New model for hills planning
by Charlotte Knottenbelt
The Adelaide Hills Face Zone is in need of a spatial overhaul, according to an award-winning UniSA researcher.
Hari Kishore, a PhD candidate from the School of Natural Built Environments, says the zone which restricts development in an 80 square kilometre area of the Hills over nine local council regions was established on sound principles, but is too confusing for landowners, conservationists and developers alike.
The Hills Face Zone was established to protect an important and aesthetic part of the South Australian landscape, not to mention the Hills' vital role as Adelaide's major water catchment zone but it is widely accepted now that there are many areas that should have been included in the zone and others that shouldn't be but are, Kishore says.
We have little scientific data to explain why the HFZ boundaries were drawn where they were in 1962 and while many of the decisions that were made were correct there are others that are questionable.
He says that lengthy and costly disputes over what constitutes appropriate land usage such as has been seen in recent years in the HFZ over proposed olive grove and vineyard developments could be avoided if a more holistic approach was adopted.
Using the Mitcham Council area as a case study, Kishore has developed a model for delineating planning boundaries which aims to better balance the environments' needs with those of the community.
The model which can be applied to planning decisions in any area, not just the HFZ combines both empirical data (like the size and topography of the land) and subjective information (such as differing opinions on the land's aesthetic significance) to make for fairer planning decisions.
It is the first of its kind to use 'fuzzy logic' (a scientific method of making judgements based on a spectrum of subjective information) together with GIS (Geographical Information Systems) for urban land use planning.
A lot of decisions that are made in planning are made subjectively mainly because of a lack of tools for quantification and this model provides a methodology for making sure those decisions are transparent, and are right for the community and the environment, Kishore says.
His model has been applauded by academia and industry, with his thesis winning the SA Tertiary Research Award in Spatial Information, an award sponsored by Spatial Education Australia and the Spatial Sciences Institute. (Second prize went to UniSA graduate Nicola Molloy for her research in extracting 3D object information from remote images in a tactical environment.)
A civil engineer and planner who has worked in India, Tasmania and the ACT before settling in Adelaide in 2000, Kishore hopes his model is taken up by South Australia's peak government planning body, Planning SA.
When you look at the politics of planning we've basically got two groups pro-development and anti-development. A rethink of the way we make planning decisions could actually satisfy both groups to some extent, by providing greater certainty on what is in fact appropriate land usage in many land pockets, he says.