Belfast Area Plan - Urban Design Study - Christchurch City Council

1.0 INTRODUCTION
This report expands and develops the
material contained in that earlier report.
The main objective of this study is to
assess and identify a framework to
promote good urban design outcomes for
the existing Belfast settlement and make
recommendations for potential
opportunities for urban design
improvements and the future development
form for new growth areas.
In particular to:
The Belfast area is undergoing and will
continue to undergo significant change.
There have been recent large scale
residential and retail developments to the
south of the township and a new arterial
road is planned to the east of Belfast. Both
the Christchurch City Plan and the draft
Greater Christchurch Urban Development
Strategy have earmarked Belfast for future
urban growth.
A need to assess the opportunities and
constraints for such rapid land use change
within the Belfast Area has therefore been
identified. Such an assessment needs to
identify the strategic issues that are likely
to arise in the area and provide for
development that meets the aspirations of
the local community. There is also a need
to identify and protect key resources and
attributes of the area that will help define
and shape the environment over the next
30 years. To this end an Area
Development Plan is being prepared, it will
provide a broad level, strategic planning
tool for the Council and the local
community to define and make decisions
on the shape and context of development
within Belfast. It involves a
multidisciplinary approach drawing
information from many areas, including
policy, demographics, economics, urban
design and heritage, parks and open
space, transport, essential infrastructure,
and community development.
This urban design report has been
prepared as one component part in the
preparation of the Belfast Area
Development Plan. A preliminary urban
design technical report was prepared by
Josie Schroder, Urban Designer,
Christchurch City Council in June 2003.
• Identify opportunities and
constraints for the future
expansion of Belfast including
preliminary
ideas/concepts/networks.
• Identify interface issues
between existing and new
development areas, and
between rural and urban land
uses.
• Identify appropriate
development form and
densities.
• Identify appropriate linkages
between movement, reserve
and blue networks and
landuse.
• Identify overall concepts
/themes for the area.
• Identify opportunities for
linkages and movement
between existing and new
areas.
This report is divided into two parts. Part
One describes the policy and best practice
framework, discusses the components of a
growth framework for new development
areas, describes the study area, identifies
and assesses the main urban design
issues for Belfast, outlines possible
methods of achieving solutions and
identifies urban design goals for the Area
Development Plan. Part Two looks in
greater detail at each part of the study
area in order to give detailed consideration
to urban design and local planning issues
and explore the feasibility of implementing
ideals.
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