I've been working on this study of a local train station in support of Transit Oriented Development. In it, I propose that community infrastructure (e.g. community spaces and offices for non-profit organisations) and design for sustainability should be provided at train stations. If more parking is required then those structures can and should also accommodate community uses. I have also posted this to Live Local as my first experiment. Live Local is an online social networking place to share stories and ideas about improving your community. I will be blogging about this venture for Placed. http://www.livelocal.org.au/experiment/126/precinct-study-carseldine-train-station

1. SUBURBAN TRAIN STATION
AS COMMUNITY HUB
LINDA CARROLI
Precinct Study: Carseldine Train Station

2. Contents
1. Introduction
2. Site Context
3. Planning Context
4. Subject Precinct
5. Site Analysis
6. Experience
7. Response
8. Conclusion

3. 1. Introduction
The focus of this study is the Carseldine Train
Station with some consideration of immediate
surrounds. Located in Brisbane’s outer northern
suburbs, 13 km from the CBD, the station is
surrounded by low density housing and adjacent
to a convenience centre and park. The
Carseldine campus of Queensland University of
Technology (QUT) is located on the opposite
side of Beams Road.

4. 2. Site Context
The aerial image following shows the subject
site’s immediate suburban context (the station is
indicated with a red marker), demonstrating the
pattern of predominantly low density
development, particularly housing development.
An express bus service also terminates at the
station and links to another transport node at
Chermside, about 3km south. A northern bus
corridor is currently in planning and this is
proposed to link to the train station.

5. Site Context

6. 3. Planning Context
Over the past three decades, this outer suburban area has
experienced significant development, particularly low density
residential subdivision. The university, originally a teachers’
college, has been operating here for approximately 30 years.
In early 2009, QUT ceased classes at the campus and called
for expressions of interest for alternate uses of the campus.
The subject area is included in the Urban Land Development
Authority’s (ULDA) Fitzgibbon Urban Development Area
(UDA). The South East Queensland Regional Plan prioritises
transit oriented development with an emphasis on enhancing
transport corridors. This is echoed in the Brisbane City
Council’s Cityshape Plan.

7. 3.1 ULDA
The ULDA was established to help make housing more
affordable and to deliver a range of housing options for the
changing needs of the community. The ULDA's role is to plan,
carry out and coordinate the development of land in selected
urban areas. The Fitzgibbon UDA covers 295 hectares of land
in the northern suburbs of Fitzgibbon, Carseldine, Bald Hills,
Taigum and Deagon. Due to the rarity of greenfield sites in
close proximity to transport networks in Brisbane, the
Fitzgibbon UDA is positioned for transformation into a modern
residential suburb developed on transit oriented principles,
that includes bushland, community infrastructure and
significant open space.
Source: http://www.ulda.qld.gov.au

9. 3.2 TOD
With this focus on transit oriented development (TOD), as
a planning approach that integrates land use and
transport, the Carseldine Train Station is a strategic site for
managing growth, sustainability, densification,
relocalisation and transitioning from the carbon economy. It
is centrally located in the Fitzgibbon UDA.
The Department of Infrastructure and Planning describes
transit oriented development as developing a mix of uses –
housing, shops, offices and other facilities – around
transport hubs such as train stations and busway stations.
Source: Transit Oriented Development, Department of Infrastructure and Planning. http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/urban-
planning/transit-oriented-development.html

10. 4. Subject Precinct
In focusing on the train station and car park, this
study considers movement, built form and land
use. It is particularly attentive to local linkages
including those with neighbouring
shops, park, residences and streets. The image
following also shows a small amount of medium
density (townhouses) adjacent to the train
station. This study is particularly concerned with
pedestrian and community access and amenity.

11. Subject Precinct

12. 4.1 Land Use

13. 4.2 Built Form

14. Built Form

15. Built Form

16. Built Form

17. 4.3 Movement
 As an outer suburban location - the broader context of the subject
site - the area is designed for car use.
 An express bus service terminates at the station and there are
several bus routes along Beams Road, which is a main road
 Another bus stop is situated next to the convenience centre on
Balcara Avenue for a route to the Taigum Shopping Centre which is
approximately 1.5km east.
 The train line connects between the Sunshine Coast and the
Brisbane CBD.
 Local pathways run primarily along roads and streets, but the
subject site features several internal pathways that enhance
connectivity.

18. Pedestrian Pathways

19. 5. Site Analysis

20. Site Analysis

21. 6. Experience
Different pedestrian pathways result in different
experiences. Most of the land in the subject area is
allocated for car parking and car use. This leaves
the pedestrian with few discrete pedestrian
experiences which are designed at human scale.
Depending on the route taken, pedestrians must
negotiate the absence of appropriately defined
pathways, open spaces or spaces filled with cars in
order to pass through the site. At the train
station, pathways are cut off by parked cars.

22. 6.1 Walkthrough A
First Row – L to R Second Row – L to R
QUT side of Beams Road Approach to train station
Convenience Centre Property line
Footpath at Convenience Centre Road environment
Convenience Centre Footpath outside train station

23. Walkthrough A
First Row – L to R Second Row – L to R
Car park facing Beams Road Entry ramp to train station
Green spot in car park View across train station
Drop off point Train station platform
Bus station Train station (office)

24. 6.2 Walkthrough B
Pathway from station car
park to and through
convenience centre
(photographed on a
Sunday morning)

25. 6.3 Miscellaneous
Train station environment – showing
pathways, car park, linkages to park
and street. All photographs (except last)
taken on a Sunday morning.

26. 6.4 Positive
 Focus on transit
 Mix of uses and some densification near the train station
 Integration of bus and train travel
 Landscaped car parking and environment
 Linkages to and through neighbouring sites (housing
estates, shops and park)
 Covered walkways and bus stops at the station
 Provision of bicycle stands and storage
 Drop off and pick up point for commuters
 Some human scale attributes

27. 6.5 Ambivalent
 Mix of businesses in the convenience centre

28. 6.6 Negative
 Pedestrian environment is sparse and uninteresting
 Unsealed car parks
 Unattractive seating
 Street interface
 General design of the station including ramps and
pathways
 Height and density
 Not all buses on Beams Road stop at this point
 No sense of arrival
 Some linkages and pathways poorly defined

29. Negative
 Affirms pattern of segregated low density
development
 Limited and unattractive bicycle facilities and lockers
 Wide set backs from the road
 No community or public art (Queensland Rail runs an
‘art in train stations’ program)
 Segregation of uses and poor interfaces between
uses
 Exposure to weather (increasingly hot and stormy)
 No apparent sustainability initiatives such as solar
panels, storm water harvesting, natural cooling etc

30. 7. Response
The area would benefit from community involvement, masterplanning,
design for sustainability and ‘(sub)urban acupuncture’ to ameliorate
some of the negatives, enhance the positives, and introduce a more
comfortable experience and scale for users. The train station car park
is a possible infill development site that could result in enhanced
infrastructure as well as coherence and connectivity.
Until the Fitzgibbon masterplan is approved, the viability of the
convenience centre is unclear. Depending on the masterplan, it may
be a likely redevelopment site for uses that complement community
life, densification, mixed use and transit orientation. For this study, the
convenience centre is retained.

31. Response
Recommendations for change, arising from the analysis of
experience, follow. Many of the examples provided are not
specifically drawn from outer suburban developments.
Design and planning is intended to align to and introduce principles
of transit oriented development with a view to consolidating the area
and enhancing connectivity. This means the following positive
aspects of the area are retained and enhanced:
 Multi-modal transit orientation
 Landscaping and pedestrian amenity
 Connectivity across property boundaries where appropriate
 Mixed uses

32. 8. Recommendations
The following recommendations are made:
 Enhance public transit experience through train station design, amenity
and flexibility
 Consolidate surrounding streetscape and create pedestrian friendly areas
away from the main road – potentially connecting to the park
 Diversify business - development and design approaches that introduce
non-profit, social enterprise and social innovation clustering and/or
incubation
 Co-locate mixed uses and/or integrate multipurpose facilities
 Reconfigure and introduce continuous, more natural and water sensitive
landscaping including appropriate native shade and local character trees
and land art (more ...)

33. Recommendations
 Improve cycling facilities and access
 Improve bus station facilities and access
 Infill development for coherence
 Introduce housing alternatives and diversity into the area surrounding the
subject site
 Placemaking - engage the community in precinct design, planning and
change
 Activate – introduce, connect to and interact with recreational and
community uses at the park side of the site
 Integrate parking management and solutions
 Designed street furniture and other elements
 Introduction of well designed, adapted, mobile and/or pre-fabricated
structures where/if appropriate
 Design for sustainability and climate

34. Recommendations
Enhance public transit experience through train
station design, amenity and flexibility
Train Station Train Station (proposal)
Adamstown, Ireland Crestview, New South Wales

35. Recommendations
Consolidate surrounding streetscape and create
pedestrian friendly areas away from the main
road – potentially connecting to the park.
Seattle, Washington Eugene, Oregon

36. Recommendations
Diversify business - development and design approaches
that introduce co-working, non-profit, social enterprise
and social innovation clustering.*
* Catalyst networks
and space for local
economic, social,
cultural and
environmental
Non-profit Corridor Ross House sustainability
Little Rock, Arkansas Melbourne, Victoria

37. Recommendations
Co-locate mixed uses and/or integrate
multipurpose facilities
Vancouver, Canada
Northlakes Community Centre
Northlakes, Queensland

38. Recommendations
Reconfigure and introduce continuous, more natural and
water sensitive landscaping including appropriate native
shade and local character trees and land art.
WSUD Land art WSUD in train
Charles Sturt University, Victoria Wales, UK station car park
Doncaster, Victoria

39. Recommendations
Improve cycling facilities and access*
Covered bicycle rack Indoor bicycle parking
Portland, Oregon New York, New York
* A bicycle co-op/workshop might operate discretely from a space within a new complex

40. Recommendations
Improve bus station facilities and access*
Bus station designed to high safety Integrated bus and train transit
and visibility standards planned for Varsity Village
Brisbane, Queensland Gold Coast, Queensland
* Northern corridor busway is currently in planning and will connect to Fitzgibbon.

41. Recommendations
Infill development for coherence
Ellard Village Ripcurl - Rundle Mall
Roswell, Georgia Adelaide, South Australia

42. Recommendations
Introduce housing alternatives and diversity into
the area surrounding the subject site*
Density and housing diversity near transit Residences above local offices
San Jose, California Concord, Massachusetts
* Beyond scope of this study and subject site. Included in the Fitzgibbon UDA Masterplan

43. Recommendations
Placemaking - engage the community in precinct
design, planning and change
Above: Community art in train
stations, Queensland Rail
Right: Train Stations as
Creative Community Hubs,
Victoria

44. Recommendations
Activate – introduce, connect to and interact with
recreational and community uses at the park side
of the site

45. Recommendations
Integrate parking management and solutions*
Above ground/underground parking – Introduce parking fees to encourage
Clayton Lane, Denver, preserves street local area walking and cycling.
level shops and active frontages
* Potential off-site parking when land at QUT is released for development

46. Recommendations
Designed street furniture and other elements

47. Recommendations
Introduction of well designed, adapted, mobile
and/or pre-fabricated structures where/if
appropriate
Clockwise:
• Prefabricated community art
centre in Greensburg, USA
• Adapted shipping containers
• Mobile library
• Mobile coffee hutch

48. Recommendations
Design for sustainability and climate
Queensland’s first sustainably Proposal for Noosa Transit Hub
designed train station - Bark Design
planned for Varsity Village Noosa, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland

49. 8.1 Options
Options for the train station, given issues such as cost and ongoing
management, include:
1. Doing nothing despite the intensification of development, the imperative of
climate change and projected population increase in the area.
2. Making smaller scale cosmetic improvements that are intended to
enhance the pedestrian environment e.g. plantings, street furniture etc.
3. Introducing the ‘softer’ elements of these recommendations, such as
community and volunteer engagements, which are less costly and result
in capacity building.
4. Exploring other possibilities to meet construction needs e.g. adapted
shipping containers or pre-fabricated buildings for community uses.
5. Redevelop train station and/or parking space

50. Assessment of Options
Social Environment Cultural Economic
Do nothing    Short term
saving
Small scale Limited Possible Limited 
cosmetic benefit benefit benefit
improvements
Soft  Possible  Short term
engagement benefit saving
Explore other Possible Limited Possible 
possibilities benefit benefit benefit
Redevelop    Long term
train station benefit

51. Assessment of Options
Redevelopment of the train station and/or car park
is the best option, but may not be the most
immediately affordable. It is proposed that if a
multistorey car park is constructed then parts of
the site and/or building are allocated for purposes
that enhance the local area and develop the transit
hub as a sustainable community resource. Given
the extent of proposed development in the area,
developer contributions could be directed to transit
infrastructure and community benefit.

52. Preferred Option
A possible configuration for the site

53. 9. Conclusion
This precinct study has identified the Carseldine Train
Station and surrounds as a strategically located site
warranting development in accordance with TOD and
sustainability principles. As the station is centrally
located in an emerging development area and emerging
community, there is a need to ensure accessibility and
desirability of public transit. This study proposes a range
of initiatives to support that goal while enhancing the
station environment and its connection to the community
by enhancing mixed uses, designing for sustainability
and introducing community uses.