For too long, the priorities of medium-density housing developments in Darebin have been misaligned with good urban design and housing amenity outcomes. Unit developments currently prioritise cars over people, and yield over liveability. Vital components, like landscape and sustainability, are rare and often ad hoc.

Recognising this, the City of Darebin has engaged three of Melbourne’s leading architecture firms — Six Degrees, Kennedy Nolan and Breathe — to examine existing developments and the approach currently used by developers. The architects examined 11 existing projects which occurred across a range of 5 typical site sizes. The intent was to identify strengths and weaknesses in these housing models, and to identify opportunities to improve the lived outcomes for future residents and the broader Darebin community.

Each site was tested for current constraints and new opportunities, determining typical targets for townhouse developments in GRZ (General Residential Zone) and RGZ (Residential Growth Zone).

The outcome of this work produced a set of simple design principles and key moves, demonstrated through exemplar typologies outlined in this document, to establish a set of guidelines, to assist developers on future projects in Darebin. These guidelines are simple, scalable, flexible, replicable, and are able to be adapted to suit a range of site conditions.

The intention is that these guidelines can become the building blocks for future, quality housing in the City of Darebin.