The NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment has published a Great Public Spaces Guide and associated evaluation tool.
The guide points out that public spaces include streets, which should be accessible and enjoyable by all. Also, that great streets create better places to live, with positive social, economic, cultural and environmental outcomes.
The guide identifies four questions to help evaluate the quality of public space, and suggests criteria to look for. Note that ‘on-street parking’ is not identified anywhere in the guide as an indicator of a great public space.
Our view
We applaud the NSW Government for this work. We agree with the guidelines and criteria, including the implicit advice to reallocate areas occupied by on-street parking toward other, higher-value uses. We encourage the VIC Government and the City of Yarra to publish similar guides.
Published 25th October 2020.