How Urban Planning Can Impact Your Property Development Project

Did you know that every urban planning decision on a state level can either hurt or benefit your development company? Find out why.

Urban planning is a forward-thinking planning process used to outline towns and cities based on certain objectives. And these objectives can be defined by the state, territory, and local councils. 

That said, urban planning affects our residential, commercial, and industrial areas. And it can further influence the transportation system, infrastructure, layout, and even population densities.

What’s more, cities can quickly become inefficient without proper urban planning, making them unappealing to potential residents and businesses.

As a property developer, knowledge of urban planning is vital to your every action – from site selection to feasibility studies to design for maintaining higher profit margins.

Why Is Urban Planning Important?

Urban areas are considered the home of over 80% of the Australian population. People prefer to live in cities because they have access to healthcare, education, and better infrastructure. 

Therefore, the quality of life is increased, allowing people to contribute more to the economy. 

Now, if urban areas are poorly planned, residents may have to deal with traffic congestion, inefficient infrastructure, and expensive housing. Not to mention they are vulnerable to climate change, fire hazards, and flooding. 

The city and its infrastructure may then become unsustainable. And it can prevent population and economic growth.

Urban planning also affects ecological diversity, heritage sites, and various natural resources. It’s because, often, one of the goals is ensuring that cities and towns are outlined in ways that don’t infringe on these areas. 

Passing and enforcing laws around urban planning can protect unique Australian attractions and keep them around for generations of natives and tourists to enjoy.

How Is Successful Urban Planning Achieved?

Australian urban planning has been reactionary for a long time. But a reactionary attitude is not ideal because it involves waiting for problems to come and then fixing them if possible. This approach is risky and not sustainable long-term, with some solutions possibly taking years to implement.

That’s why the more recent goal is to enact forward-thinking planning regulations. Instead of waiting for something bad to happen, new urban planning trends involve thinking about what could pose a challenge in the future and outlining developments and city growth in such a way as to avoid it.

How?

Primarily, state governments will take censuses to predict changing demographics and population growth. Then, successful urban planning will involve preparing for those changes by ensuring people get access to quality, affordable housing.

Ecological sustainability is another key goal of urban planning. And this is often achieved by prohibiting any developments that could destroy or interfere with wildlife habitats, like those of the koala population. 

That said, environmental sustainability in urban planning can also be about minimising carbon emissions. Therefore, building cycle paths and promoting public transport to reduce the amount of traffic is an element in planning. 

In addition, well-planned cities focus on achieving minimal water waste and better resource distribution to improve the quality of urban life.

Every state and territory will set its own goals regarding urban planning. This makes sense given the uniqueness of their ecologies, population, and economies.

But what does it take for this to work?

Local councils must collaborate with their respective communities to meet their needs. 

Sometimes, this doesn’t happen because communities argue in favour of preserving heritage sites. Other times, communities can raise critical issues, may have different and better visions of public spaces, etc. They may also advocate for urban planning methods that promote social cohesion, create inviting public spaces, and more urban regeneration.

In essence, community input is vital for local councils. Without it, they wouldn’t understand what’s most meaningful to people or identify problematic areas in a timely fashion.

Recent Urban Planning Developments

Currently, significant projects are being discussed at a federal level for the treasury to increase the budget for urban planning. Some of the points of emphasis are infrastructure delivery, affordable housing, new incentives, and streamlining environmental approvals.

It’s worth mentioning that high-density areas are experiencing a decline in terms of people’s quality of life. Therefore, one of the key focuses in urban planning these days is to improve the conditions. This could result in projects ranging from infrastructure modernisation to creating more open spaces.

Needless to say, there’s more emphasis being placed on developments that result in good outcomes for residents and the city as a whole. Perhaps more so than ever before.

In fact, the federal and state governments are set to invest over $1 billion in South East Queensland City projects. Many of them are focused on renewing the transportation network and enhancing the liveability in the region.

These are the country-wide trends in urban planning that will affect all future property development projects.

So now, let’s talk about what these developments, and others like them, mean for the future of property development.

The Impact on Property Developers

If you’re unsure how or why urban planning can affect your current and future developments, here’s an example:

As you know, Melbourne gets scorching hot, which is why its western suburbs have been promised around 200,000 newly planted trees by the end of 2022. This should improve the city’s canopy cover.

But making room for that many trees could render many attractive development sites unsuitable. In addition, it could alter the design and landscaping calculations of various developments.

This shows that every rule passed at the state and council level regarding urban planning will either limit or empower property developers. 

Some sites may become too expensive to build on. Others might be more attractive or have a higher appreciation once specific planning regulations occur.

So, understanding the planning trends and requirements will play a crucial role in:

• Site selection
• Appraisals
• Feasibility studies
• Project approvals
• Costs and profitability
• Property types
• Funding
• Incentives

These are already issues that property developers deal with daily. Thus, it only makes a stronger argument for the need to spruce up new urban planning trends and regulations.

Even if only on the urban level, planning changes affect a big part of the residential and commercial property development industry.

As a result, the way you approach various obstacles regarding urban property development might need a swift shift in strategy over time.

What’s Your Next Move?

The new urban planning trends will cut both ways. 

Some property developers will have a positive impact and be highly profitable. While others will struggle to get their projects approved or find buyers and tenants.

Let’s make sure you’re not among the latter with the help of Archistar.

The Archistar platform is a user-friendly tool to assist developers from the idea stage to the implementation phase. With the importance of urban planning on the rise, finding the right opportunities is more important than ever. Archistar will help you move 30 times faster than using traditional methods.

You can use the platform to compile feasibility, appraisals, and other reports using over 25,000 reputable data sources. Save up to $30,000 per project in time and consultation costs and increase your profitability by identifying better locations and creating the best designs for today’s urban planning trends.

Scheduling a free demo will give you a taste of how efficiently you can use Archistar to future-proof your development business.

Get started for free: [https://www.archistar.ai/]