Urban Walk of Alexandria

Notes on Alexandria observational urban walk

 

 

Ø  Botany Road is too narrow for its function – this slows down its function

Ø  No bicycle lane

Ø  Footpaths too narrow

Ø  The façade is very uniform of the buildings built up to the boundary line

Ø  Ten years ago it was only industrial, nowadays it is mixed use residential and commercial

Ø  Parking acts as a buffer along the road to pedestrians walking on the footpaths

Ø  Short blocks are good as it reduces pedestrian activity if it is too long

Ø  The café ‘Coffee Roasters’ acts as an alleyway – a throughway to the parallel street behind

Ø  1970’s designed buildings along the road

Ø  These cater to cars mostly with perpendicular parking

Ø  No opportunity for window shopping

Ø  Has an identity – but has to have a character that is recognisable – spatially. i.e. books – left to right needs to be legible – know what district you are in

Ø  Mix spatial pattern and building types. Different heights and setbacks – a jungle of mix use

Ø   New hybrid – how liveable? How sustainable?

Ø  Before zoning worldwide there was more uniformity in building

Ø  The difference between place and space – space does not have a character/quality but a place does

Ø  How do you feel about the place? (Chinatown, Sydney – canopy of trees to soften it)

Ø  Level of noise is important in the quality of the place

Ø  The 5 senses

Ø  Importance of the human visual aspect

Ø  Need to feel safe and secure – viewpoints or access to visual points

Ø  Openness is very important – windows on facades – people are drawn to this rather than a black blocky façade

Ø  Laneway is functional – to relieve main activity from the main street

Ø  Melbourne re-vitalisation of laneways project

Ø  1970’s not a lot of forward thinking

Ø  Potential benefit for the future in having wide footpaths

Ø  Footpath for disabled access. Important to note if it discriminates?