands of Movement and Place for liveability and accessibility.
“The ONF gives urban planners a common language and a framework with which to engage in meaningful dialogue with transport planners and collaborate on establishing the future view for urban growth within an area. This ensures transport is an integral part of the urban growth planning process”.
Queenstown Lakes District Council
The ONF provides a facility to visualise the transport network in terms of transect zones, how the urban form and function changes as you move from rural zones through to city centres. This will help in aligning urban planning and design with transport planning. It recognises the value of streets as community spaces, providing not just a means of movement, but having a significant value as a place people want to spend time.
Palmerston North City Council
Read about how Queenstown Lakes District and Palmerston North City Councils used the ONF:
