Melbourne: A Pedestrian's Paradise
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 05.11.08
From Bogota to Istanbul to LA (LA!?), StreetFilms have been a great source for accessible yet detailed films that outline lessons in making streets more pedestrian, bicycle and mass-transit friendly, and in greening the cities that so many of us live in. Now their latest installment takes a look at Melbourne, and finds that many of today's most congested cities could learn a thing or two:
"Melbourne is simply wonderful. You can get lost in the nooks and crannies that permeate the city. As you walk you feel like free-flowing air with no impediments to your enjoyment. For a city with nearly 4 million people, the streets feel much like the hustle and bustle of New York City but without omnipresent danger and stress cars cause.
There is an invaluable lesson here. In the early 90s, Melbourne was hardly a haven for pedestrian life until Jan Gehl was invited there to undertake a study and publish recommendations on street improvements and public space. Ten years after the survey’s findings, Melbourne was a remarkably different place thanks to sidewalk widenings, copious tree plantings, a burgeoning cafe culture, and various types of car restrictions on some streets. Public space and art abound. And all of this is an economic boom for business."
The ever productive and insightful Clarence also points out another salient fact - Melbourne is a New World city, built around the motorcar, and provides ample evidence that those who say it can't be done in Indianapolis, Detroit or LA may be selling their cities short.
::StreetFilms::via a tip from our friend Clarence::
Is there any more to this article?
It's not even clear which Melbourne in the world they're referring to...
The "related tag" says Australia but the other tags are pretty random too.
Pretty vague.
Yay, I'm moving there next month (seriously).
Unfortunately they leave out that the state government is spending big on roads and very little on public transport. Fortunately for us Melbournians, the city council is quite keen on bikes, trams and trains.
It's really interesting to get an outside perspective on the city you live in. The city council had done a great job of the inner city, unfortunately the sprawl is out of their jurisdiction and the state government is to too scared to say "no" to the McMansion builders.
Alex, try to live close to where ever your working/studying, the traffic congestion during peak hour is crazy, all the bridges jam up and it can take 40+ min to make a sub-10km trip.
Bikes and trains are the only way to go.
Melbourne used to be the most liveable city in the world until our obscene and insane road-building illness took to parliament, brainwashing every MP to vote for stupidity.
They are referring to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
I've had the opportunity to visit Melbourne as an international exchange student during my undergrad. The city is lively, the public transportation is great and the city is very clean in comparison to most major cities in the States or UK. There are always pros and cons, but I found it to be an interesting, lively and culturally vibrant place to visit.