Friday, 31 August 2012

Individual Project One Statement

After investigating the opportunities of a car free urban environment, I thought it was necessary to think about how goods and services could get in and out of these areas. It is clear that removing car clogged streets from an urban neighbourhood would provide great benefits to its residents and improve the space around buildings for new activities and more efficient transportation systems. However, one of the great challenges the city would face in this scenario is how to allow for service and delivery vehicles to get to where they’re needed in order to sustain inner-city business and lifestyles.

One of the possibilities I have thought of would involve a central docking facility that would be designed to cater for trucks and courier vehicles unloading goods in an efficient manner. Goods would be loaded onto automated transport units that carry the goods to shops, businesses, and homes located inside the car free zone via the pods network. The central docking facility could also be located adjacent to freeways or high capacity roads (such as the riverside express way) improving the efficiency of goods transport, both helping business and allowing transport vehicles to avoid travelling to numerous locations within one district via congested roads.

Another possibility would be a response to the increasing densities in the inner city. In a future car free CBD the shortage of land would only push new developments to go higher and higher. If new developments were able to cater for residents to live, work, and shop in very close proximity (ie within the same building or complex), pressure on transport services would be greatly reduced. Since Brisbane has a relatively small population by world standards and has no real need for a super structure such as a vertical city, a smaller more adaptable style of building would be more suited. What if a new type of structure allowed for both residential and commercial sectors which were able to grow and evolve according to changing economic/social conditions over time? In a sense this building/complex would be able to adapt and expand like an emerging town/village within an urban environment.

Project 1 Posters





Higher Density Trigger - Urban Sprawl Cap

Rural Area Development Restrictions

The below map outlines the scenario of an urban sprawl cap, caused by restrictions on development outside the urban footprint in an effort to preserve highly sought after arable land.




Timeline for Scenario


Inner City Car Free Districts

The map below shows possible connections between car free districts and the rest of the city through adapted/upgraded transport networks.



Car Free Zone - CBD Transport

Map of Brisbane CBD Car Free Zone

  • Streets transformed into pedestrian orientated open lane ways
  • Elevated monorail links across suburbs while smaller private modules (ie driverless pods) transport individuals or groups to more specific locations between blocks.



Map showing how new transport systems could sustain a car free CBD

ULTra PRT Transit (driverless pods)



People and Lifestyles

Brisbane 2032 - Initial Ideas for Poster 3


  • People find it strange that in the past you had to drive your own vehicles and go accross relatively large distances in order to service everyday needs.
  • With larger amounts of people living closer together, there is greater emphasis on community.
  • Due to greater demand, outdoor entertainment and activities are far more numerous, people spend less time in their homes compared to present day suburban lifestyles.
  • New transport technologies enable police and emergency services to get around very quickly, making it very difficult for criminals to flee a crime scene, and fire brigade and ambulance services very fast and efficient.

Architectural Possibilities

  • Underground carparks turned into something else:
    • water tank storage
    • hydro farming
  • New construction system
    • building/complex that grows like a city - new spaces added/adapted/rearranged over time as needs change
  • Roads ripped up and turned into open space
    • social interaction spaces
    • parks and gardens
    • public transport routes
    • "breakout" space

Sustainable Future

Brisbane 2032 - Initial ideas for Poster 2


  • Buildings are designed to be self-sufficient, according to building laws, and are mostly mixed use, allowing for people to live and work in the same building/complex.
  • New transport technologies have emerged (ie driverless pods and monorails taking people between city blocks, with blimp buses and subways linking between districts).
  • Due to strain on transport services, businesses commonly provide accommodation in close proximity in order to attract employees and stay competitive.

Future Visions and Scenarios

Brisbane 2032 - Initial ideas for Poster One


  • Sprawl cap imposed on greater city area (attempts to preserve natural ecosystems and productive farmland).
  • Lack of Development at city outskirts has caused inner city suburbs to densify dramatically, putting more stress on existing services and infrastructure.
  • To prevent prices skyrocketing, council and government has encouraged buildings to get higher and higher...
  • Attempts to make inner city more "people friendly" include ripping up roads in some districts and replacing them with open space and public transport lines.

Vertical City

Vertical City - Advantages


  • People can live and work in the same building
  • Cars become redundant
  • Creates less sprawl
Disadvantages

  • 200+ floor superstructure ideal? Needed (warranted) for a city the size of Brisbane? Australian context (small population)?
  • Expensive
  • Conceptualised with much larger cities in mind (ie Tokyo, Shanghai)
Smaller Scale Vertical City

  • Building system/structure that can start off small and be rearranged/expanded over time, growing like a regular city.

Urban Form

Post week 3 brainstorm of ideas concerning a new urban form as development for Project 1:








Week 3 Research

Car Free Cities www.carfree.com


  • The urban automobile
    • Kills streetlife
    • Damages the social fabric of communities
    • Isolates people
    • Fosters suburban sprawl
    • Endangers other street users
    • Blots the city's beauty
    • Disturbs with noise
    • Causes pollution
    • Wastes energy and natural resources
  • Carfree Example in Existing Cities
    • Venice
Cities of Tomorrow 

  • Challenges Facing the City into the Future
    • Increasing immigration
    • Ageing population
    • Multiplication of real and virtual communities
    • Increasing economic, social and spacial segregation
  • Continuing "Fragmentation" of cities will lead to:
    • Isolated communties
    • Loss of social cohesion
    • Formation of guettos
  • Embracing Diversity
    • Diversity = greater potential for creativity and innovation
    • Cities need to be designed for all citizens and not just for the elite, tourists, and investors.

Congestion Tax

In this weeks studio our group discussed the possible outcomes of a congestion tax imposed on the Brisbane  CBD. The positives would include:


  • Less cars
  • More pedestrian access
  • Less noise and pollution
  • Widening of footpaths, more bike lanes, etc
  • New transport tech, products, etc
  • Tax revenue used for new public transport
  • Surge in inner city population (increase in residential development in response to higher demand)
  • More social interaction
Possible scenarios and triggers as part of tute discussion:

  1. Tax Introduced --> Public Reaction --> Effect on Business --> Advancement in Technology
  2. New Invention (transport related) --> Cities worldwide embrace in attempts to reduce congestion --> Brisbane adopts and introduces congestion tax.
  3. City comes to a standstill due to congestion --> Stunted economic progress causes city to respond --> Congestion tax or ban on private vehicles in inner city