Kerbs across Sydney could become pop-up markets, art exhibition spaces, herb gardens and pocket parks if governments chose to build on Covid-era rule changes that transformed the way Australians use streets.
Leading urbanists believe “parklets” – parking spaces turned into urban activations and green spaces – present an opportunity to improve inner-city suburbs where many people live without back yards.
The urban policy thinktank Committee for Sydney will today release a paper recommending councils create parklet programs to encourage the transformation of some streets.
Alison Lee, a co-author of the report and director at urban planning consultancy Urbis, said while pandemic-era parklets for outdoor dining were a great start, there were further opportunities to develop kerbside spaces.
“It’s about injecting the public good back into public space,” she said.
Lee said cities such as San Francisco had developed community gardens and spaces for people to share art and gather, and with changes to regulations at both state and local government levels, Australian cities could follow.
“It’s about creating interest and vibrancy in really dense areas where people might not have heaps of green space or back yards,” she said.
“It’s about having these little pocket-sized opportunities for greenery, for meeting your neighbours.”
She said Sydney’s urban inner-city suburbs, such as Zetland and Green Square, were prime candidates for parklets.
The report recommended the New South Wales government make its temporary outdoor dining rules permanent. Those rules were introduced during the pandemic to allow restaurants and cafes to remain viable while patrons adhered to health regulations that were then in place.
It also recommended local governments develop strategies to make it easier for residents and businesses to access having one built, estimating parklets cost about $20,000 to design and construct.
“No local government in Sydney has introduced permanent dining parklet programs,” the report says.
“This is a shame because, with permanence, business owners can invest in higher-quality dining parklets and have greater surety of their operations.”
Harri Bancroft, a policy adviser for the Committee for Sydney, said encouraging more parklets would lead to more opportunities for culture in people’s everyday lives.
“We can use these spaces for all sorts of activities – live performances, a popup gallery or library, a place to meet up with friends, and who knows what else,” Bancroft said.
“Creating space for everyday culture brings communities together.”
There are still a handful of parklets around Melbourne and Sydney that have persisted past the pandemic after being introduced as a response to indoor capacity limits.
The report supported the continuation of those dining parklets while pushing for more public-focused spaces, insisting there was room to develop spaces and give back to an area.
Amelia Thorpe, a report co-author and UNSW associate professor in law, said Covid showed councils and state governments that processes could be simplified to make parklets viable. Cementing those changes would create consistency.
“We made processes a lot simpler as a way to allow businesses to keep trading,” she said.
She said there was an opportunity to create permitting structures for parklets that included lower fees for spaces designed for mostly community use.
