POSITION STATEMENT

Public Space should be safe space. The most prominent of these spaces - the street, is often underutilised, under appreciated and often forgotten. When the local government does intend to improve upon the street, it is often driven by economic (and rarely social) gains. When stakeholder engagement is promoted in the decision making, it is often poised in a manner which is generally concerned with generating capital, increasing pedestrian traffic and providing social settings. Though all of these are well-intentioned means of change, they often fail to acknowledge less documented facets of the street. We aim to be agents of change, advocating for what is often unheard, unseen and undocumented within our streets. We aim to gather data that is not often found in council surveys or stakeholder engagement plans.

The three kilometre stretch of George Street in the City of Sydney amasses hundreds of thousands of pedestrians daily. Almost all of these people see George Street as merely a temporary passageway to more accessible parts of the city. The reasons are a lack of good urban planning, civil architecture and infrastructure on this street. The City of Sydney local government has plans to develop the Haymarket-Chinatown precinct, and have tried to engage with various stakeholders through surveys and forums. Patently, the council wants people to have a say in public projects - albeit, the suggestions people make are often confined to economic and social reasons. This is largely due to the questions that are asked of the people, questions which can only ever lead to answers in favour of the development.

On the City of Sydney website, the council clearly states its intentions for the projects - “The pedestrianisation of George Street all the way to Rawson Place” and “Upgrading local streets…” are the priorities for the local government. The Sydney Streets program aims to increase “... use of footpath and open space for outdoor dining, extended foyer space and live performance.” When stakeholders are involved, they are encouraged to share their thoughts on these specific notions through forums and online interaction. However, what these platforms do not provide is the information that is often unseen, unheard and forgotten - we aim to gather this information and provide it to council, followed by engaging in stakeholder meetings and presenting our findings. We hope our findings allow the council to recognise that they need to resolve the root of these social issues.

Our methodology is based on finding data which would otherwise be hidden from the local council. Through surveying and simply having conversations with different stakeholders, we question the hostility, safety and accessibility of our streets. Analysing George Street, we use a range of tools to gather data including photography, interviews, surveying and simply observing the behaviours of pedestrians. We then aim to formalise this data into a publication which is presented to the council as a supplementary tool to aid with the redesigning of our streets. Our short-term plan over the next five years is to analyse different parts of the City of Sydney and provide this alternate set of information to council. We will continue our engagement with the council by attending stakeholder meetings and assuring that our unorthodox data is not only considered but also implemented in the transformation of the streets.

We are advocates for acknowledging the hidden truths of our streets and providing public space that considers these hidden truths.