Introducing Strategy to Street

The pace of change in policy and planning is a further common barrier to progress, hindering the ability to address these challenges and operate proactively. As a result, network owners are often met with resistance when attempting to transform the urban environment. Historical references and traditional methods are no longer effective tools for exploring complex ‘future state’ scenarios. In this pivotal moment for transport planning, networks owners need greater control of the decision-making process, meaningful collaboration and considered approaches to move forward.

Our clients have told us they struggle to connect high-level policy and strategic vision with the reality of network planning and project delivery. Together, we have explored this challenge and identified four key barriers: 

• The delay, cancellation or watering down of projects resulting in a misalignment with overall strategic direction. 

• A loss of community and key stakeholders trust in project delivery, causing resistance to change and decision-making inertia. 

• Competition between transport modes and infrastructure requirements for road space allocation.

• Internal agency structures that do not support an integrated approach with land use planning and economic growth.

In response, we are developing a strategic planning approach that will inform everyday decision-making and seamlessly integrate with operational activity. We call this approach ‘Strategy to Street’. Strategy to Street embeds network planning into the wider infrastructure planning, funding and delivery process. 

This strategic networked approach enhances stakeholder collaboration, community understanding and guides decision-making, helping to prioritise network investment and establish a clear path forward.  By creating a transparent, strategically aligned view of urban land use and multi-modal transport aspirations, we can better meet community expectations and navigate challenges – such as unplanned growth and competing or conflicting projects – while realising development opportunities. Ultimately, our Strategy to Street approach enable our clients to realise a true ‘strategy to street’ outcome.

Strategy to Street is scalable and nimble enough to allow for the unique needs of every community. Inherently flexible, it is designed to enable collaboration between disciplines and remain agile to changing inputs, assumptions and scenarios. It can also be applied at different scales and in different locales around the globe – from smaller networks and precincts to large cities. In this way, Strategy to Street disrupts traditional methodologies and seeks to evolve how we evaluate network performance. We call this ‘big city planning for small-city budgets’. It’s our way of helping clients deliver optimal value to the community by minimising planning expenditure.

Through meaningful collaboration with our clients and their stakeholders, Strategy to Street can be leveraged to establish a common network vision. In doing so, our approach helps clients better evaluate trade-offs; ease the transition of projects and programs from strategy through to delivery; bring together different disciplines and perspectives early on; and establish relationships built on trust. This in turn bolsters decision making uncertainty, creating pathways to tackle the big challenges our communities face. Ultimately, Strategy to Street supports our clients to deliver urban transformation and thriving transport networks for better connected communities.