City of Salisbury City Landscape Plan

The City of Salisbury is in a period of rapid economic growth and cultural change. The city is becoming recognised as a vibrant hub; home to a diverse and proud community. The city now seeks to build upon its distinctive landscapes and public open spaces. It has developed a robust and visionary set of policies and guidelines for the future development of new and existing public domain, landscape areas, road corridors, reserves, amenity landscapes, areas of cultural and environmental significance, industrial and residential developments. This has culminated in the development of The City of Salisbury Landscape Plan. The Plan proposes a cohesive direction for existing and future development of the City of Salisbury’s landscapes. It will provide a clear set of guidelines to strengthen the unique physical characteristics of the City, underpinned by the key principles of promoting biodiversity, water sensitive urban design, crime prevention through environmental design, and quality landscape design. The Plan has identified four main landscape character units through the analysis of soil data, physiography, and pre-European plant communities (Figure 2.1). These are identified as: the Coastal Plain; the Lower Alluvial Plain; the Upper Alluvial Plain; and Riparian Corridors. These zones will help identify specific requirements for plant selection, strengthening biodiversity, promoting sustainability and providing the strategic direction for the “look” of the City. Plant selection for these character zones will be based on environmental parameters, soil conditions and pre-European plant associations. While it is anticipated that plant selection will be predominantly indigenous, exotic species will be used for accent planting in key areas to visually enhance particular areas and complement the indigenous plant selections where required. The landscape function of public open spaces is the core parameter that directs the selection of public domain elements. Consideration is given to road hierarchies, reserve function, areas of cultural and historical significance, focal points and gateways. The Landscape Plan’s guidelines for the public domain elements will set down a consistent palette of treatments which will create continuity and legibility throughout the City of Salisbury. The City of Salisbury Landscape Plan is intended to be a dynamic and evolving document that is continuously reviewed, improved and updated to keep abreast of innovations in urban design, landscape architecture and civil engineering design, planning, and asset management.