Keeping Prahran Liveable
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KEEPING PRAHRAN LIVEABLE The Contribution of Public Open Space and Transport JUNE 12, 2015 EMILY JAYNE PERKINS Melbourne “Vic Gardens 2013 019,” photograph, 2013, Friends of Victoria Gardens Prahran. This report is not an official report of the Parliament of Victoria. Parliamentary Intern Reports are prepared by political science students as part of the requirements for the Victorian Parliamentary Internship Program. The Program is jointly coordinated by the Department of Parliamentary Services through the Parliamentary Library & Information Service and the Organisation Development unit, the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Victoria University. The views expressed in this report are those of the author. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... 3 II. List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 4 III. Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 5 IV. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 6 1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Liveability ................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Profile of Prahran ...................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Population Growth .................................................................................................... 14 1.5 Choice of Indicators .................................................................................................. 15 1.6 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 16 2 Open Space in Prahran ..................................................................................................... 17 2.1 Public Open Space .................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Measuring Open Space.............................................................................................. 19 2.3 Types of Open Space................................................................................................. 20 2.3.1 Hubs ................................................................................................................... 20 2.3.2 Streets ................................................................................................................. 21 2.3.3 Green Space ....................................................................................................... 23 2.3.4 Links .................................................................................................................. 24 2.4 Current Provision of Open Space .............................................................................. 25 2.4.1 South Yarra ........................................................................................................ 26 2.4.2 Prahran ............................................................................................................... 28 2.4.3 Windsor .............................................................................................................. 31 3 Transport in Prahran ......................................................................................................... 34 1 3.1 Transport and Liveability .......................................................................................... 34 3.2 Vehicular Travel ........................................................................................................ 34 3.3 Sustainable Transport ................................................................................................ 36 3.4 South Yarra Train Station ......................................................................................... 39 4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 47 4.1 Recommendations – Open Space .............................................................................. 47 4.2 Recommendations – Transport.................................................................................. 47 4.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 48 V. Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 49 2 I. LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Population Growth in the district of Prahran ............................................................. 14 Table 2: Population Growth in the City of Stonnington .......................................................... 15 Table 3: Types of streetscapes in Prahran................................................................................ 22 Table 4: Population levels for Stonnington suburbs ................................................................ 25 Table 5: Open space levels for Stonnington suburbs ............................................................... 26 Table 6: Population growth forecast for Forrest Hill ............................................................... 40 3 II. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The district of Prahran .............................................................................................. 12 Figure 2: City of Stonnington .................................................................................................. 13 Figure 3: Chapel Street ............................................................................................................ 21 Figure 8: Public realm outside Prahran Town Hall ................................................................. 24 Figure 4: Surrey Park ............................................................................................................... 28 Figure 5: Map of Cato Street car park ..................................................................................... 30 Figure 6: Photograph of Cato Street car park .......................................................................... 31 Figure 7: Windsor Siding Reserve ........................................................................................... 33 Figure 8: Parkiteer bicycle storage at Glen Waverley station .................................................. 39 Figure 9: Station platforms at South Yarra, 2005 .................................................................... 40 Figure 10: Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel map ......................................................................... 41 Figure 11: Melbourne Metro Rail Project map ........................................................................ 42 Figure 12: Weekday peak-hour at South Yarra station ............................................................ 44 4 III. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my parents, Nigel Perkins and Kim Ankenbauer, for encouraging me to take this opportunity and for supporting me from Queensland; Paul Strangio, for your academic guidance; Annette Ford at the Stonnington City Council, for your time; and my friends, for listening to me talk about nothing but urban planning for the past three months. Thanks especially to Zoe Skeggs for reading my drafts. Finally, I would like to thank Ricki Wilcox for giving me so much support this semester. I could not have produced this report without all of you. 5 IV. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Prahran is a geographically small, densely populated electoral district of inner-city Melbourne. Its population is projected to grow substantially over the next two decades. Most of this growth will be concentrated in the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, and Windsor, and the Forrest Hill precinct in South Yarra will alone accommodate thousands of new residents. These changes will place Prahran’s liveability under increased strain. The ‘liveability’ of a city depends on its capacity to meet the needs and wants of the human population while developing in an environmentally sustainable way. Urban planning literature argues that there can be no real liveability in the present if it caused environmental degradation and therefore harms livelihood of future populations. The policy areas of open space and transport illuminate both sides of the liveability equation. The provision of quality public open space is important for the health and wellbeing of the residents and ecological systems of the city. The rubric of open space encompasses ‘green’ spaces (parks, gardens, and reserves) and the ‘hard’ spaces of the public realm, including streets, squares, and railway sidings. There are few opportunities for acquiring land to create more open space in the dense suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, and Windsor. Thus, planners and policy-makers should focus particularly on improving the quality, access, and sustainability of existing spaces and on developing the amenity of the public realm. For example, the Windsor Siding Reserve is a strategically located but low-quality open space which should be upgraded to meet