by Scot Bathgate
(first published with Gordon Price on spacingvancouver)
A borrowed concept based on the Copenhagen model of non-defined roadways, the response from drivers has been somewhat different than European cities which have implemented similar design concepts within their respective CBD’s. In Auckland, the absence of kerbs and initial lack of signage to define parking spaces has led to a free-for-all by motorists claiming free parking by travelling up onto what used to be sidewalk space, finding themselves in-between street trees now surrounded by paving on random angles and in some cases, double parked.
The building-to-building paving has indeed provided a blurred definition between pedestrian and vehicular spaces; unfortunately in the early days of this experiment it was the vehicles that used this new condition to their advantage.
Things have changed since then; the council has added new signage and enforced time limits on parking. New streetscape elements such as light poles, litter bins, movable planters and benches have been added to ironically define the very travel lane that was removed. So this begs the question: if the goal was to reduce the speed of traffic in these spaces, perhaps leaving the kerbs but narrowing the lane dimensions would have the same effect through the creation of traffic friction for the driver.
Creating a continuous level ground plane has succeeded in providing flexible urban spaces that can be programmed to accommodate a range of activities; in this sense I applaud the city for successfully adding a new dimension to the central city. I do however question the use of monolithic granite paving surfaces installed from one end to the other at considerable cost to define spaces that are ultimately being shaped by the benches, movable planters, and restaurant furniture that has positively activated the edges of these streets while taming the wandering car parking antics of motorists.
In the case of my favourite shared street (Fort Street), it’s the space-claiming urban furniture for dining and socializing added by the adjacent drinking establishments and eateries that has in essence replaced the kerb edge as the barrier to vehicles while adding a new vocabulary for placemaking in the city.
Now that’s Urban Living!
