Car Free
Pablo Alvarado, Mark Rossiter, Jemima Manton and Lachlan McDougall

Proposing a ‘Car Free' CBD Zone with a focus on public space, walkability and cyclability.

We propose to remove all traffic from a designated zone within the CBD by inserting a series of car ‘drop off points’ or longer term parking. Critical to this scheme is the upgraded network of commuter cycle pathways into the Car Free CBD Zone. These pathways should be to international standard and support both fast and slow moving bicycle traffic with little or no contact with road traffic.

The result is incredible opportunity for urban renewal in a capacity that focuses on the pedestrian and cyclists experience, rather than the constraints of car traffic. To quote Jan Ghel, “[car free cities are] more exciting, interesting, safer and socially inclusive.”

The new car free boulevards will be drastically greened and transformed into European type plazas. They will combat noise and air pollution and booster the CBDs current lack of green space. This concept of car removal from urban centers is not new – countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have been ding it since the 1970s.

Slowing down traffic is great for businesses. A slower traffic gives more prominence to shop fronts and a slower city makes people stay longer and spend more. Great success of spaces that have been pedestrianized include New York’s Times Square and London’s Oxford Circus.

We aspire that Sydney become a world benchmark in pedestrian and cycling experience by re imagining the CBDs current spaces and infrastructure in a way that will relatively cheaply produce hugely valuable cultural capital and personal health benefits.