The aim of this step is to develop a range of options for achieving the vision and objectives identified in Step 1, taking into account the issues and opportunities identified in Step 4 (together, defined as the ‘problem’).

Solutions may go beyond the study area and include consideration of wider interventions in consultation with other teams and agencies.

Movement and Place is part of a broader range of considerations. The process described here explains how to incorporate a Movement and Place approach into the development and evaluation of options. Movement and Place is just one of the broader range of considerations that apply to developing and evaluating options – other issues for consideration include common planning assumptions and constraints, demand, cost–benefit analysis, etc.

Note that options are not restricted to capital investment. For example, they could include operational improvements or behaviour change. Best practice business cases consider at least two options (preferred and alternative) in addition to the baseline (minimal intervention) case.

For a full guide to developing options, see Australian Transport Assessment and Planning (ATAP) Guidelines T8 – Real Options Assessment (Transport and Infrastructure Council, draft, January 2020).

Inputs:

• Vision, objectives, and evaluation criteria (from Step 1)
• Issues and opportunities, and scenarios (from Step 4).

Output:

• A set of validated design options that respond to the ‘problem’, including the vision and objectives, issues and opportunities, and the scenarios.

Process:

1. Develop or refine a set of design options based on the issues and opportunities. For larger projects or programs you may need to categorise options into broader themes or suboptions.
2. For each option, identify a range of discrete solutions that address the issues and opportunities to achieve the vision and objectives.
3. Validate the options: estimate the scale of impact of each option, including the impact on stakeholder groups, the scale of cost, and degree of complexity or technical feasibility, and potential risks. Each option should be rigorously explored and refined (‘stress tested’) so it has the best possible chance of success – this may involve making low-impact changes, or developing suboptions.
4. Measure each option against the indicator targets, and refine as needed.