Finally Auckland has done something for the pedestrian!!
I stumbled across another Herald article today which made me SO happy. There is finally going to be a ton of redevelopment which focuses on making streets more pedestrian friendly. These changes will be managed by the Auckland Councils' Senior Urban Designer - Ludo Campbell
Redevelopments include Queen Street (Going from a 4 lane highway to a 2 lane highway with wide footpaths) and Aotea Square which has been fully redeveloped into an iconic open space in the heart of the city.
Other small developments which I have noticed from my wanderings in town include new paving along Fort street. This whole area is insanely busy during the night so not only is this area more aesthetically pleasing, it is also far safer for the large number of crowds that walk it.
I will update this blog with photos of streets that have been repaved later this week as I cannot get to them at this point in time.
These redevelopments have said to have gone underway due to the vision for Auckland City to be a World Class City. They are not wrong. Comparing Auckland to cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver, Paris, London and New York might be a stretch, but it is important to look at what those cities do well - and duplicate it. I sadly must report I have not been to any of these cities, but from what I know, these places are very pedestrian friendly in their main city centres.
To summarise, I wanted to give Auckland some praise for this brilliant step forward to being a World Class City. There is still a long way to go - especially with the World Cup coming up, but this, is definitely a great priority.
To read the article for yourself follow : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10730431
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