News & Discussion: Squares and Parklands

[monotonehell]

Looking at the kinds of inclusions on the current World Heritage listing I don't hold much hope of that happening. But the Parklands are a concept of settlement that do deserve heritage listing. They are our equivalent of Hyde Park, or Central Park.

Even thought they aren't currently upkept in a fashion that everyone is happy with, that's no argument against keeping their integrity somewhat. I'm all for development progress, but with higher density we NEED parklands. If no one has their own backyards they will need some areas to let off steam. The parklands and squares are the city's resident's communal backyards. When we sort out the current issue with water and funding we will have green-spaces for our future residents. And if those green-spaces are smatterred with the occasional development that is a focal point and reason for people to be in the parklands -- then more power to them.

--Disclaimer: This post fuelled by red wine. If it makes no sense in the morning... well. --

[Prince George]

Even thought they aren't currently upkept in a fashion that everyone is happy with, that's no argument against keeping their integrity somewhat. I'm all for development progress, but with higher density we NEED parklands.

The Queen and I think that the converse is also true - the parklands need higher density around them to feel like a successful park. They are simply so big that they need a healthy population in the immediate area before they are going to get used enough for people to see how useful it is to have them. Imagine if you took Central Park and then you moved it out to a suburb - would it be crowded with people flocking to it?

So perhaps we should look at this as an opportunity to change the debate about development in the surrounding areas: better urban planning, better transport planning and better developments are needed to protect our heritage-listed parklands from the threat of falling into disuse and becoming irrelevant.

[olliepee]

I was just thinking about Adelaide's parklands... It's pretty obvious they are in desperate need of revitalising.

Who runs the botanic gardens? Would it be an option to steadily pump more money through there and get them to expand out and eventually re-develop all the parklands?

The botanic gardens are so lovely... they obviously do a great job. Why not give them the tools to transform the rest of the parklands?

[jk1237]

well, once the pipeline is built, it is a real possibility of greening up more of the parklands into a bit more like Botanic Park or even like the Botanic Gardens. I walked my bike through the Botanic Gardens to Rundle Street today. The amount of people walking around the gardens was amazing. It really is a great place

[AtD]

My biggest problem with the parklands is how they segregate the City from the Suburbs around it, from a pedestrian's point of view. I would really like to see some key streets through the parkland be made more inviting, especially after dark. For example:

• Very wide footpaths, wider than a lane of traffic. Preferably paved rather than bitumenised.
• Better lighting, not just on the street but the areas around the street. Maybe floodlight the surrounding park to get rid of the feeling of shadows with something to hide
• More street furniture and street art, to make it feel like a general continuation of the streetscape
• Better pedestrian crossings, especially on the outer side of the parkland.

This could help to link the Unley Road precinct with Pultney Street, or the King William Road precinct with King William Street.

[SRW]

[*]Better lighting, not just on the street but the areas around the street. Maybe floodlight the surrounding park to get rid of the feeling of shadows with something to hide

I used to have to traverse, often after-dark, through the south parklands to the building I worked in on Greenhill Road. Naturally, I stuck to the roadsides. But even still, the lighting on all the roads through the parklands is inadequate. I think increased lighting would be a drastic improvement (as too would be further police patrols, but they seem content to rely on the area's infamy to deter people from using it rather than to have a presence making it safe to use).

[*]More street furniture and street art, to make it feel like a general continuation of the streetscape

A slight diversion, but anyone for a parklands sculpture walk? It's always seemed to me that an event or permanent installation in the vein of Sculpture by the Sea would be a good way to open up the parklands to more visitors.

[Wayno]

A slight diversion, but anyone for a parklands sculpture walk? It's always seemed to me that an event or permanent installation in the vein of Sculpture by the Sea would be a good way to open up the parklands to more visitors.

feel free to take your "slight diversions" at any time - this is a great idea. The sculptures could follow a theme around the parklands.

Perhaps even a couple of themes could be followed - one running clockwise and the other anti-clockwise around the parklands. Clockwise could be a timeline of Adelaide history 1830, 1840, 1850...2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_o ... an_history) and the counter-clockwise theme could follow a 'modern art' theme. Believe it or not, modern art actually started back in the 1860s and its societal influence is widespread.

[rhino]

Who runs the botanic gardens?

The Botanic Gardens are run by the Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH), and reside within the Directorate of Information, Science and Technology (IST). Presumably they are in the Science branch.

[stumpjumper]

Believe it or not, Olliepee, in about 2001 the Rann government set out to consult 'across the board' to find the best way to manage the Park Lands, identified by Mr Rann as 'The Jewel in Adelaide's Crown'.

After numerous public meetings and consultations with stakeholders, and the expense of several hundred thousand dollars the government put forward the two most favoured models - the most popular option, favoured by over 80% for an independent board of governors with wide skills from horticulture, events, urban design, art, park design etc, who would oversee the work of the ACC teams.

Unfortunately the government rejected the choice of the consultation process and went for easily the least-favoured option: a committee appointed by the Minister to instruct the ACC.

The advantage to the government of this is that it gives control of development in the Park Lands to the Minister. In the past, developments such as the National Wine Centre have needed the approval of both houses of parliament. If that were still the case, the government's proposed hospital would be unlikely to get approval for its Park Lands location.

The disadvantage is that the government has appointed to the committee the usual drones and yesmen, and on the ground in the Park Lands, nothing has changed.

[alfer7_3]

I think the parklands are very under used and have often thought that there is a great resillience in Adelaide to have any 'constructions' or 'buildings on the parklands and that they should be kept completely as open space although i know there are buildings already on the parklands sporting clubs grand stands, the zoo etc.
to attract people to use the parklands i think we need to
1. make them more accessible to people with a reason to visit them and make them less of a 'barrier' between the city and suburbs.

to do this roads that run through them should be narrowed with paving which blurs road and foot path to create 'shared zones'; which work well in queensland and made easier to cross with perhaps bridges (but not underpasses) and traffic islands with trees on them! to create leafy boulevards.
to attract people to the parklands more the southern and western as they are the least utilised i think there should be something that makes peoplee want to go there. apart from sporting fields there are not other things to attract people there. some examples of places in other cities which attract people to parklands are:
The serpentine gallery, hyde park, London which also has the pavillion design competition each year
large sculptures like the richard serra sculpture in jardin de luxemborg, paris which in themselves create interesting spaces (and many others he has done)
parc de la villette in paris also attracts different uses from the red 'folies' which are positioned throughout the park. the park is also surrounded by museums and galleries which attract people to the park.
restaurants and a outdoor area where you can view the city where alcohol could be allowed like in kings park, perth - this could be done on montifore hill,
an 'adelaide museum' or contemporary art museum or something similar which is designed with architectural merit (im thinking of the melbourne museum and national museum in canberra)
i also think the are around the parklands need to be considered with higher density housing so people who live around them use them regularly so they are not so unsafe and roads around them should not be main thoroughfares as such (except for west tce) but more access roads.

the parklands have a lot of potential to make adelaide great and places like the botanic gardens, botanic park with womad and the moonlight cinema, rundle park with the spiegal tent are great things which currently make the parklands great but i think they have potential to be alot better!

cheers,

[stumpjumper]

All good ideas, alfer7_3!

Development in the Park Lands should not be immediately dismissed. Development to create cultural and recreational destinations like the ones you list should be welcomed. Such development increases use of the Park Lands for their intended purpose - the rest and recreation of the 'people'.

It is development merely to house usages taking advantage of 'cheap, near city land' that should be resisted at all costs. Under this head, I would put schools, government offices (eg Riverside Building), new hospitals etc.

[adam_stuckey]

Remediation on the SA water Thebarton depot has begun and in it's place will be an "Urban Forrest" filled with native trees and plants.

http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/NR/rdon ... ssioni.pdf

Thebie depot.jpg (75.94 KiB) Viewed 4600 times

Although it is nice to see a crusty old building get removed for something the community can use its not like we don't have this type of thing already. Although the SA government has put over $800,000 towards this i think if they put more money into one of these things instead of a bit of money into many we would have a much better outcome.

This reminds me of when i was in high school and my Mum would buy me clothes to wear when i'm out with my friends, but she would always shop at places like Target and K-mart and i would hate the clothes she got. So i would say to her "instead of buying 5 shirts that i never wear for $30 why not give me the money and i'll buy 2 shirts for $70 from the shop i like that i'll always wear?"

Does this make sense to anyone else?

[ozisnowman]

More like a run down scrubland park full of weeds and gum trees which are planted adhoc with no landscaping whatsever.
Will it likely be used? Probably only by a few homeless people and a few stray dogs pissing on the trees.

How about some landscaped gardens, parks and playgrounds Mr Rann.

[bm7500]

I drove past this site on Monday and demolition work of the buildings by McMahon Services is well underway.

I would guess that all of the buildings will have been levelled by months end.

[Omicron]

More like a run down scrubland park full of weeds and gum trees which are planted adhoc with no landscaping whatsever.
Will it likely be used? Probably only by a few homeless people and a few stray dogs pissing on the trees.

How about some landscaped gardens, parks and playgrounds Mr Rann.

If the trees are sufficiently set back from the road, it might not just be the stray dogs urinating on the trees - perhaps we might find some forum members making a desperate dash on weekends....