Activity Centre Strategies

By understanding these relationships, activity centre strategies provide guidance on the level, type and timing of growth that can be supported within activity centres across any given region.

CDM Smith Economics Team is experienced in preparing activity centre strategies to support strategic land use planning.  Activity centres strategies will first commence with a review of the existing centres network and hierarchy in place at the time of the assessment.  The subject region will be broken down into sub-regions where population and household growth and demography will be analyzed to assess the size and nature of growth occurring at a sub-regional level.  For each of the sub-regions existing and future available retail expenditure by retail expenditure category is estimated having regard to the existing and future demography of the respective sub-region, which in turn facilities estimation of retail floor space demand.  There are a range of techniques available for estimating commercial office demand and the appropriateness of these techniques is determined by the context of the region.

Once an understanding of the growth outlook for retail and commercial floor space is understood recommendation regarding centre expansion and new centres can be made.  In preparing activity centre strategies it is relevant to consider trends within the retail and commercial sector.  For example, the emergence of online retailing has the potential to change the shape of key segments within the retail sector.

The output of an activity centre strategy is an integrated and sustainable growth strategy for retail and commercial uses across a region, including a revised centres network and hierarchy.