Walkability in St Kilda Creates a Feeling of Social Cohesion Lily Weinberg 260504 Healthy Communities Assignment 2 14 September 2009 Introduction I used the Walkability Checklist to evaluate the walkability from my apartment on Crimea Street in St Kilda to Prahran Market in Prahran. I walked along Chapel Street crossing Dandenong Road and through the suburbs of Windsor and Prahran (please see Fig. 1) at 10:30 am on a Saturday. This is a walk I do often which attests to the walkability of the area. For the most part, these neighbourhoods have created a safe network of wide sidewalks that combined with the active street life have encouraged moving around on foot. However, there were a few improvements around street crossings, particularly across Dandenong road that would increase this area s walkability. I will argue that the walkability of the area creates social cohesion and a vibrant active street life. 1
The Walk Figure 1: Map of Area Walked taken from Google Maps 1 The walk can be broken up into three distinct sections: Crimea Street, crossing Dandenong Road, and Chapel Street. Crimea Street Crimea Street has incorporated several measures to make it a safe walking environment. It has wide sidewalks, and lots of trees that make it aesthetically pleasing (see Fig. 2). Perhaps its best feature is that it has frequent speed bumps to ensure that car traffic maintains a slower speed (see Fig. 3). Not only does the elevated pavement slow traffic, but the road narrows from two way traffic to one lane before returning to two way traffic after the bump. Having gardens on either side of the speed bump has made them 1 All subsequent photographs are my own. 2
more attractive. I think the slower pace of cars in combination with the aesthetics make Crimea Street conducive to pedestrian activity which is highlighted by how many people walk their dogs, stroll down the street, and bring their kids to play in the near by park. The sidewalks have good curb ramps making it easy for people with disabilities or parents with prams to navigate the street. Bringing people to the street enhances the sense of community in the area and makes it so even a new comer to the street, like me, sees familiar faces. Creating safe and permeable environments with natural social foci where people can meet informally (Barton and Tsourou 2000: 14) develops social cohesion. Crimea Street with its wide sidewalks, slow traffic, and quaint charm (while remaining fairly high density the street is lined with low rise apartment complexes) has created a space that brings the community out into the street. Figure 2 Figure 3 Walkability Rating (form is attached for specific scoring) According to Checklist: 27 Suggested Solutions: None. 3
Crossing Dandenong Road The second phase of the walk is crossing Dandenong Road along Chapel Street. This is by far my least favourite part of my walk. Dandenong Road is eight lanes across with a median in the middle for trams (See Figs. 4 and 5). The safety railing (sort of shown in Fig. 5) herds pedestrians into a very small clump to cross which is uncomfortable. The railing, while suppose to improve safety, actually seems to encourage deviant street crossing behavior. I witnessed people standing in front of the railing to gain some space from the herd of pedestrians putting them far closer to the traffic than if the railing was removed. Furthermore, the traffic lights here are not pedestrian friendly. The green man does not last nearly long enough for crossing the street. I think the length of time allowed for crossing depends on the time of day, as there is a school near by, when school is released I think the length of time is increased slightly. Other times of day, I barely make it to the median before the red man starts blinking. I counted that it took me 63 steps to cross Dandenong Road; a conservative estimate is that each step is about two feet which makes Dandenong Road approximately 38.4 metres across. At the time that I did my walkabout, I timed the length of the green man at 29 seconds which means that the expected rate at which to cross the street was calculated at 1.32 metres per second. This rate is faster than the standard rate of 1.2 metres per second and much faster than the recommended.7 metres per second (City of Port Phillip 2009; Selman 2009). The rush to cross the street greatly reduces the pleasure of the walk. The fact that crossing Dandenong Road connects to vibrant Chapel Street, Windsor train station, and trams means that pedestrian activity here is a necessity. I do not believe that the poor traffic signals have impeded the pedestrian traffic significantly. However, if I was a parent of an eight or nine year old I cannot imagine feeling safe letting them cross there alone, despite there being a crossing guard when school is released. I do feel anxiety while crossing the street here which makes it much more difficult to participate in the active street life in the area. I think the general feeling is a lot of stress and no one wants to linger in an area that facilitates stress, even if there is a little grassy area with a bench! 4
Figure 4 Figure 5 Walkability Rating According to Checklist: 14 Suggested Solutions: Pedestrians need more time to cross the street. Perhaps, the instalment of headstart (Selman 2009) would create a more peaceful walk. I would also suggest either removing the railings completely or not having them start quite so close the crosswalk. Chapel Street Walking North along Chapel Street one can really feel the neighbourhoods changing. It starts off with city sponsored graffiti art near Windsor train station with outdoor cafes and seating and evolves into glitzier shops and markets. The sidewalks are wide and easy to navigate with a pram. They are filled with people shopping, drinking coffee outside, talking with friends, or just simply taking a walk and enjoying the scene. There are frequent benches for sitting if tired. Chapel Street is a multi-use street. For some it is a place of employment, others where they live, and the rest are there to get a coffee and enjoy some shopping. The pedestrian accessibility makes the street the vibrant mecca of coffee and shopping that it is. There are some negatives. Again, the railings form more of safety hazard than a protection at big intersections like High Street and Commercial Road because there is so 5
much pedestrian traffic that people often stand on the other side of the barrier just to gain some personal space. Crossing High Street, if one does not press the button, the green man will not turn on which I find annoying. Walking along Chapel Street, the crosswalks are really pedestrian oriented. However, there are not nearly frequent enough opportunities to cross Chapel Street which encourages jaywalking. Walkability Rating According to Checklist: 23 Suggested Solutions: Syncing pedestrian and car traffic signals would create for a seamless walk along Chapel Street. Perhaps, removing some of the railings would create more space for pedestrians to wait for crosswalks on congested intersections such as Commercial Road and High Street. Furthermore, allowing for more opportunities to legally cross Chapel Street besides at major intersections would make it easier to navigate the street. Conclusion When I first moved to the area, I thought this mixed-use street would create a fragmented community where I would never see familiar faces, however, I do! I walk nearly everywhere in the area, and now I smile at that one guy who works in the café, the homeless man who sits on the corner smoking a cigarette, and I see the same dogs getting walked by the same owners. The multi-uses of Chapel Street invigorate the street with new energy. Overall, the area is very pedestrian friendly with wide sidewalks for easy use of the streets. The accessible walkability means that the culture of the neighbourhood is brought out on to the street. As Landry writes, A city is a series of small human interactions that fill a cauldron (Landry 2006: 111). Even though, I am a foreigner I feel a part of that culture because I can walk around the streets easily and have those small human connections with other people who live here. 6
References Barton, H. and Tsourou, C. (2000) The Links between health and urban planning, Healthy Urban Planning (Spon Press/WHO), pp.7-24. City of Port Phillip, Walking Well, http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/walking_well.htm, Accessed on 13 September 2009. Landry, C. (2006) excerpt from Chapter Three, Unbridged and Unbalanced in The Art of City-Making (London: Earthscan), pp. 107-135. Selman, M. (2009) Guest Lecturer, Streets for Living: Providing for Walking, Cycling, and Public Transport in Port Phillip, Healthy Communities, Week 4: August 17 2009, 7