Place Principles

A broader context is required when working on cities. As with any human endeavour, our mindset towards our urban environment affects not only our approach but also the results. While this site will present concepts, principles and practices which are important, the most critical aspect is how we think of the city.

Kelvin Grove Urban Village - Brisbane, QLD, AUS

Image: The building on the left is IHBI – a research building by QUT and the State. Professor Ross Young, the Executive Director, acknowledges the benefits of place in attracting and retaining staff (they don’t have to drive to get a good cup of coffee!). The building on the right is a Queensland State Academy for students in grade 10-12 . The design review panel worked hard to deliver an active edge with such internalised uses like theatres, recording studios etc. The building at the rear is a commercial building by the private sector. All buildings must provide an awning over the Musk Ave footpath – not for negotiation! When the Department of Housing bought the land (17ha within walking distance of the city) we were told that the highest and best use was as small lot housing! Think of the lost economic benefits if we had have acted on this advice.

Place Principles 101 E-Workbook

We offer a Place Principles E-Workbook as part of our E-Learning series. The workbook provides a bite sized chunk of interactive urban design and placemaking learning and has a range of information, references and links which you can read at your leisure.

Each workbook in the E-learning series includes an assessment which is interactive with our website and tests your understanding through a mix of content and reflective questions. This preview shows the style and layout, table of contents and reflective questions. You can purchase this E-Workbook, or any of the others from the series, from our shop.