Urban Realities at Docklands

As part of Melbourne's State of Design Festival, design teams were invited to a 3 day design challenge at Docklands, Urban Realities. 

Quite by chance I happened upon these surprising and intriguing interventions - all thoughtful responses to the Docklands challenge. This is the one I bumped into which led me to the others. Rather than a petrol station, here was a bike tyre pumping station emerging from a green bench on the bike path. And a very helpful person to assist with bike tyre inflation.

Bike parking

In response to the previous post about shared bike and car parking, I was sent this photo from Amsterdam. Now this is bike parking!

Bike parking

I thought the bike parking at the Australian Open was better this year.

Pedibus

An alternative to the stretch hummer? My sister saw several of these on a recent trip to Europe. The young women with the party hats pedal as they drink their cocktails.

Serious about separation

Generously separated cycle and vehicle traffic seen in
Vienna.
photo Bruce Parnell

Ventura California has much to teach about retrofitting residential neighbourhoods

take away thoughts
Rick Cole spoke about the work Ventura City Council continues to do in retro fitting existing residential neighbourhoods using form based code which guides how buildings behave in the public realm. Form based code is based on timeless principles derived from cities over time.
Ventura's city planning is about 'how we will grow, not will we grow' This approach has come to be known as smart growth and follows the imperatives of infill first! and balanced transportation

They keep on 'reclaiming the awfulness'. People in those neighbourhoods like them and see no reason to change. He showed, with a series of slides, the same streetscape over an 80 year period and how it had evolved. Much had changed. Most obvious was the increasing presence of the motor car in these neighbourhoods. As he said, cars are not parked in garages any more - they are full of the stuff we buy at Walmart. The change led him to ask: 'what is the American dream?'. It is not static and will continue to evolve.
He is passionate for mixed use, rather than zoning which separates functions. He wants to talk about planning in language that people can understand, rather than the arcane and impenetrable language of planning.

On the subject of engagement and creating the vision for Ventura, he has found that people prefer relatively brief processes that have a beginning, a middle and an end. He encouraged speaking to regular people, rather than stakeholder groups with entrenched interests where you the best you are likely to achieve is a 'bastardised compromise.' Stakeholders have 'a dog in the fight'. 'In a driving rainstorm in the middle of the night, they'll be there.' 'Entrenched interests don't represent the future.' Instead, you should speak with 'sensible people who are not fanatics.'

He showed many examples of highly walkable neighbourhoods with a mix of densities, attractive shared open space and neighbourhood scale retail.

Rick Cole

City Manager, Ventura

Why councils' should look after footpaths and the public realm

Enrique Penalosa is a former mayor of Bogota in Columbia

The few points captured here make compelling arguments for local government attention to the public realm. It's not about a transport system, it's not about engineering, it is about people and politics.

It's about what kind of city we want? How do we want to live? What makes a good city? 

A city that is good for the vulnerable old, young and disadvantaged. Convergence of environmental and social sustainability.

• Transport is a means to an end whereas pedestrianisation can be an end in itself.
• In the public realm, we meet as equals. It is democratic. The public realm is about social justice.
• People will never remember a road, but they will never forget a good pedestrian space.
• Transport is one problem that gets worse with affluence.
• Traffic congestion is not bad because it means you are ripe for public transport.
• Densify shopping living work
• Make pedestrian spaces the top issue
• perhaps do density neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
• (Any fuel is going to get more expensive.)

for more go to http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/epenalosa