PARKING IN THE CITY CENTRE
LARGE SCALE PARKING STRUCTURES Huge parking structures, as in the example shown from Sussex Street /Market Street, have a tremendous downgrading effect on the public realm in that specific area if they are not carefully detailed and planned. In the example shown the parking structure suffers from being a mono-functional block with no public functions at ground floor, no residences and no office space. The facade is quite monotonous, the ground floor frontage is completely inactive and the footpath is interrupted by a four lane entry to the car park.
100 METRE OF INACTIVE FRONTAGE Little experience is offered when walking past here. At night this stretch of footpath is even less accomodating.
ACCESS TO UNDERGROUND CAR PARKS Access to underground car parks have been placed in a number of streets, the example above from York Street adjacent to the QVB. Although solving one practical problem this practice has a number of shortcomings in terms of limiting crossing options between the two footpaths as well as posing a number of more aesthetic issues.
FOUR LANE VEHICLE ENTRY TO CAR PARK Pedestrians need to yield for cars entrying the car park although they are walking on the footpath. The quality of the paving and the footpath level is in many incidents changing.
ON STREET PARKING Probably the most misplaced parking in all of the City Centre is found in front of St. Andrews Cathedral where a few parking spaces seriously downgrade the general experience of walking along the main street and reaching the Town Hall and the Cathedral, supposedly the most central location.
THE PEOPLE
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