Nowadays, it has become clearer than ever that there is a need for large-scale, long-term solutions that benefit the environment. All sorts of environmental problems are direct threats to our daily living. Climate change, poor waste management, land, air, and water pollution, and so many other environmental challenges can impair our physical and mental health. These also cause serious harm to animals and plants and other the living beings we coexist with.

All environmental solutions are welcome: initiatives such as refusing single-use plastic at restaurants and grocery stores, eating less meat, or participating in programs such as clean-up drives or other conservation efforts are all extremely helpful in pushing the green movement forward. However, for communities to enact bigger changes fast, it would be great if leaders and organisations focus their efforts on creating big solutions.

This is where town planning services come in. Individuals such as town planners, consulting land surveyors, and urban designers can do so much in imagining and actualising green solutions for our communities. They are essential in making a city, town, or neighbourhood as environmentally friendly as needed – and, as we know, a community that supports the environment essentially supports the humans living in it.

How can a town planner in Queensland or elsewhere in the country and the world help enact environmental solutions? Here are a few examples:

Plan areas to manage environmental harms

Zoning regulations are laws that decide what properties are allowed to be built where, thus the creation of ‘zones’ within a city (i.e. business zones, residential zones, etc.) Zoning regulations are likely to be in place already as town planners work on development applications, but the best town planners take that a notch up and think about the intent behind the creation of a zone.

For example, a business zone (or district) is likely to create a lot of traffic – vehicle traffic and foot traffic alike. The more people swarm in an area, the likelier it is for harmful elements to be produced as a result of high activity. The more cars there are, the more air pollution is produced from fumes. The more people there are, the likelier it is for trash to pile up or, worse, be scattered everywhere.

A town planner will work closely with an urban designer to make sure that the built environment in this zone makes it possible for people to make greener choices.

A good example of this would be to create bike lanes. With bike lanes, people feel more empowered to use a bicycle instead of driving a car all the time, since there’s already a dedicated safe and convenient space for cyclists. Trends in urban design in Brisbane have made way for the idea of bike lanes in the city. In fact, a 12-month bike lane trial in the Brisbane CBD is already underway.

Help preserve green spaces

The characteristics of a community’s built environment is a direct representation of its values. For example, a community with well-planned suburban neighbourhoods that are surrounded by nearby schools, parks, stores, and lifestyle districts is one that invites families to live long-term in the area. Or, a business district where buildings are shooting up one after the other is a sign of economic progress – more investment, more jobs, more money and economic activity overall.

However, with every boom comes a bane – communities that grow fast may soon hit an environmental road bump if leaders and community members are not as mindful. What was once a stretch of empty green land may soon have almost every square inch covered with concrete, with buildings only narrow alleys apart from the other. Or, in the interest of having more residential spaces, residential zones’ populations can grow to become too dense.

This can do a number on the environment, including problems like humidity, air pollution, waste, as well as all the health risks.

When this excess in development happens, green spaces start disappearing. Parks and other natural spaces may be given up to make way for buildings. What town planners do is make sure that this does not happen – they would insist on creating and/or maintaining wide open green spaces where no developer is allowed to touch.

Development applications in Brisbane, for example, may only be approved in spaces that do not disturb the harmony between the built environment and the green spaces that balance things out.

The best developers pursue the mission of town planning services properly. A residential subdivision project that is likely to be supported by the local council is one that has a community park or other pockets of green like lawns and gardens.

Spaces like these allow people to perform activities such as exercise or relaxation. They, therefore, support both the physical and the mental health of its future residents.

Advocate for more green solutions

Finally, one of the best ways that town planners support green solutions is to advocate for them. Town planning covers many fields of study: urban planning, political science and governance, community development, and more.

As such, communities can look to their town planners – both those in government as well as privately practising town planners – to advise on green solutions that concern their direct environment. Town planners can provide their expertise on certain issues, and this helps drive the solution-making process forward.

An example of this is the steady rise of the urban planning trend referred to as “people-oriented design.” A community built according to this principle makes the mobility of pedestrians a priority – this means narrower streets, with buildings pushed closer together.

This in turn creates wider sidewalks and brings people together, as though they are guests on one big front porch. Not only does this make walking – the healthiest way to commute – safer and easier, but this can also cut people’s carbon footprint by more than half.

With a town planner’s expertise, solutions like these can come to light sooner, and people can later see positive change that they can directly experience in their day-to-day lives.

If you need to hire town planning services soon, get in touch with JDA Consultants

If you need a town planner or consulting land surveyor for your Queensland project, reach out to JDA Consultants at (07) 3252-3777 email us at [email protected]. You can find us at 50 Prospect Street, Fortitude Valley.