A car-free Sydney city centre
A bold initiative to turn Sydney streets into green space, getting rid of 100,000 cars in the process, is being touted by global architecture firm Woods Bagot.
The company is redesigning Sydney’s Central Station and commissioned planning consultancy ERA-co to investigate the impact of closing quiet community streets whilst retaining main thoroughfares, making it easier for those using public transport.
ERA-co analysed 11 inner Sydney local government areas, including the City of Sydney, and found nearly 800km of lesser-used roads in the Harbour City could be replaced with pedestrian networks, community spaces and market gardens. And those changes could provide life satisfaction benefits up to $3.11 billion in value Woods Bagot says, as well as solving the NSW Premier’s priority to increase people’s access to green space.
Streets Ahead: A New State of Wellness is a place study on the potential impact of reducing cars in Sydney.
“A surprising benefit of the Covid-19 lockdown is that urban streets got quieter and more pleasant. Cities around the world are now introducing measures to retain a more peaceful state,” said ERA-co’s head of impact valuation, Meg Bartholomew. “Our study shows what a strategy for Sydney could look like, at a micro and macro level.”
Critically, the scaleable, place based methodology can be applied to inform governments and communities with measurable impacts of proposed changes, she says.
Steve Mann, the branch chief executive for the Urban Development Institute, was a fan of the report, before adding the state's public transport system needs to 'improve dramatically' for the changes to be worthwhile long term.
'Until we see a significant investment in mass public transport and density, we cannot achieve social harmony through this vision,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo by Stanley Nguma from Pexels.
Woods Bagot principal and regional transport leader (A&NZ) John Prentice, points to examples where both efficiency and experience for public transport commuters are improved by street closures.
“At Woods Bagot we’re interested in the vitally important design of ‘first and last mile’ experiences in our cities and neighbourhoods, which help create enjoyable and efficient public transportation to reduce cars on our streets.
“The pedestrianisation of Chalmers Street and a new entry as part of Central Station’s redevelopment will make it faster and friendlier for PT users, as did closing a lane off Napoleon Street for Wynyard Walk (an underground pedestrian concourse linking the Barangaroo waterfront and Wynyard Station in the city),” said Prentice.
Welcoming the report as a valuable contribution to the policy debate, Committee for Sydney’s director of policy Eamon Waterford said the Streets Ahead study showed a novel way of delivering the NSW Premier’s Priority to increase access to green public space.
“Transforming quiet streets is a wonderful conversation we need to have in Sydney. Turning streets back to space for gardens and children playing would increase the liveability of our city,” Mr Waterford said.
Woods Bagot director Sarah Kay hopes the study will inspire planners and policy makers to support place based approaches as they address issues of urbanisation.
“These are big numbers, the types of figures that we don’t typically see. The Streets Ahead report shows how it’s possible to back up bold and progressive propositions with hefty evidence,” Kay said.