East Perth

As a true example of new-urbanist neighbourhood design, East Perth will always be at the top of any list of such places. Previously a run-down neighbourhood 2km east of the city centre, a redevelopment authority was set up (removing planning powers from the City of Perth) to transform the area into a mixed-use mecca that ticks all of the new urbanist design boxes. It has been done well - a range of different types of buildings of all ages have been retained, the street system updated and new buildings constructed to make for a diverse and interesting area.

The best feature of East Perth is Claisebrook Cove - a man-made cove following the path of a long-buried natural waterway. Around the Cove you will find terrace housing, a tavern, cafés, an art gallery, apartments and a hotel.

However, a walk around the area will soon reveal that it is a little too quiet. There seems to be little life on the streets. The cafés, although busy, are not bustling, the parks are enjoyed by few people. Nearby is a TAFE, train station, CAT bus, shops, offices, apartments, warehouses - in fact anything that fits within a definition of a mixed use neighbourhood. The place scores 77/100 on walkscore.com, a respectable figure. So it should be all accounts be busier.

East Perth has had at least 15 years to mature, so it is not on account of infancy. My guess is that density is the issue - and that the area is separated from a larger catchment area by a freeway to the north, river to the east and large sporting fields to the south. Jane Jacobs was known to advocate much higher residential densities than was being developed in New York in the 1950s, so perhaps we are underachieving in developing the kind of densities required to create active places.

Taking the cars off the road

Frematle's endangered High Street mall, photo courtesy of http://john.curtin.edu.au/fremantle/lawrence.html#six

Across Australia, business owners have been calling for pedestrian malls to be reopened to traffic - a slap across the faces of the planners who fought for the creation of these malls in the 1970s. After all, don't malls create a safe environment for shoppers to stroll at will, without the hassle of noisy and smoky cars, obstacles and greatly-reduced pavement widths?

Towns in question include Townsnville, Fremantle, Wooloongong, Darwin, and many others. At least six have already been reopened to traffic in Sydney. Opening malls to traffic has generally led to a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour, and a decrease in the number of vacant shops. Of course, the lack of diversity of land uses in these mainly-retail malls contributed to a decrease in activity after hours, as well as the opening of suburban shopping centres as a major competition for these malls.

An interesting parallel is the market failure of San Diego's Uptown development, a new urbanist neighbourhood with pedestrian-friendly streets and carparking located out of sight at the rear of buildings, and mostly underground. Touted as a leading example of new urbanist design, the neighbourhood has seen a lot of businesses fail on its main street, including a yogurt shop, women's clothing store, coffeehouse, Italian restaurant, chicken rotisserie restaurant, local clothing designers' store, evening gown rental shop, and travel agency, all of which have gone out of business since the district opened.

The failure could be attributed by the district's willingness to cater for the car, by providing its ample parking underground, conveniently linked to the shops on the main street, but separated from the pedestrian environment.

All of this seems too familiar - where else have we witnessed attempts to separate car and pedestrian movements? This was one of the critical design elements of the Radburn new town, which influenced the design of many Australian suburbs in the 1960s. The practice of pedestrian open space links entirely separated from the road network was intended to provide safety - ironically it had the complete opposite effect. It didn't help that many Australian versions turned their backs to the open space, creating spaces almost entirely unsurveilled.

Only in areas where there is a high density and a diverse mix of uses can pedestrian-only environments flourish - even then cars and delivery vehicles should be incorporated - otherwise there will again be the risk of creating vehicle spaces that are unsafe, for all the same reasons.