FROM MODERNITY TO WALKABILITY: The Role of Suburban Walkability in the Decarbonisation of Australian Cities

Abstract

For more than half a century, modernist urban planning has unreservedly prioritised the needs of the private car, and consequently created an urban fabric that is both environmentally unsustainable and reduces the social and economic opportunities of the city. This thesis criticises the historical emphasis on automobile accessibility and posits a transition to focus on walkability to enhance urban vitality. The transition has major implications not just for how we move through the city but also for the buildings that frame this movement. Drawing on an understanding of the history of Australian cities, this paper identifies both the benefits and design qualities that encourage walkable urbanism and outlines a pathway to improving the walkability of Australian suburbs on the urban periphery. The challenge for policy makers and professionals of the built environment is how to encourage, design, and fund walkable cities that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. As a result of their distinct history, the spatial patterns of Australian cities are amenable to supporting more walkable urbanism. To achieve this, the desirable qualities of older inner-city suburbs that promote walkability must be expanded to the urban peripheries, a process that begins with determining the specific design features that make these spaces so desirable. These design features that encourage walkability are applied to two case studies, Keperra and Grovely station, situated in two low-density residential suburbs on the outskirts of Brisbane. Given their accessibility to the city, these stations have the potential to act as transit nodes and commercial centres for the entire neighbourhood, and in doing so, reduce automobile dependency in these two car-orientated suburbs.