Sydney has opened up consultation on a strategy to reduce car traffic and make the city more walkable
"Driving in central Sydney will become harder under a plan to make the city more comfortable for pedestrians.
"The City of Sydney wants to narrow roads for wider footpaths and push for lower speed limits to discourage drivers from the CBD and transform Sydney into a walkable city.
"The council will also install more pedestrian crossings and prioritise people over cars... five times more pedestrians than motorists on the average street, yet just 40 per cent of road space is allocated to footpaths."
Some key points of the strategy are:
We will ensure that there is sufficient space for people to walk.
We will improve connectivity for people walking by ensuring there are frequent street crossings that give people priority and that align with people’s walking routes.
We will ensure that footpaths and crossings are accessible so that everyone can use them.
We will plan our city based on 10-minute neighbourhoods so that people are able to meet their daily needs easily by walking.
We will make it safer for people to walk by reducing vehicle speeds.
We will reduce traffic volumes on surface streets and manage through-traffic in residential neighbourhood streets to improve both safety and experience for people walking.
We will work to make all people feel safer while walking around our city.
We will work to improve compliance with road rules, especially the lesser-known rules that benefit people walking.
We will make our streets and public spaces comfortable and inviting by ensuring that they
are green and cool.
We will make sure that there are frequent opportunities for people to stop and rest, use the toilet or have a drink of water.
We will make our city more pleasant to walk in by reducing noise and air pollution from
traffic.
We will make all streets interesting to walk along by ensuring that built form has active, permeable frontages that invite engagement and curiosity.
We will use design, activations and installations to create neighbourhood-based community and encourage people to interact with their streets.
Full details here: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/policy-planning-changes/your-feedback-walking-strategy-action-plan#strategy
Unfortunately, the car-brained leader of the local business lobby isn't on board:
"Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou welcomed efforts to make the city pedestrian-friendly... But Nicolaou said it was difficult to see how making Sydney a predominantly walking city would benefit businesses such as retailers."
(Worth repeating that 80% of people on an average city street are pedestrians, so it already is a predominantly walking city.)
Anyway, if you think the plan's a good idea, make sure you let the Sydney City Council know by emailing sydneyyoursay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Sydney @fuck_cars #walking #walk #walkability #nswpol #auspol #nsw #planning #cities #UrbanGreening #city #cities #australia
@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
Sounds awesome. I'm curious what accessibility measures they're going to include in the plan. The CBD is so inaccessible to disabled people it's virtually a no-go zone for a lot of us. I wouldn't want a pedestrian plan that further entrenches that inaccessibility.
@fullfathomfive @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars it's a strategy so naturally light on very specific detail, but this should help!
@jedsetter @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
Thanks! I ended up reading most of the council document. They're adding more kerb ramps, more tactile wayfinding and more disabled toilets, which is great!
Unfortunately it looks like some of the worst accessibility issues (inaccessible buildings, little accessible public transport to and around the CBD, no disability parking near the pedestrian malls, no carts or mobility scooters in the outdoor malls, etc) haven't been mentioned.
It will still be way more disability-friendly than before (just by reducing traffic and increasing walking space), but I wish they'd considered some of those things. I think a lot of folks will still be excluded.
@fullfathomfive @jedsetter @fuck_cars Really important point.
While it's open for submissions, it's worth putting in a submission pointing out where there are oversights the strategy around accessibility, and some of the ways they can be fixed.
And some of those issues (for example, more accessible public transport) will need the City of Sydney to work with external departments and agencies (such as Transport for NSW) to fix.
@ajsadauskas @fullfathomfive @jedsetter @fuck_cars I agree this is an issue worth giving feedback on (I'd go so far to say, the main issue worth giving feedback on, because otherwise it's pretty comprehensive and I love the evidence-based approach!).
They've made the point in the strategy of saying they plan to advocate for certain other things, so that's how I've framed what I've said on this point.
Thanks @ajsadauskas for sharing the links in the first place.