Re: News: Adelaide City Council
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:58 am
Adelaide plan puts people before cars
12 October 2012, ABC News Online
Photo: Hindmarsh Square. Report urges better use of Adelaide's five city squares (Adelaide City Council)
Wide-ranging pedestrian-friendly changes are being recommended for the Adelaide CBD by an international architect.
A report from Danish architect Professor Jan Gehl urges major streets be closed off during lunchtime trading, the public have access to the Government House gardens and that a public bath be built on the River Torrens.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood says the design strategy focuses on getting more pedestrians into Adelaide's city centre and making better use of the city's five squares.
"By doing that we'll actually capture more people by them actually wanting to be in these really nice places," he said.
"There's talk about how we want to increase the amenity of outdoor dining , a strong push on squares - making the squares a wonderful place [and] calming traffic.
"People only want to spend time in highly-attractive, beautiful, pleasant environments and South Australia will be judged as a community on the attractiveness of its CBD and its ability to entertain, inspire and its values and its aspirations for the future."
It is a decade since a report Public Spaces and Public Life suggested extending the tram line from Victoria Square to Adelaide Railway Station, a project now completed, and giving more priority to pedestrians over cars in the city.
Mr Yarwood says this follow-up study examined issues including how much green space the five squares in the CBD provide.
"Victoria Square is 49 per cent roadway, Hurtle Square is 54 per cent, while Whitmore Square for example is 84 per cent landscape and they're the sort of cities that people like to spend time in, nice places to spend your time," he said.
The Lord Mayor says pedestrian numbers in parts of the city have been rising, but the council has needed to contend with more cars and buses using the city as well.
"It's a smart move to have cars, public transport, walking and cycling in a way that provides for a high amenity. Another fascinating fact - you spend 33 per cent of your time waiting on a traffic light [to change] when you walk on King William Street," he said.
SA Planning Minister John Rau has welcomed the report as important for the debate on Adelaide's future direction.
But he said Adelaide would need to get bigger and more congested before the public was likely to embrace measures such as the report's suggestion that city car parks be progressively closed.
"We in Adelaide are still people who are committed to our cars and the city's going to have to get a lot bigger and a lot more congested before we're placed in a position where we actually have to decide to change the city that radically," he said.
"I just don't think as a community that's something we have an appetite for at the moment."
Photo: What Carrington Street might look like (Adelaide City Council)
Deputy Lord Mayor David Plumridge says frustration is growing among city residents about a lack of State Government consultation on development.
He says projects including the $200 million New Mayfield residential and commercial development in the city's south-west have been announced without consultation.
Mr Plumridge says he welcomes development to boost the city's population, but residents must be involved in the planning.
"The Government will ignore these people at their peril in my opinion - it's not difficult, it's a matter of sitting down with the communities, talking through your plans, getting their input and then producing a genuinely agreed consultative plan," he said.
"There's a real push by the community to win back their communities, to fight back and have genuine input into what's proposed to be done in the city.
"The council and the State Government and the community want better outcomes but we're only going to achieve that if we work together."
