Activity Centre - Commercial Development

Commercial Development

Commercial development can relate to a number of things such as business parks, major office developments, mixed business areas, business centres and warehouse uses. In activity centers and urban locations, commercial buildings often combine multiple functions, such as offices on the upper levels with retailing on ground levels.

The purpose of activity centres, or neo-traditional development such as urban villages or compact cities are to provide a mixed use core, within walking distance for most residents. Employment centres are incorporated into these types of areas, so that residents have the opportunity to both live and work within the centre.

Activity centre policies in most countries provide guidance for local and state agencies as well as the development industry as to the preferred locations for these commercial land uses.

Planning policies support the role of employment in activity centre’s and usually aim to concentrate a large area of land use to commercial activity in these centers. These connections provide for the necessary social and economic connections between the region and community, whilst aiming to increase access to employment.

Policies assist in ensuring that these land uses are located within associated transport modes and other urban infrastructure. They also aim to provide guidelines with regards to preferred scale and heights.

Transport considerations have always been an important factor when deciding on locations for commercial land uses, with many businesses giving high priority to locations that provide good access to main roads, arterial roads and rail.

Locating commercial development in activity centres helps to minimise the length and number of trips, especially by motor vehicles and encourage new development in locations that can be served by more energy efficient modes of transport.

The locational demands of businesses are therefore a key input to the preparation of structure plans and activity centre policies.

Local authorities usually maintain strict regulations on the zoning of commercial or business areas and recently there has been a focus on constraining the spread of large commercial developments in the outer suburbs and ensuring that there is a mix of this type of development specifically located within designated activity centre’s.

Generally in order to implement these aims relating to commercial development, it is necessary to regulate the extent to which commercial development should be permitted outside of these centre’s.

Most planning systems enable a wide range of commercial development opportunities in order to support local competition and meet the demands for commercial floor space. Locating commercial development in activity centre’s also helps in stimulating local investment and employment issues.

The planning system should enable a wide range of retail and commercial development opportunities in order to support competition meet demand for commercial floor space and stimulate local investment and employment.

With regards to employment measures, containing commercial development within these places encourages a more even distribution of employment, and guarantees developments are supported by the necessary public transport facilities.