What is Neighbourhood Character?

Neighbourhood character is a combination of distinct visual and physical features of a residential area and how they interact with each other. These features include:

• Subdivision pattern – includes elements such as topography, lot sizes, street width and street types such as boulevards or court bowls.
• Buildings and surroundings – Siting of buildings play a role including site coverage, depth and consistency of front and side setbacks, separation between dwellings, extent of rear gardens and whether carports and garages are prominent.
• Built form – includes architecture and roof style, age of buildings, dwelling typology, building materials and building height.
• Landscaping – includes elements such as landscaping of front gardens, mature or bush style vegetation (native or exotic), retaining walls and extent of hard paved areas such as private driveways.
• Front and side fences: the location, height, style, visual permeability and materials.
• Public realm – nature strip, sense of openness and views, street trees, footpath, vehicle crossings, presence of power poles and other utilities.

These elements collectively shape the distinctive character of a neighbourhood and help define its identity.