Sydney Trams on George Street have caused so many disruptions during their construction, and this year we have been rewarded with a mostly functioning system, that has transformed this arterial road.
Sydney CBD has become an unbearable web of traffic chaos in recent years where cars and buses dominated and defined the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s centre and only permitted a trip to the city if absolutely essential. This is arguably the most unattractive way to create a world class city. It is one that does not respect its inhabitant’s day to day interactions, being mostly on foot, and deters Sydneysiders from spending time in their CBD. This in turn slows the growth and quality of recreation, hospitality and other business offerings.
Can Sydney become more European?
The idea of creating a main road that is no longer dedicated to cars and is more catered to people and the human scale is the way to go! The tram system has seen wider footpaths, public transport designed to aid the walker and deter most other forms of transport from polluting this central hub. It also defines a central hub which Sydney so desperately lacked.
It is a great start and hopefully can become the beginning of where these wider footpaths can be utilised by the hospitality offerings who can open up and serve the street, activating shopfronts and the otherwise introverted building streetscapes. With the lock-out laws now lifted, hopefully we can work towards replicating the thousands of European cities, where people dominate and inform civic space and place making, instead of vehicles.
Check out the Archi-QS blog here for similar posts.