Public Spaces and Public Life

Perth recently commissioned Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl to revisit his 1994 study into Perth's public spaces & public life. Perth was the first Australian city to have such a study done, and most of Australia's other cities have followed.

Gehl's mantra is that great public spaces make a great City, something that has been neglected by city planners since the Athens Charter of 1933. He claims that public spaces have been considered as an afterthought - the leftover spaces between buildings. Rather, cities should be designed by first contemplating the public spaces, and the buildings follow.

In the 15 years since the 1994 study, Perth instigated some but not all of the study's recommendations - the result has been the improvement of some of Perth's spaces including extensions to the pedestrian network, but there has been shortcomings. In particular, Perth's central area is still devoid of life after business hours, due to the uses continuing to be segregated. There are still office, retail and cultural districts that work during the day, but during night become very unsafe.

Melbourne's central area in the mid-1990s was similar to Perth's at the time - mono-use districts with no life after hours. Gehl undertook a study of Melbourne's public spaces not long after Perth's study was undertaken. The difference between Perth and Melbourne, according to Gehl, was that all of the recommendations were actioned. Melbourne is now renowned as one of the most cosmopolitan (i.e. active and full of life at all hours) cities of the world.

Cities across the world have been implementing improvements to public spaces. Once of the most recent experiment has been to North America's most urbanised city, New York, where Broadway, one of the major thoroughfares that runs through Times Square, has been closed to vehicular traffic for the year. The City claims that vehicular traffic through the area will be improved because Broadway, which cuts diagonally across the City's grid street layout, causes delays at intersections. Cab and delivery drivers are cautious and car owners worry about the reduction in parking, but the response seems positive. If Perth truly wants to become a liveable city, it needs to up its game.

My favourite comment by James Robertson (in the Broadway blog) notes that neighbourhoods have been cut up by interstate highways in the 1950s and 60s. Comparing the pedestrianisation of a street and the construction of a freeway, i know which one i prefer!