I believe our proposition needs to set out to resolve a section of Brisbane Riverbank adjacent to the CBD that has been rendered uninhabitable and impenetrable by layers of traffic infrastructure. Howard Smith Wharves exists as a no-man’s-land at the front door to the city. North Quay, the street that crowns the bank, has consequently become a service road, with buildings along the river edge preferring to address the perpendicular streets.
Really there is nothing much there at the moment. Our job is to make it a more inviting area for the public It is in a primarily business district.
Active use
The site is mainly used by pedestrians and cyclists, so there are plenty of way for enhancing its current potential. Some Suggestions could be:
- keeping the pathway/thoroughfare
- managing cyclist/pedestrian interactions
- creating a hub/plaza
- developing river access points
Art
Artistic initiatives to encourage community participation:
- encouraging a display by local artists
- public art/workshops
- markets
Commercial development
- cafes and art/craft shops in existing sheds
- increasing security through the presence of businesses
- promoting local art/craft at weekend markets
excellent observations, the thing here that excites me the most is that you are beginning to talk about a transitional condition from river to city. I think the obvious things you have already covered in terms of access etc etc. But transitional conditions are also interesting and valuable in that they exist "between" things that are fixed, so their identity is always a bit ambiguous or at least up for interpretation and appropriation. (Is this why corridors are so attractive in house parties? Maybe lack of space is also an influencing factor here, but sitting down in the lounge room couch to chat with someone always seems a bit too formal for a party, it's much more exciting to bump into a bunch of people gathered in a corridor and engaging in conversation there.) And these kinds of conditions are always intriguing and exciting places that attract people, perhaps because people can "sense" this "freedom". And freedom is a key property of public space, and esp. important in urban contexts.
ReplyDeleteOn a more obscure note, this talk of a transition between river and city is also interesting in a literal way. The transition in most places around brisbane is very "hard". It's always highrise, pavement, handrail, river. There is very little opportunity for people to get close to the water, and the transition is always rather artificial, in the sense that the way of how rivers normally transition into banks without human intervention is very different to what we see in the city. I just thought i'd mention this as a side note, there could be some interesting potential strategies here of both dealing with flood situations and also creating a beautiful edge condition between river and built fabric.