I attended the above conference last week and attended some interesting presentations-all I thought would be relevant to the Unley context although this wasn't always the case. Topics included;
Life between Buildings; presented by Gehl Architects that are also working with the City of Unley.
Why Bigger isn't Better-the case for smaller houses; an interesting presentation supporting smaller houses with good function by using better design principals. I haven't seen much evidence of this trend yet when reading the Development Assessment Panel Agendas.
Smoke Free Public Places; A Healthy Change for Local Government; clearly their is a trend toward this and some cities like Hobart have simply banned smoking altogether in outdoor dining areas and parks.
Yeerongpilly TOD; A Transport Orientated Development is what is proposed for Keswick Barracks should the army cease to want to occupy the site.
The Universal Mobility Index: A tool to measure accessibility for the disabled to the built environment. This is particularly relevant as the Council have just written their Access for All Policy.
Carbon Neutrality China Style; this presentation was fascinating, the designed city unbelievable.
From Conventional Street to Naked Street; the case for removing the ever increasing signs, traffic lights and directions in our streets.
Business Improvement Districts; Unley already is doing this well.
The Use of Expert Design Panels; this is one I have already discussed with staff. I would like a design panel selected to offer improvements possible for new buildings, in particular the proposed multi- storey developments for Greenhill Rd and Unley Rd.
Possibilities:Local Government and Affordable Housing
Car Parking Management; are we ready to put parking meters in the streets near Greenhill Rd?
Integrated Vertical Villages for the Elderly; there are already three of these approved for Unley (one built). Will they work and who will choose to live in these developments?
Why Quality Greenspace Matters; the case for activation of our parks. I have some ideas to activate the Memorial Gardens that I hope will come to fruition.
For those of you who are regular readers of this blog many of these topics will come as no surprise. I welcome your input and discussion.
Naked streets-what a good idea. The plethora of street signs everywhere is ridiculous and ugly. At least occasionally try to use a post for more than one sign rather than erecting a separate post for every sign.
ReplyDeleteThe only good signs are the street names which are much better now than they have been for years. Well done.
Road markings could be used much more often instead of signs
Jennie
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to be a worthwhile conference.
I am keen on the naken streets idea.
There is too much signage.