Professional Practice 2: Analysis and Research focused on Transportation

Professional Practice 2: Analysis and Research Semester 2 2025

AugustineVergara

ProfPrac2 FinalPortfolio

Organisation details MonashUniversityCaulfield Campus 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, VIC, 3145, Australia Course

MasterofUrbanPlanning and Design (F6004)

AI Statement

AI software (Microsoft CoPiloti) has been utilised in some pages of this portfolio. This includes for specific mapping exercises (clearly identified) and general research/software support. The final work reflects the authors’ original analysis, ideas and visual outputs.

Sociaspatial Analysis 1

This section explores current transport infrastructure and usage in the City of Casey, zooming into the suburb of Botanic Ridge, which is the study are a for the adjacent planning studio (UPD4002 - Expanding City).

1.1 Transport in Melbourne’s SouthEast

In the south-east fringes of metropolitan Melbourne lies the area of Cranbourne. As more new housing developments are established around these parts, more pressure is placed on the local transport network to efficiently connect people to their destination.

Public transport in Cranbourne and surrounding suburbs consists of the Cranbourne rail line and local bus network. The railway (shown) connects to Melbourne CBD, and in future to Sunbury through the opening of the Metro Tunnel.

The Royal Botanic Gardens - Cranbourne (RBGC) is highlighted as it is the central focus for the complementary planning studioExpanding City. Addtionally, the following research and mapping will focus more on transport in proximity to this place..

*Map Update: this version has the Urban Growth Boundary and Growth Areas added. It helps to provide additional context to the urban sprawl in Melbourne. It is apparent that existing public transport infrastructure does not shape where future urban growth.occurs

Source:

I still like the graphic outcome of this map, however I do think the new one provides further context for the research area (south-eastern suburbs, particularly Cranbourne) - that it is located along Melbourne’s urban edge. 1.1

1.2 Higher Income and Lower Density Towards the Fringes

Index of Economic Resources (IER) - SA2

Outer areas including Botanic Ridge and Clyde have relatively more high-income households and homeowers compared to areas closer to the train station.

IER is used to understand an area’s access to economic resources and includes income and housing as variables for comparison. A low score suggests relative lack of access to economic resources - the area may have many households with low income and paying low rent, and few households with high income and homeowners. Opposingly, a higher score suggests greater access to economic resources. (ABS, 2021)

Population DensitySA2

There is a noticeably higher density between the Cranbourne and Pakenham rail corridors. This reflects an industry approach to deliver housing away from existing rail infrastructure - ie. greenfield areas.

Population density was calculated by dividing the number of residents by hectares for SA2. Disclaimer: The latest data used in the calculation may be underestimating present day population numbers, as it was collected in 2021, and new housing estates have been constructed since then. Hence, the density in greenfield areas including Botanic Ridge may be higher.

Source: DataVIC, 2025; ABS, 2021

1.3 Casey’s Car-Dependency

The satellite image on the left shows Westfield Fountain Gate shopping centre, which reports having 6,493 carparks (Scentre group, 2025)

Active transport is clearly a low priority around these parts.

10-minute Isochrones to Casey’s Major Activity Centres

Cars outperform public transport in City of Casey in terms of coverage and convenience

Fountain Gate is categorised by local council as a ‘Metropolitan’ Activity Centre. This means it “plays a key regional role in the metropolitan economy” (e.g. retail and employment) and “attracts a significant level of visitation” (City of Casey, 2020). The ‘Major’ Activity Centres also contain these characteristics to a lesser extent. When comparing the reachable area from these places in 10 minutes, public transport is worse off than driving. Its likely the people who choose to take public transport are those simply without the option to use a car.

City of Casey has recently established policies to improve the connectivity of Activity Centre through active transport

Designing places for walking and cycling is acknowleged as a key principle for “healthier, wealthier, and more sustainable” communities.

Some promising actions outlined in Casey’s report to support ‘walkable neighbourhoods’ include:

• Requiring permit applications to include a site map showing how non-vehicular transport is served in the proposal.

• Filling missing links in the pedestrian and cycling network to provide continuous routes to activity centres

1.4 Poorly Delivered Bus Network

There is usually a long delay from when new housing estates are built and when a connecting bus route is formed.

Research by Kroen et al. (2023) uncovered that “new communities on Melbourne’s urban fringe had to wait 3-4 years on average for a bus service to be implemented.

This appears to be the case of the housing estate pictured on the left, which began emerging in 2017 and appears completed in the present day. Residents living in this area could have benefited from a bus route passing through their neighbourhood. Instead, the closest bus line still only runs through Craig Road, making it inconvenient to walk to for residents located closer to RBGC.

Bus Lines and Car Ownership

Car ownership is high, even in older areas surrounding Cranbourne station with relatively higher bus coverage. This could mean that public transport is not convenient enough for the residents’ needs compared to driving.

Government agencies need to better time public transport delivery in growth areas across Melbourne to “capitalise on the higher likelihood of public transport use through early delivery.” (Kroen et al.)

It would be harder to encourage people switching to active transport when they have established their car dependency. They would have already spent lots of money purchasing and maintaining a car.

Reference Kroen, Annette, Steve Pemberton, and Chris De Gruyter. 2023. ‘Measuring the Timing between Public Transport Provision and Residential Development in Greenfield Estates’. Journal of Public Transportation 25: 100068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubtr.2023.100068. 9

1.5 Cars Connect Students to School

There is high road usage across local neighbourhoods, including those connecting to schools.

A proportion of traffic volume is likely due to school drop-offs and pick-up. This is considering complementary data from ABS 2021, revealing a high number of ‘households owning 2 motor vehicles’ and ‘people attending school’.

The traffic volume data shows records between 2018-2025.

*Map Update: the building footprints have been removed as it was deemed unnecessary for the analysis.

Sources:

1.5 Cars Connect Students to School

*NEW* Map version, showing percentage of student population (against total population) by SA1. This is better for showing where students are concentrated. Using total student numbers would show where there are simply more students, but this could be because there is just more people living there.

I calculated the percentage of students by dividing the number of students by the total population for each SA1, and multiplying by 100. This was done in QGIS through the expression builder and the results were then used to generate a gradient map.

% Formula:

(No. students (SA1) / Total pop. (SA1)) x 100

1.6 Uneven Distribution of Childcare and Maternal Health Centres

Childcare and Maternal Health Infrastructure are concentrated north of the RBGC.

An 800m buffer was generated around each facility to roughly understand the residents that are walking distance from childcare/ maternal health centres. Layering this with the child population data reveals that a high number of families in Botanic Ridge were not walking distance from any relevant infrastructure. Hence, they presumably drove themselves to the services mentioned.

*Updated map: the building footprints have been removed as it was deemed unnecessary for the analysis.

DATA VISUALISATION 2

Comparing transport and social demographics across three local government areas:

2.1

• I am interested in the intersection between housing provision, the distribution of family (couples w/ childen & single parents) households across Greater Melbourne and car ownership. I’m focusing my analysis on 3 lgas covering inner, middle and outer melbourne: Glen Eira (Inner), Monash (Middle), Casey (Outer Fringe).

• I’ll then zoom into comparing local movement/transport infrastructure on a suburban scale, using one example from each lga above (Botanic Ridge, Clayton and Caulfield South).

3.1

2.7

2.5 Average household size

Interesting observations for Casey

• Housing is relatively cheaper, as it has the lowest median mortgage repayments and weekly rent out of the three lgas.

• Casey contains the lowest median total family income; more middle and lower income families live in Casey, suggesting it’s more affordable to settle there.

• The largest average household size. This may be linked to the region having more larger dwellings (3-4 bedrooms), more suitable for larger families/households.

2.3 Casey’s Age Composition

created using Excel:

CityofCasey- Age Population Pyramid (2021)

The same ABS Data has been used to create both charts above. However, it is clear the chart created by Copilot is not accurate.

In Copilot’s chart, there are incorrect notations along the vertical and horizontal axis. The bars appear to be generic and do not reflect slight differences between male and female population numbers. It missed showing the proporionately larger 5-14 age group (as reflected in the Excel chart).

2.4 Comparing Populations

CityofCasey- Age Population Pyramid (2011)

The City of Casey’s population in 2011 is greater than the populations of both City of Monash and Glen Eira in 2021.

Between 2011-2021, Casey’s population has grown intensively and the proportion of age groups has stayed the same. This could mean that a proportion of residents are choosing to move elswhere when they reach retirement/ senior age.

By 2021, the number of residents aged 5-14 has comfortably crossed the 20,000 for both genders. It appears that Casey is a popular area to raise a family.

In 2021, people older than 55 made up a larger proportion of the population in Monash and Glen Eira. In contrast, the proportions of middle-age adults was greatest in Casey.

The middle and inner LGAs have proportionately more eldery people living there, which is interesting because these areas are more connected by public transport to essential services and jobs.

2.5 Breakdown of Casey’s Unique Qualifications and Occupations

Occupation

Share by LGA

Highest Non-school Qualification by LGA

The highest ratio of non-school qualification in Casey is Certificate Level, while the highest for the other LGAs is Bachelor Degree Level.

Casey’s has a more evenly spread composition of different occupations. Professionals and managers are the occupations for near half of workers in Monash and Glen Eira. The same occupations under 30% for the total in Casey.

2.6 Where Families are Choosing to Stay

Casey contains the largest volume of families out of all 3 LGAs, especially ‘Couple families with children’ which makes up the biggest share.

Casey had the highest increase (2011-2021) for both young families and single-parent families. Over the same period, the population of the same groups in Monash and Glen Eira has plateaued.

It is not unusual that new families may move out from inner-city areas to the outer-suburbs to access larger (3+ bedrooms) and more affordable homes. I suspect this is the key driver of Casey’s family boom, and it would be a similar case in other growth areas across Greater Melbourne.

Relevant news article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/202502-25/australia-housing-crisis-urban-sprawl-outersuburbs/104873370

(2021)

(2021) (2021)

2.7 Family Composition and Vehicle Ownership

Crosstabs

Across all three lgas, most family households own 2 motor vehicles, and ‘couple [families] with children’ make up the largest share of this.

Casey contains the largest number of ‘couple [families] with no children’, yet they have the least of those that own ‘no motor vehicles’. This could apply that this demograhic in Casey is relying more on cars to get to work or access essential services, whereas in other lgas, it may be less critical for them to own a car.

2.8 Car Ownership Across Suburbs

Botanic Ridge

LGA: Casey

Polygon Reference: (PFI) 212811750

Area: 619 ha

Clayton - Central

LGA: Monash

Polygon Reference: (SA2 Code) 212051568

Area: 418 ha

Caulfield - South

LGA: Glen Eira

Polygon Reference: (SA2 Code) 208021178

Area: 474 ha

One-family households are the highest group in Botanic Ridge, and the area also has the highest number of households that own two cars or more amongst the compared suburbs.

I’m interested in households that own two motor vehicles or more, because it implies greater reliance for everyday travel in local areas. Botanic Ridge is the only one without tram or train infrastructure, which would be useful for both local and longer-distance travel (for reasons including access to work).

Relevant Academic articles:

Botanic Ridge 18385818735562173

Caulfield South 33093512561433865124

Clayton 3182101284135515278009

Total 83211994286533196915307

Delbosc, Alexa, and Graham Currie. 2012. ‘Choice and Disadvantage in Low-Car Ownership Households’. Transport Policy 23 (September): 8–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.06.006.

Lunke, Erik B. 2025. ‘Car Ownership after Having Children: Exploring the Impacts of Income and Public Transport Accessibility’. Urban Studies 62 (5): 976–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980241271003.

2.9 Comparing Local Services

Botanic Ridge

LGA: Casey

Polygon Reference: (PFI) 212811750

The services in the area surrounding Botanic Ridge (shown above) consist of multiple childcares, primary schools and golf courses. Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne is a major destination/landmark, which presumably attracts many local visitors from broader areas and tourists. Otherwise, the services that exist here are catering for the needs of single families, which make up most of the household demographic in Botanic Ridge.

Cranbourne South Primary School

Botanic Ridge Primary School

Aussie Kindies Early Learning Cranbourne

Eden Academy Junction Village

Bluebird Early Education Botanic Ridge

Inspired Early Learning Centre and Kindergarten

Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne

Cranbourne Training Complex

Settlers Run Golf & Country Club

Ranfurlie Golf Club & Driving Range

Neighbourhood Activity Centre (including supermarket, fast food, dental clinic)

2.9 Comparing Local Services

Clayton - Central

LGA: Monash

Polygon Reference: (SA2 Code) 212051568

Area: 418 ha

In contrast to Botanic Ridge, the same-sized area in Clayton contains a higher variety of services and retail. For example, large industrial precincts offering local employment opportunities and multiple retail centres, including street-based and enclosed retail. Notably the studied catchment area is close proximity to Monash University Clayton Campus, which could explain the more even balance of nonfamily and single family households (2841 and 3182 households respectively).

Monash University Clayton

Employment Precincts

Huntingdale Golf Club

The Metropolitan Golf Club

Medical Centre and Hospital

St. Peter’s Primary School

Oakleigh South Primary School

John Monash Science School

Westall Secondary College

Little Blessings Early Learning Centre

Noriter Bilingual Early Learning

Clayton Preschool

Clayton Road Main Street

M-City Shopping Centre

Springvale Homemaker Centre and IKEA

2.9 Comparing Local Services

Caulfield - South

LGA: Glen Eira

Polygon Reference: (SA2 Code) 208021178

Area: 474 ha

Caulfield - South is similar with Clayton by having multiple retail destinations and a University, likely attracting more non-family households to live in the area. However, there are no major industrial precincts, so a large majority of residents would be working elsewhere. The area is heavily residential like Botanic Ridge, so people are travelling elsewhere for work, which could contribute to the area’s higher car ownership.

Monash University Caulfield Campus

Caulfield Racecourse

Caulfield Village

Elsternwick Village

Glen Huntly Village

Caulfield Primary School

Caulfield South Primary School

Malvern Primary School

Caulfield Grammar School

Glen Eira Collage

Glen Education Caulfield Primary Kindergarten

Goodstart Early Learning Caulfield

Headstart Early Learning Centre

2.10 Mortgage Distribution for Across Suburbs

Mortgage Distribution for 3&4 Bedroom Dwellings (Botanic Ridge)

Distribution for 3&4 Bedroom Dwellings (Clayton)

Comparing the mortages for 3&4 bedroom dwellings in each suburb:

Most mortgages in Botanic Ridge are within the moderate and high range. In Caulfield South, the majority of mortgages are in the very high range.

Botanic Ridge and Caulfied South share the highest car ownership. For the latter, high motor vehicle ownership could be explained by households having more income, as they also pay higher mortgages. Alternatively, households in Botanic Ridge would likely feel relatively more financial strain to purchase and maintain vehicles. Families in the two suburbs likely live very different lifestyles in terms of financial comfort.

Mortgage Distribution for 3&4 Bedroom Dwellings (Caulfield South)

*Draft Charts and Tables*

Charts created using Google Sheets

On this page, I’ve experimented creating rough tables and charts from ABS Census data using Google Sheets (left) and Microsoft Excel.(below)..

Charts and tables created using Microsoft Excel

URBAN DESIGN 3

Analysing existing conditions and creating an urban design response for a chosen site within Botanic Ridge. This work forms part of the catalyst proposal in the final report for the (UPD4002) Expanding City studio.

3.1 Existing Site Conditions

The site conditions sketch highlights urban design features that influence the movement of terrestrial mammals (e.g. Bandicoots)

There is opportunity for the local park (Bandicoot Boulevard Playground) to function is a habitat patch/stepping stone for animals, due to its ideal location near key ecological movement pathways. It’s mostly grass at the moment, so additional low/medium vegetation is required.

Verges currently have mowed grass, and occasionally young tree plantings. There is no suitable vegetation to provide coverage from small mammals hiding from predators.

Buildings and fences act as hard barriers for terrestrial mammals seeking ecological refuge.

Ecological/drainage corridor - This is likely where most wildlife activity/movement occurs. The corridor runs horizontally from Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne and south-east connecting to a wetlands patch along Craig Rd.

3.1 Existing Site Conditions

Digitised plan - existing conditions

Urban features:

The built form only consists of detached dwellings, 1-2 storeys high.

Open green space in the north west (Bandicoot Boulevard Playground) and a linear nature reserve running eastwest.

High coverage of impermeable surface - made up of road infrastructure, footpaths, dwellings.

The only land uses captured are residential and public green space, so the

Area analysis plan (from perspective of Bandicoot)

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Essentially, the urban design response aims to create a more habitable environment for native wildlife and improve living conditions for residents.

A portion of Ashcombe Tce and Bandicoot Blvd is fully removed and transformed into space for native vegetation and private yards.

Similarly the housing in the street block south of Bandicoot Boulevard Playground is demolished to make open green space and wildlife habitat. The demolished dwellings would be accounted for in the construction of new medium-density housing, so the total number of dwellings for the area would be upheld in the long term.

The new green space will combine with the existing park, creating a continuous link between the two ecological corridors that currently exist in the area. This is support wildlife travelling regionally between critical habitat sites (e.g. Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne and elsewhere), and provide additional functional areas for foraging and shelter.

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Section - scale 1:100 @ A3

This section shows the transformed interface between housing and the ecological corridor. The existing detached housing has been replaced with terrace housing, a suitable mediumdensity typology for the existing character of the neighbourhood (buildings up to 2 storeys). Road access through Ashcombe Tce is fully removed, and replaced with native vegetation that functions as habitat for native wildlife and helps the wider area maintain a cooler temperature (important during Summer).

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Housing Precedents

Housing designs from the NSW Housing Pattern Book have been selected as appropriate examples for medium-density development in the project area (and subsequently incorporated into the proposal drawings as placeholders) - ‘Terraces 03’ by Officer Woods Architects and ‘Semis 02’ by Sibling Architecture. These examples include design features that would help residents consume lower electricity and capture rainwater for potential reuse.

Applicable Plant Species

The ‘Indigenous Plant Guide’ for Casey and Cardinia provides an extensive list of plant species that are local to the area, and several examples are provided below.

Source: https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/indigenous-plant-guide

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Sketch Up - Built Form Modelling

Existing site conditions

The cad model of existing conditions provides a more detailed impression of the existing urban design character of the project area. It physically shows building heights and roof styles/pitches, compared to the plan drawingwhich is more abstract by flattening space and objects into 2D.

Proposed urban design response

The proposed urban design response creates a better living environment for both humans and animals. The new dwellings have a relatively smaller footprint than existing developments in the area. This means more space available for plants and residents for recreational use. This further creates more permeable ground for rain, which helps maintain good soil health and effective stormwater drainage.

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

SketchUp - Techniques and Tools

Screenshot of Sketchup software user interface.

Main Tools

Used

Lines

Used to trace the building footprints of the imported plan drawing, creating polygons. Also used for cutting 3d shapes.

Push/Pull

Used to extrude the polygons and turn them into 3d.

Scale

For changing the size of elements

LazyRoof

Plugin used for automatically generating hip roofs, based on the face of the polygon usedconvenient and more efficient than modeling the roofs manually.

Tags

Used to organise elements into categories, making it easy to hide/show specific elements from view.

Shadows

Automatically generates shadows casted by the objects in the model. Can simulate sun angles and paths for different times and dates during the year and locations across earth.

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Rendering - existing conditions

This perspective view is facing south, standing from Bandicoot Boulevard Playground. It shows the how the intervention area currently looks, with the intersection of Bandicoot Blvd and Ashcombe Tce.

Thereisno low vegetationalong nature strips, which results in a poor outcome for terrestrial species - there is nothing to provide coverage from predators

The road surface contributes to higher temperatures of neighbourhoods.

There is no shade along footpaths, so it is more uncomfortable to use during hotter weather.

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Rendering - urban design response

The perspective illustrates the same area as before, but with the new urban design response.

environment during warm periods.

New medium-density housingthatisan appropriate scale for the area.

Clear circulation routes for people touse

Patches of dense vegetation to support terrestrial wildlife

Open green spaces for locals to use for outdoor recreation

3.2 Proposed Urban Design Response

Process of creating perspective renders