The last time Copenhagen urban planner stood in Crown Street Mall, it was just emerging out of a two year period as a barren, noisy construction zone.
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It was November 2014 and the refurbished mall and GPT’s shopping centre had just opened, and Crown Street was still dotted with fences and builders dong last minute touch ups.
On Friday morning, it was clear the city had continued to evolve since then, as shoppers and market-goers hurried around Ms Vamberg as she stood in the mall.
Outdoor cafes were full, while fresh food and flower stalls had lines of people stocking up for the weekend.
The world-renowned “city expert” was in town for one day, to check the progress of Wollongong City Council’s Public Places Public Life study which she helped to start two years ago.
Hailing from Copenhagen’s Gehl Architects, her work is credited for transforming Melbourne into a city of laneways and for turning New York’s traffic-clogged Times Square into a pedestrian haven.
Rating Wollongong’s changes against other cities, Ms Vamberg said a “can-do attitude” was helping progress to happen fast.
This city is a desirable place for many people to live – the natural setting but also the scale and size of the city work really well.
- Henriette Vamberg
“This is a city that can be quite diverse and offer something for everyone – families, kids, the elderly and youngsters,” she said.
“It can become a melting pot and natural meeting place for people. I do think this city is a desirable place for many people to live – the natural setting but also the scale and size of the city work really well.”
Late last year, Wollongong released a draft Public Spaces Public Life plan to identify some of the city’s main problems, like its “underwhelming” city arrival, a “detached” foreshore with dull and uninteresting links to the city and a concentration of day-time activities.
To fix this, six projects are proposed: an overhaul of the railway entrance, western Crown Street, the mall, MacCabe Park, the arts precinct and the foreshore.
The council’s planning director Andrew Carfield said the council had already received about 200 online submissions. However, he was keen to hear from more residents about how they hoped to see the city change.
The plan is on exhibition until March 11.