A nation-wide document which provides contemporary guidelines for dynamic street design has been released by IPWEAQ.

Complete Streets has been produced by Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) alongside the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia.

The 'how-to' kit for designers, planners, policy-makers and engineers encourages designers to view the street as a community space rather than a conduit for cars.

Steven Burgess from the PlaceMaking group at Parsons Brinckerhoff says the guide differs from previous additions because motorists are no longer at the peak of the transport hierarchy.

"This encourages the growth of street-based communities rather than road-based suburbs. The guidelines emphasise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport," he says.

"We wanted to provide ideas on how to design urban and suburban streets for the people living, working and shopping in them, rather than for the machines that drive on them. One of the aims of Complete Streets is to provide designers with the opportunity to develop more sustainable people places."

The guide describes how to plan inclusive places which may feature frontage to park, laneways and street reserves with land use-oriented design not car-based design.

"Designers have been trying to use these kinds of ideas but they struggled to get local government approval. Local government was faced with a similar problem - it had no precedent on how to make decisions on this type of development," Burgess says.

"Complete Streets provides everyone with a guide on how to design and deliver more peopleoriented outcomes."

The guidelines were developed through a number of workshops which included local and state government representatives, developers, architectural and urban design consultants.

For more information or a copy of Complete Streets visit www.engicom.com.au.