KGUV

A key feature of the KGUV development was its commitment to develop and nurture its community identity and character.

As with any major urban development project, KGUV was influenced by nearby lands--in this case, the inner city of Brisbane.

Of all of them, KGUV exemplified the new urbanism principles and was widely recognised across the sector which the sector awarded.

Sound historical data on the locality existed and other research projects had been undertaken on community development aspects (Carroll et al., 2007; Klaebe, 2006; Klaebe and Foth, 2006) and information and communication technology (ICT) applications to be used in KGUV (Burgess et al., 2006; Foth and Adkins, 2006).

In a diverse research area such as KGUV, the methodology chosen was to interview key informants who were able to mix knowledge with professional experience and opinion, to provide a holistic and comprehensive view of the complex matters under consideration (Buckley, 1995).

Several academics were also approached, given that KGUV was also the subject of their respective research.

However, respondents were also given the opportunity to speak freely to better present their experiences and observations as stakeholders involved in the different aspects of development such as planning, design, implementation and operation of KGUV over the past decade.

The areas covered followed the component parts of KGUV as a development project, overall strategies, design, development and construction, and ongoing management.

There was recognition by all interviewed in this research that even now KGUV remained as a 'work in progress'.

The fact that, amongst the private sector investors and developers interviewed, there were some quite divergent views as to the overall success of the entire development might reasonably lead to the conclusion that issues encountered were often specific to a particular project / development within KGUV rather than generic in nature.

The following are the five strong common themes addressing the characteristics, successes and opportunities of KGUV that emanated from the interviews:

A key feature of KGUV was that both of the proponents were from the public sector and had their own individual objectives--QUT to establish and integrate an educational area, and the Department to establish a new model for affordable, and some welfare housing which was to be provided by the public and private sectors.