Boundary Street & Edward Street Plazas
Anonymous

Giving back under-utilised road space to the community; prioritising people over traffic

Currently there are sections of road in the Chippendale/Darlington area connected to the arterial Cleveland Street that are severely underused by car traffic that present an excellent opportunity to be reclaimed for pedestrians as public plazas. The portion of Boundary Street between Vine Street and Cleveland Street, and the end of Edward Street currently serve no purpose to the community. These sections of road provide a great opportunity to the local community for prioritising the needs of the local community over car traffic. Closing these small, underused portions of street to reclaim as a plaza would create a 200sqm plaza at Boundary Street and a 280sqm plaza at Edward Street, with potential for outdoor seating to the adjacent restaurants, space for a community garden, rest seating and green relief to the urban environment.

The potential of this space serves as a perfect catalyst to transform the urban environment to a human-scale space, in which the many benefits to the quality of the space would be apparent immediately. The northerly orientation and aspect of the sites provide excellent opportunity for green space, ensuring sunlight year-round. The green relief to the urban environment would also ensure alleviation of the urban heat-island effect, improving the microclimate for the immediate areas, while also providing an acoustic buffer to the residents. Community-run vegetable gardens already thrive in the Darlington and Chippendale communities, and this highly visible space would serve as a great beacon of the sustainability potential of community-based cooperation, hopefully inspiring passers by.