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The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
As we look forward to council considering the draft Place Making Framework tomorrow night, take a step back and remember the seminal 1980 book and film ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’. A street is the river of life of the city, we come to these places not to escape from it, but to…
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Suggestions for the Arts Strategy
The City of Yarra is developing a new Arts and Culture Strategy 2022-2026. Streets Alive Yarra works to build a more beautiful, liveable and accessible city. We believe that art is important. One of the many reasons to support art is because it helps people to awaken their imagination, which is key to developing the…
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Living Streets
The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, the Australian Institute of Architects, and the Planning Institute of Australia have released a discussion paper on how to bring life back to our local streets: The discussion paper points out that our local streets are experiencing rapid densification, yet the streetscapes are not evolving, resulting in a deficit…
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Great public spaces
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…
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Rethinking parking
Parking is an important issue in the City of Yarra, because many people rely on it, and because it takes up so much space. A recent article in Parking and Mobility magazine, by Dr David Mepham, discusses some ways to better address the issue. Our world has changed — so too should our thoughts about…
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Public Spaces Are the Hidden Wealth of Cities
The World Bank has published a 453 page report pointing out that public spaces are the hidden wealth of cities. The need for space The report points that while urbanisation has benefits, it also has externalities that need to be managed. Public space includes streets The report states that public spaces are more than just…
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Donald Appleyard’s Livable Streets
Donald Appleyard’s seminal research into Livable Streets, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, showed that social interaction on residential streets improves when traffic flow is reduced. Streetfilms compiled a video to revisit his work: The original book is available: An updated version, Livable Streets 2.0, is available, co-authored by his son Bruce Appleyard: Learn more about…
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How Yarra can raise $10m per year for safe travel infrastructure
The City of Yarra manages 260 kilometres of road pavement in accordance with multiple policies and strategies, including the Local Area Place Making (LAPM) process. The municipality is divided up into 21 LAPM areas and Officers work with residents and ratepayers to identify how to make best use of our public land (our streets) and where to…
