1. Newcastle CBD Urban Renewal Strategy

2. RESILIENCE REGENERATION RENEWAL REVITALISATION
Resilience, Renewal, Regeneration, Revitalisation
PlaNYC – Hurricane Sandy. Citywide Infrastructure and the Built Environment and Community building and resiliency plans
Aust. Gov Critical infrastructure resilience strategy – similar toe PlaNYC – and describes the Australian Government’s approach to enhancing the resilience of our critical infrastructure to all hazards.
The Hamilton Hill Revitalisation Strategy - is the latest of the City of Cockburn’s revitalisation projects. The Strategy will guide how future urban infill will be delivered within the suburb and works required to facilitate improvements in the urban environment.
Regeneration Strategy UK: regeneration strategy to improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the borough – people. Prosperity and place.

3. Tell me about Newcastle
The City:
Population – 148,535
Pop. Growth: 156,700 by 2036
Regional Catchment – +600,000
Jobs – 88,200
Dwellings – 66,000
Newcastle Inner City:
Population – 48,063
Jobs – 21,500 jobs
CBD Shopfronts - 158,000sqm
CBD Commercial - 259,000sqm
Population Growth - +24,000 persons or 0.6%pa average annual change.
By comparison, Maitland and Port Stephens have the highest forecast growth rates in the Lower Hunter Region (1.9% and 1.2% average annual growth respectively), although it is recognised these forecasts are below historic annual growth levels.
88,179 workers or which half live within the City of Newcastle.
70,225 resident workers – small net outflow of workers.
City of Ballarat – 114km – 93,500 - catchment
City of Bendigo – 153km – 100,617 – catchment
City of Geelong - 75km – 210,875pop – catchment
CBD – 20% of all jobs

4. Proximity to Sydney
Beaches and livability
Working port
Heritage values
Lifestyle and waterfront retailing
Successful recent commercial A Grade office
Evidence of new medium/high density residential i.e. developer appetite
University, hospital, army
Tourism – used by visitors

5. RENEW NEWCASTLE: activating 52 otherwise empty spaces with more than 100 creative projects
Hill PDA

6. Why Investigate Renewal?
2.5km
BHP Steelworks closed and the local economy was lagging.
High vacancies (22.5% retail, 17% commercial) and David Jones vacated.
Poor connections across the railway line to the waterfront.
Abandoned developments and development applications.
Numerous vacant and underutilised sites.
Community frustration and want for change.
The long length of Hunter Street as a commercial precinct (almost 2.5km) hampers walkable catchments, which is exacerbated by a lack of any major attractors or retail anchors between the Marketown shopping centre in the west to Hunter Mall in the east;
The City Centre is used largely as a destination centre due to its civic and government functions, provision of government agencies and specialist services, and is used to a lesser extent for browsing, entertainment and tourism;
The City Centre has a high level of vacancy for commercial office (especially of older stock) and retail shopfronts (particularly along Hunter Street and in the West End);
There was no significant value difference between Newcastle’s suburban centre markets (e.g. Hamilton) and Newcastle City Centre B-grade and C-grade commercial rents, with an abundance of commercial buildings in the City Centre for lease or sale (mostly B and C grade) and minimal interest from the market;
The City Centre has a contracting retail trade area and increasing escape expenditure due to the growth of surrounding centres such as Westfield Kotara and Charlestown Square;
There was strong demand for residential units in the City Centre with a range of price points and housing choice required; and
Various approved development applications for higher density development had not commenced, were abandoned, were for sale, or were deferred. These applications included a range of mixed use, commercial, residential and hotel / motel uses, most in excess of six levels.
Hill PDA

7. What did we discover?
CBD not performing its "Regional City” role.
Destination service centre - contracting retail trade area.
Disparity between property markets.
Coal mining and subsidence impacts.
Significant water and flooding issues.
Basement car parking was not an option.
Limited employment and business diversity.
Key players located outside of the CBD.
Unrealistic development controls.
Unrealistic development controls – heights and zones and targets.
All had impacts on urban design – vacant boarded up sites, tourists didn’t have much to do once there as limited retail/lifestyle retailing opportunities.
Property economics being – development feasibility, understanding of developer and private sector requirements. Balance of social, planning and economic outcomes.
Limited recognition of: the relationship between property economics, economic development and planning.

8. How did we discover the issues?
Place Analysis: economics, heritage, urban structure, landscape, traffic and transport, social infrastructure, sustainability, stakeholder engagement.
Intrinsic in all was understanding the planning and delivery rationale or impact.
Economic Analysis: examined key drivers of growth and demand:
Residential, Retail, Employment , Other (university, tourism, port, airport)
PLUS:
Understanding the capacity and feasibility of the CBD to accommodate change:
What are the constraints to investment and development?
What are the impacts of constraints on development viability?
How could planning respond to enable change?
Development viability – retail, mixed use, residential, commercial, bulky goods
Variations – eg. Ground floor bulky goods homemaker centre with residential above.
Car parking control variations – provision of no car parking?
Hill PDA

9. What was the Solution? Hill PDA PLANNING CERTAINTY:
Lowered height controls, revise mixed use zone locations, development contributions, preserve employment land, identify catalyst sites.
QUICK WINS:
Urban design, landscape and amenity enhancements.
Improved dialogue.
BIG MOVES:
Encourage university back into the CBD.
Solution with the railway line.
Improved mine subsidence awareness (cost imposts, locations).
Enabling attitude and realistic approach.
MEDIUM TO LONG TERM AIMS:
Encourage small retail hubs along Hunter Street.
Different mixed use options - retail, 2-3 levels commercial, residential.
Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and poor quality commercial.
Alternative and flexible car parking solutions.
Hill PDA

10. Key Lessons? Whole of Government Approach Transparency
Public Relations
Culture of Planning
Work towards Economic, Social, Environmental Sustainability
Whole of Government Approach
Organisational Innovation
Involve Residents and Stakeholders
Use of Investment and Funding Mechanisms
Staging
Local Vision
Understand Demand versus Capacity
Leadership
Understand the Relationship – Planning and Economics
There is no simple answer as to how an area can be regenerated, but successful initiatives have some factors in common:
Attention to the retail marketplace: clear attention to what is possible within the framework of the local or sub-regional marketplace and available catchment area, overlaid with strong aspirations to business success and profitability;
Leadership: clear leadership in the regeneration initiative;
Involving residents: respect for local residents needs and aspirations;
Local vision: a strong, positive vision for local quality of life, with the retail strategy embedded in the local regeneration or neighbourhood strategy;
Organisational innovation: partnerships with strong private sector participation or with experienced community development organisations;
Use of investment: use of public and social investment to reinforce potential achievement in the marketplace, but not to subsidise marginal schemes; and
Recreational and community facilities: promotion of the locality as a high quality destination, and thus footfall, through environmental enhancements and community facilities.
Where projects have been less successful, they have:
Short-term aspirations: that dominate development planning;
A lack of vision and strategy: and thereby pursue partnership without achieving a clear vision and consensus on future aspirations, and thus a clear, agreed strategy; and
Failed to work towards sustainability: ignoring the need to achieve economic, social and environmental objectives simultaneously, which defines the term sustainable development.

11.
Sydney
Melbourne
Dubai