The City of Perth has released a report card evaluating the progress of the city’s Towards 2036 strategy, which looks at how the city can adapt to accommodate population growth through increased and improved public space, reduced car dominance, and celebration of its locale.
Developed alongside international urban design and strategy firm Gehl, the council’s report card has found that the city has “changed dramatically” in the past decade as a result of urban transformations like Elizabeth Quay. Yet, while the quality of public life has been improved through street and public domain upgrades, and connectivity to the city centre strengthened by public transport, more could be done to foster green open spaces and encourage cycling over vehicular transport.
In addition, the report card notes that despite “an increasingly enabling planning framework” and an uptake in city living, the critical mass of residents needed to create a continuously energised urban centre “is yet to be realised.”
Towards 2036 builds upon the previous studies for Perth conducted in 1994 and 2009 by Danish architect Jan Gehl as part of a project titled Public Spaces Public Life, in which other Australian capital cities, such as Sydney, were also examined.
According to a communique from City of Perth, Gehl’s “previous two studies analysed the quality of Perth’s public spaces and how people used them, establishing comparative benchmarks and methods for measuring improvements over time.”
Recommendations from the past studies lead to the development of the Cathedral Square and State Buildings precinct, Elizabeth Quay, Perth City Link, and recent work on the Perth Riverfront Masterplan.
Deputy Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds said the recent report card showed promising signs that Perth’s growth was having a positive impact on life in the city.
“Perth is celebrated as one of the most liveable cities in world and renowned for its unique natural setting on the magnificent Swan River,” Reynolds said.
“To future-proof Perth’s liveability, the City [of Perth] has worked with Gehl for more than 30 years to ensure we remain a city that protects its natural environment and creates public spaces that people can enjoy. This is particularly important as we strive to increase the number of people living in the city centre to 55,000 by 2036.”
Reynolds noted that “the report card identifies opportunities to make the city even more attractive, such as improving the connection to Kings Park, reducing the reliance on cars, continuing to improve the tree canopy, providing reasons for workers to stay in the city after work and making the streets more bicycle friendly.”
According to the council’s communique, the 2025 report card will form the basis for further consultation with industry, government, designers and Traditional Owners.
This consultation will inform a vision for the city which will be released at the end of the year.
The Towards 2036 report card can be viewed on the City of Perth’s website.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
