Liveable Neighbourhoods is a new policy of the Western Australian Government to combat the high car dependency, lack of public transport and poor walking conditions in suburban sprawl. This paper gives an overview of the urban design and structuring principles behind the policy. Liveable Neighbourhoods is based on an urban structure built with walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods cluster around a town centre to give sufficient population catchment to support main street retail, office and community facilities, and support public transit. A traditional movement network in Liveable Neighbourhoods overcomes the disconnected street system, lack of footpaths, unsafe routes and long walking distances to most destinations that characterise conventional suburban developments. Liveable Neighbourhoods encourages people to walk by providing an environment of high pedestrian amenity and efficiency, and one that is stimulating, legible and safe for pedestrians. Liveable Neighbourhoods recognises the complexity of daily movement patterns and the need to make pedestrian trips as short and pleasant as possible. The primary pedestrian network is the street system, which is detailed to support pedestrian movement. (A)
Abstract