Un pas endavant: walking in central Melbourne: accommodating the user perspective in visions for the future

Over the past two decades, the numbers of pedestrians present in sections of Melbourne's city centre have increased significantly. This is not only related to growing numbers of people choosing to walk as a convenient mode of transport. It is also associated with an ever-expanding diversity of activities in the public realm, ranging from the proliferation of al-fresco cafes and restaurants to the presence of public art, performances and events, from informal encounters facilitated by the greater concentration of people to a search for quiet contemplation in public spaces away from the 'buzz'. A wealth of research has accompanied this recent evolution of central Melbourne into a more pedestrian-friendly place and has been presented to an international audience at the 2006 Walk 21 conference in our city. Most background data, however, is of a quantitative nature, based on counts of pedestrian traffic, counts of outdoor cafe seats or measures of the total surface area of footpaths or landscaped pockets. Comparatively little is known about the behaviour of pedestrians, such as the sequence and interplay of purposeful movement and stationary activities, the time spent doing each, and the various motivations to come into central Melbourne and use the public spaces. As part of the Future Melbourne strategy, the authors have been asked by the City of Melbourne to conduct a study designed to highlight pedestrian activity profiles and to identify strengths and weaknesses of the public realm in its current state to accommodate them. Close integration of this research with an urban design studio at RMIT University enabled undergraduate landscape architecture and planning students to conduct their own surveys and elaborate proposals for expansion and improvement of pedestrian spaces in central Melbourne. This paper introduces and discusses outcomes of both components of the work