Place Intelligence worked with a rapidly growing local government in QLD understand the patterns of use of several major civic and commercial centres to inform future economic development and transport strategy.
Challenge
Our client, a large local government entity with a citizen population of 346,000, wanted to compare the place use of three major civic centres to inform its economic development strategy, transport and infrastructure roadmap.
One major tourist and civic centre reported the underperformance of a new multi-million-dollar park-and-go car park development. In the absence of pre-construction data or a baseline, the council required post-occupancy evaluation of the asset.
“As our population grows, demand for assets and services will increase. This required a strategic approach [to] our program development, project prioritisation and scheduling to maintain the quality of service that our Council seeks to deliver for our community.”
Stakeholders
A number of council departments including the economic development, transport, smart cities, and media and community engagement teams were active stakeholders.
Disaggregated economic and retail data analysis by our team was provided to external consultants and private stakeholders.
The client reported the underperformance of a newly-developed “park-and-go” car park, which prompted our team to index all car parks in the area. These comprehensive insights formed the basis of a new local parking strategy.
Engagement
Place Intelligence built a detailed multi-suburb index for place use and activity, mobility catchments and dwell time to inform the council’s strategic transport planning and economic development strategies.
A critical part of the analysis looked at commercial activity, seasonal changes and tourism, and the impact of major events such as marathons, festivals and community activations.
We were also engaged by the council to provide a post-occupancy evaluation and evidence base to determine the outcomes of a parking strategy and its impact on commercial precincts and resident behaviour.
Our detailed data models and analysis was guided by a number of outstanding questions and challenges, including:
- How can economic and retail performance data provide insights into audience profiles, predicted audience mix and future use, user requirements and trade potential?
- What links parking strategy and economic development?
- How can place use analytics guide economic development strategy and the complex and variable requirements of multiple stakeholders?
- Where are people parking if they are not using the new multi-level car park?
- What mechanisms could council use to encourage active public transport use for local residents?
Studies
- A comprehensive index of all car parks in the area to analyse the intersection between journey and visitor patterns and pedestrian movements
- A comparative multi-suburb index for place use and activity, mobility catchments and dwell
- Analysis of disaggregated spend data connecting spend and footfall for economic proximity and trade potential insights
- A quantitative measurement of seasonality during tourist high and low seasons and the impact of activations and major events.
Access to new data and information will enhance our knowledge and enable us to test new ideas, make informed decisions and deliver improvements.
Impact
- Place Intelligence data supported significant and complex stakeholder, community and tenant engagement
- Place Intelligence data was used by disparate council teams, including the transport and economic development teams, for strategic planning
- Council adopted a new local parking strategy
- Council adopted a new economic development plan.
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