Planning and developing the North Lakes master planned community: governance and the public interest in the network society

North Lakes is a master planned community (MPC) north of Brisbane which was initiated in 1995 by Lend Lease Development. Private developers, along with State governments, local councils and the local community, can play key roles in land use planning and the development of infrastructure and services in MPCs. This paper addresses the lack of information about the actual roles various stakeholder groups play in MPCs as they are planned and develop and the policy and decision networks and governance structures that are utilised. The involvement of the private sector in governance processes raises issues, which are explored in the paper, about democratic legitimacy, accountability and transparency, and the interaction of sectoral and public interests in the network society. In North Lakes, the local and State governments and the private developer, all played an active role in the governance and planning of the MPC but community sector groups played a limited role. Given the likely future planning context of governments, private and community sector actors negotiating and collaborating about sectoral and public interests in urban development, it remains important for governments to play a leading role in the process and in facilitating the development of a shared community vision.