Rapidly changing trends in consumer spending are influencing the planning and design of retail centres - nationally and internationally. Broader community benefits of placemaking are also influencing government policy. This presentation will combine this “carrot and stick” to propose 10 short and medium term actions for centres in the city, suburbs and townships of the Toowoomba Regional Council. To help them benefit from this rapidly changing context. My presentation will include images of national and international best practice, video interviews, statistics and sources of additional information.

1. 10 WAYS TO FUTURE PROOF YOUR CENTRE
Garden City, Margaret St, Toowoomba, QLD, AUS (Toowoomba Regional Council)

2. Palmerin St, Warwick, QLD, AUS
STRUCTURE
▸ Retail trends
▸ Benefits of urban design and
placemaking
▸ Future proofing your centre
▸ Place partnership

3. SHOPPING MALLS 60 YEARS OLD
▸ Toowomba 60 years ago
▸ Time to retire
Southdale Shopping Centre, opened in 1956, Edina, Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

4. TOOWOOMBA 1950S
▸ 1954 popn 43,149
▸ 1950 First Carnival of Flowers held at
Toowoomba.
▸ 1951 Dalby butter wins World Butter
Championship in London.
▸ 1952 Sister Kenny, famous for her
treatment for polio, dies in
Toowoomba.
▸ 1956 Huge floods hit the Downs.
▸ 1957 Levee banks built on the
Macintyre River at Goondiwindi after
the floods of 1956
Picture Queensland, State Library of Queensland

5. THE DEATH OF THE SHOPPING MALL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dixie_Square_Penneys_and_Jewel.jpg
▸ Open for business: 1966–1979

6. SHOP UNTIL THEY DROP...
▸ New York Times - February 5, 2012
▸ Near-record vacancy rates (11%) at malls of all kinds.
▸ There are about 108,000 shopping centres in America.
▸ A new enclosed mall has not opened in the United
States since 2006.
▸ Urban Land Institute
▸ More than 11 per cent of strip malls in North America
are derelict, representing 27 million square metres of
vacant retail space, according to the Washington-based.
Mizner Park - Boca Raton USA

7. Winter Park Mall - Orlando Ave, Winter Park, Fl
SHOP UNTIL THEY DROP...
▸ New York Times - February 5, 2012
▸ Sears Holdings is closing up to 120 stores, Gap Inc.
200 stores and Talbots 110.
▸ Abercrombie & Fitch closed 50 stores last year, Hot
Topic, almost the same number.
▸ Chains that have filed for bankruptcy in recent years -
Blockbuster, Anchor Blue, Circuit City and Borders,
have left hundreds of stores lying vacant in malls across
the country.

8. RETROFITTING SUBURBIA?

9. RETROFITTING SUBURBIA

10. RETROFITTING SUBURBIA

11. RETROFITTING SUBURBIA

12. ▸ The Australian May 05,
2012 12:00AM
▸ “A pall over the mall”
▸ “Shopping malls may be booming
across China and parts of the Middle
East but in the US, the birthplace of
the mall, they're dying and in
Australia they're haemorrhaging”
AUSTRALIA?
Canberra Centre - Bunda St, Canberra, ACT

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4
VIRTUAL SHOPPING...

14. Gozzard St, Gungahlin, Canberra, ACT, AUS
▸ The Australian June 15, 2011 12:00AM
▸ Some are saying the end is nigh for the traditional
shopping mall retail model.
▸ Online retailing is making its mark
▸ Typical anchor tenants such as fashion stores and book
shops are struggling.
▸ The collapse yesterday of clothing retailer Colorado just
weeks after the closure of 82 Borders and Angus
& Robertson book stores is just the latest sign of the
times.
▸ "The retailers that are most at risk are in the shopping
strips that aren't somewhere like Toorak Road or Bridge
Road in Melbourne, where there's upmarket coffee
shops and lifestyle options to attract people to the area."
A SLOW DEATH HERE?

15. Hibberson St, Gungahlin, Canberra, ACT, AUS
BIG BOX RETAIL = SUGAR
▸ One idea...▸ We’ve grown up with it
▸ It is everywhere
▸ It’s very addictive
▸ Too much is not very good for us...
▸ but we don’t need to remove it from our diet
completely
▸ Are you up to the task?

16. COMMON ENEMY
Gungahlin, Canberra, ACT, AUS
▸ Delays
▸ Poor examples
▸ No demand without supply
▸ Increased costs
▸ Murky trends
▸ Soft figures
▸ Government intent poor delivery

17. URBAN DESIGN V PLACEMAKING?
Parap Markets, Parap, Darwin, NT, AUS
▸ Urban design:
▸ House
▸ New buildings and
infrastructure
▸ design
▸ space
▸ new places
▸ Utilitarian
▸ Experts?
▸ Placemaking:
▸ Home
▸ Existing buildings and
places
▸ social programs
▸ place
▸ existing
▸ Social
▸ Ownership by the
people (spirit)
▸ People watchers?

18. PLACEMAKING...
Victoria Ave, Chatswood, Sydney, NSW, AUS

19. BENEFITS OF PLACEMAKING
Mark Lane, Toowoomba, QLD, AUS
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase
costs
▸ Reduces Costs
▸ Delivers customers value
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to society

20. REDUCE ADVERSE EFFECTS
Victoria Ave, Chatswood, Sydney, NSW, AUS
▸ “The City of Casey has
the highest reported
incidence of family
violence and child
protection notifications
within Victoria.”
http://www.caseyconnect.n
et.au/promotingpeace-
familyviolence/

21. DOESN'T NEED TO COST MORE
Section 8 Bar, Tatersalls Lane, Melbourne, VIC, AUS

22. COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PLACEMAKING
Conness St - Chiltern, VIC, AUS
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase
costs
▸ Reduce Costs
▸ Delivers benefits customers value
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to society
Costs

23. REDUCE COSTS - POPUP
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2012/02/07/3425109.htm

24. http:// http://humanscalecities.tumblr.com/post/4955017402/transforming-nyc-streets-a-conversation-with
REDUCE COSTS - PROTOTYPING

25. http://laughingsquid.com/parklets-the-tiny-parks-of-san-francisco/
REDUCE COSTS - PARKLETS

26. REDUCE COSTS – DISASTER RESILIENCE
Bardon, Brisbane, QLD, AUS

27. REDUCE COSTS – ENABLE THE LOCALS
Bate Street, Central Tilba, NSW, AUS

28. REDUCE COSTS - OVERALL
Ireland St, Bright, VIC, AUS
▸ Poor design can have significant adverse
effects
▸ May not always cost more upfront
▸ Utilise existing infrastructure
▸ Enable natural disaster resilience
▸ Enable the locals (SCIP)
▸ "in a world where slow growth is normal,
society can't afford the costs of our
shopping centres” Joe Nickol

29. COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PLACEMAKING?
High St, Wodonga, VIC, AUS
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase costs
▸ Reduce Costs
▸ Delivers benefits customers value
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to society

30. PLACE = AFFORDABLE LIVING
Palmerston Lane, Fitzgibbon Chase, Brisbane, QLD, AUS
▸ AusHomes Loft Home
▸ 320 m² (two community titles – Villa + loft)
▸ 1 Bedroom + 1 bathroom (97m²)
▸ $199,900 in 2011
▸ Aiming to achieve 50 dwellings/ha in next
stage on freehold title.
▸ Housing Innovations

31. PLACE = SAFETY
Sharp St - Cooma, NSW, AUS

32. PLACE = HEALTHY
Village Square, Eastern Rd, Browns Plains, Brisbane, QLD, AUS
▸ If one in ten Massachusetts
adults started a regular walking
program, the state would save
$121 million in heart disease
expenditures annually. [MA
Dept. of Public Health, 2008]
▸ Combining vigorous exercise
and walking each week
produced a 50% reduced
mortality. [Arch Internal
Medicine, 2007]
▸ 1 in 3 children born in USA in
2000 will develop diabetes
▸ Car accidents are the leading
cause of deaths 0-24

33. Ford St - Beechworth, VIC, A
PLACE = FITNESS
▸ Exercise affects learning, memory
and cognition. College students
showed improved performance on
recognition memory tasks after
exercise. [NYU current research]

34. PLACE = TRANSPORT SAVINGS
Flinders St, Adelaide, SA, AUS

35. PLACE = MORE TIME, LESS CONGESTION
Clarkson, Perth, WA, AUS
▸ Living car-free in walkable areas fits younger lifestyles. Fewer
young people want cars. In 1995 people age 21 to 30 drove 21
percent of all miles driven in the U.S.; in 2009 it was 14 percent,
despite consistent growth of the age group. [Advertising Age,
2010]

36. PLACE = CONVENIENCE
Tumut Street, Adelong, NSW, AUS

37. PLACE = CHOICE
Victoria Ave, Chatswood, Sydney, NSW, AUS

38. PLACE = OPPORTUNITIES
Wharf St, Maryborough, QLD, AUS
▸ Kaid Benfield
▸ One entrepreneur noted that there are lots of
people in Raleigh doing interesting things, ‘but
they're miles apart from each other.’
▸ Further, said Josh Whiton, a 31-year-old chief
executive of a software company downtown,
‘There's not the serendipitous running into each
other when you go to the coffee’

39. Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, QLD, AUS
PLACE = FUTURE PROOFING
▸ Ellen Dunham Jones
▸ 85% of households in 2025 will not have kids
▸ 77% of Millenniums/Gen Y want to live in urban
core
▸ 75% of retiring baby boomers say they want mixed
use and mixed age
▸ Combined they represent ½ of the popn in the USA
▸ NY Times
▸ 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of
the expensive housing in the USA.
▸ Today, it’s in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly
neighbourhoods of the centre city and inner suburbs

40. Princes Highway, Cobargo, NSW, AUS
PLACE = FUTURE PROOFING

41. WHAT CAN YOUR PLACE DELIVER?
Amp Ln - Albury, NSW, AUS
▸ Affordable housing
▸ Affordable Living
▸ Safety
▸ Fitness – physically and mentally
▸ Less money on transport
▸ More time, less congestion
▸ Convenience
▸ Choice
▸ Opportunities
▸ Future proofing

42. COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PLACEMAKING
Queen St Mall, Brisbane, QLD, AU
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase
costs
▸ Reduce Costs
▸ Delivers customers value
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to society

43. THE BENEFITS – UNDERPERFORMING ASSETS
Mizner Park - Boca Raton USA

44. ▸ The Australian June 15, 2011 12:00AM
▸ Some are saying the end is nigh for the traditional
shopping mall retail model.
▸ Online retailing is making its mark
▸ Typical anchor tenants such as fashion stores and book
shops are struggling.
▸ "The retailers that are most at risk are in the shopping
strips that aren't somewhere like Toorak Road or Bridge
Road in Melbourne, where there's upmarket coffee
shops and lifestyle options to attract people to the area."
A SLOW DEATH HERE?
Princes Highway, Cobargo, NSW, AUS

45. Education City Dve, Springfield, QLD, AUS
DEVELOPMENT FACILITATION (DA)

46. COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PLACEMAKING
Ford Street - Beechworth, VIC, AUS
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase
costs
▸ Reduce Costs
▸ Delivers customers value
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to
society

47. THE BENEFITS – CREATIVE ECONOMY
▸ Characteristics of
successful
and highly valued
places
(Morrison Institute):
▸ quality natural
environment
▸ innovation and cultural
capacity
▸ distinctive amenities
▸ street life, “hipness”,
tolerance
▸ choice and diversity
▸ accessibility.
Murray St Mall - Perth, WA, AUS

48. THE BENEFITS – BRANDING + PROMOTION

49. THE BENEFITS – ENHANCE VALUES
High St - Yackandandah, VIC, AUS
▸ A one-point increase
in Walk Score is
associated with
between a $700 and
$3,000 increase in
home values. [CEOs
for Cities, 2009]

50. THE BENEFITS – LOCAL BUSINESS
High St - Yackandandah, VIC, AUS

51. THE BENEFITS – INTERACTION
Barossa Farmers Markets, SA, AUS

52. THE BENEFITS - CONNECTED AND VITAL
Clyde St, Batemans Bay NSW, AUS

53. THE BENEFITS – EXTEND ECONOMIC LIFE
▸ Homes in walkable
urban neighbourhoods
have experienced less
than half the average
decline in price from
the housing peak in the
mid-2000s. [Brookings
Institution, 2011]
Commercial Road, Strathalbyn, SA, AUS

54. SUSTAINABILITY
Currambene Street, Huskisson, NSW, AUS
▸ Any sound principles for a good
urban place must be sustainable
▸ social equity
▸ economic vitality
▸ environmental responsibility
▸ Cities can make a significant
contribution
Good urban design is a powerful tool for achieving a higher
quality of life, greater economic vitality and a more efficient use of
resources. It is key to making places where talented people will
want to live, and which will nurture economic success.”
Urban Initiatives, 2003, p. 3

55. CLIMATE CHANGE: REDUCTION + ADAPTION
▸ Average urban dweller in the USA has 1/3
carbon footprint of suburban dweller.
▸ “ClimateSmart innovation in urban
▸ compact, self-contained regional
development
▸ active and public transport-based
community
▸ maintaining ecologically diverse and
viable natural habitats.
Town Square Rouse Hill Town Centre, Sydney, NSW, AUS

56. DELIVERS BROAD BENEFITS TO SOCIETY
▸ Attract creative class
▸ Brand + Promote cities and regions
▸ Enhance the value of land and buildings
▸ Support local shops and facilities
▸ Promote social connectedness and vitality
▸ Extend the economic life of buildings and public
spaces
▸ Sustainability
▸ Climate change mitigation and adaption
Victoria St- Mackay, QLD, AUS

57. ▸ http://www.urbandesign.gov.au/
▸ National Urban Design Protocol
▸ draft Urban Design Framework in QLD
▸ Growth Management QLD
▸ Public Sector training (DLGP,DTMR, Health,
Arts, ULDA, DPW, Councils, etc)
▸ Next Generation Planning – for streets?
▸ Outcomes... Reduces government expenditure
Hitchcock Ave - Barwon Heads, Vic, AUS
STAY AHEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT

58. ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU WANT?
Big Muster Dve - Dinner Plain, VIC, AUS
▸ Avoid adverse effects
▸ Doesn't necessarily increase
costs
▸ Reduce Costs
▸ Delivers customer value
▸ Future proof
▸ Pro-development
▸ Delivers broad benefits to society

59. PLACEMAKING
The Strand, Port Elliot, SA, AUS
“It is difficult to design a space
that will not attract people...
What is remarkable is how often
this has been accomplished .”
William H Whyte

60. HOW?
▸ 6,000 years...

61. Great Alpine Rd, Bright, VIC, AUS
10 WAYS TO FUTURE PROOF YOUR CENTRE
1. User focus
2. Support and reinforce the centre
3. Mixed use with parks (residential)
4. Public streets for all users
5. Walkability
6. Placemaking (Urban design)
7. Integrate retail (Big Box) into the street
8. Understand retail models and
fundamentals and the finance
9. Challenge the mind set (Place
Facilitation)
10.Place Partner

62. Victoria St – Mackay, QLD, AUS
PLACE MANAGE – MALCOLM SNOW

63. THE DETAIL...

64. THE SKILLS

65. PLACE PARTNERSHIP – GET ON BOARD
Salamanca Market - Hobart, TAS, AUS
▸ Information and tools for consumers
▸ Research - centres
▸ Advocate
▸ Quantify benefits
▸ Promote best practice
▸ Identify case studies
▸ Professional training
▸ National coordination