Insights: Waverley Council's Strategic Plan

Waverley Council is undergoing a strategic plan overhaul and it’s nice to see them really getting the local community involved. Archi-QS were lucky to attend a meeting with council to discuss all things Bondi. Being locals in the area we had a lot to say about the way it can really become the vision Waverley has proposed “a welcoming and cohesive community that celebrates and enhances our spectacular coastline, vibrant places, and cultural heritage.”

It was interesting to note that the attributes and negative aspects of the current street-scape, infrastructure and community facilities were pretty coherent with community members across the board. Things like parking, traffic, and public transport, cheap, run down shop frontages and low quality commercial offerings were on the list of things that needed improving.

In our view the main roads where all the social and commercial action happen need to be given back to the pedestrian who are currently treated as second rate citizens when it comes to engaging with the spaces and having spaces to dwell. Wider footpaths, less traffic, more open spaces, through site links to lane ways and keeping the street-scape low density with high quality shop frontages and allowing more dinning on the street, are our suggestions in an attempt to activate the otherwise dormant streets and create an intricate knit of urban life.

Waverley is still in the early stages and we hope that in the next decade the strategic plan can achieve positive change.