Victoria Square Visions

[Wayno]

Hi all,

Sorry to be changing the subject when you are discussing something but I have been meaning, for days, to post my latest findings regarding PPS/Victoria Square. I hope you'll forgive me for butting in

I have emailed the ACC to ask whether PPS might be involved in the re-birth of Victoria Square and received a kind reply from the urban design team. They told me that it is possible that PPS might be involved in Vic Square but it all depends on the outcome of the procurement process - no big revelations there, I guess. But they did assure me that the guiding principles for the redesign of the Square are closely aligned with the ethos of PPS - which, to me, is hopeful news.

I wrote back to ask who else I could write to, in council, to express my support for PPS' involvment in the square, and also to ask what other opportunities there will be for public involvement in this whole process. I feel that if PPS, itself, is not involved in Vic Square but a PPS *like* ethic/group is used instead, I want to know exactly what is going to be done so I can feel confident that the PPS ethos really is being followed - it would be nice to know what the guiding principles for the redesign of the square actually are, come to think of it.

Anyway, I hope to hear back from the council with some advice as to who I should bug next

Cheers, Caroline

good job QA, appreciate your efforts here. Look forward to hearing your next instalment!

[Cruise]

4 words: Olympics at Elder Park

And, why not move them up the road a bit closer to the city

Well why not move the city closer to Elder Park?

[Queen Anne]

Hi all,

Sorry to be changing the subject when you are discussing something but I have been meaning, for days, to post my latest findings regarding PPS/Victoria Square. I hope you'll forgive me for butting in

I have emailed the ACC to ask whether PPS might be involved in the re-birth of Victoria Square and received a kind reply from the urban design team. They told me that it is possible that PPS might be involved in Vic Square but it all depends on the outcome of the procurement process - no big revelations there, I guess. But they did assure me that the guiding principles for the redesign of the Square are closely aligned with the ethos of PPS - which, to me, is hopeful news.

I wrote back to ask who else I could write to, in council, to express my support for PPS' involvment in the square, and also to ask what other opportunities there will be for public involvement in this whole process. I feel that if PPS, itself, is not involved in Vic Square but a PPS *like* ethic/group is used instead, I want to know exactly what is going to be done so I can feel confident that the PPS ethos really is being followed - it would be nice to know what the guiding principles for the redesign of the square actually are, come to think of it.

Anyway, I hope to hear back from the council with some advice as to who I should bug next

Cheers, Caroline

good job QA, appreciate your efforts here. Look forward to hearing your next instalment!

And thanks right back to you, Wayno, for the help you have given me as I figure out how to approach all this

[Wayno]

spotted this in the Weekend Australian...

vsq.JPG (34.39 KiB) Viewed 4954 times

[Queen Anne]

Wow! Thanks for posting that Wayno. I never would have seen this if you hadn't and it is spurring me into action on my little PPS project again.

Are they jumping straight to looking for designers with this ad, do you think? I really hope not. PPS are just the people to help bring us "an inspirational public place that fosters a dynamic and vibrant city lifestyle". Time for me to email some more councillors, I think!

[Wayno]

Wow! Thanks for posting that Wayno. I never would have seen this if you hadn't and it is spurring me into action on my little PPS project again.

Are they jumping straight to looking for designers with this ad, do you think? I really hope not. PPS are just the people to help bring us "an inspirational public place that fosters a dynamic and vibrant city lifestyle". Time for me to email some more councillors, I think!

perhaps send a copy of the above newspaper tender article to the PPS...

[Queen Anne]

Wow! Thanks for posting that Wayno. I never would have seen this if you hadn't and it is spurring me into action on my little PPS project again.

Are they jumping straight to looking for designers with this ad, do you think? I really hope not. PPS are just the people to help bring us "an inspirational public place that fosters a dynamic and vibrant city lifestyle". Time for me to email some more councillors, I think!

perhaps send a copy of the above newspaper tender article to the PPS...

Yes, I sure will!

[Queen Anne]

Hi all,

I just thought I'd post a bit of an update regarding Victoria Square/PPS. George and I have been exchanging emails with council members / city design people, and PPS - and I think we know a bit more now.

Basically, it's too late for PPS to be a part of the design process, as it seems that boat has sailed. PPS does a good deal of their work before a design is settled upon, where the council is already in process to find the design. I'm a bit disappointed by this because the PPS 'placemaking' process has had real results for other squares. But, that said, the recently released Victoria Square vision and guiding principles document is clearly influenced by Jan Gehl and PPS's ethos so, for those of us who support that approach, there is a silver lining (if you have a look at the vision document, Bryant Park - the first of the photos - is a PPS project from NYC).

OK, so George and I changed tack after finding out that it's too late for PPS to be involved in pre-design planning and asked if, instead, PPS could be on the 'eminent review panel' which is being engaged to 'OK' the design. We figure that if the vision for the square is inspired by PPS like ideals, who better to review the design?

The upshot is that PPS is keen to be involved on the panel - they think they could still insert some of the PPS 'placemaking' engagement and management process into the picture. From speaking with the ACC, it's possible that PPS could get onto the panel - though we were warned that no promises could be made as the timeline for the square is apparently set in stone, and that dictates a lot of decisions. Anyway, George and I put on our matchmaker hats and now all the parties know about each other and who to contact - and I think that's about as far as we two ordinary Joes can steer this.

You wouldn't be surprised to hear that the council's strict timeline for this project is matched by a very busy, booked in advance, PPS (just out of interest the PPS man I have been contacting is going to Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne in the new year. They are soon to start a project in Coburg, for instance). So, if PPS isn't on board the eminent review panel soon, it might not happen.

I totally understand that there are lots of opinions out there regarding what to do with Vic Square, and in no way wish to railroad this discussion. But if anyone out there is enthusiastic about the ideas in the Victoria Square vision and guiding principles document, and would like to give it a leg-up to being realised, it could not hurt to drop the council a line, letting them know that you support PPS being a part of the eminent review panel of the eventual design. We have found the council to be pretty approachable, generally, and are particularly impressed by our dealings with dlm Yarwood and clrs Plumridge and Cullen.

Cheers, Caroline

[Wayno]

Hi all,

I just thought I'd post a bit of an update regarding Victoria Square/PPS. George and I have been exchanging emails with council members / city design people, and PPS - and I think we know a bit more now.
...
Cheers, Caroline

hiya queenie, does the ACC realise George and yourself are members of S-A, or do they think you are acting simply as concerned individuals? I'm thinking you could draft up a letter requesting that PPS be involved, and we could submit on S-A letterhead.

[JamesXander]

spotted this in the Weekend Australian...

vsq.JPG

I cant believe they persist with calling it that ridiculous name

[Cam]

"an inspirational public place that fosters a dynamic and vibrant city lifestyle"

I was going to have a go at designing this myself,, but looking at monotonehell's design on the first page is hard for me to go past, for its powerful simplicity.

I would add a nightime sense of inspiration with something like a Northern Lights project or similar bling (cost of electricity forgiven) to give the space two identities.

[Prince George]

hiya queenie, does the ACC realise George and yourself are members of S-A, or do they think you are acting simply as concerned individuals? I'm thinking you could draft up a letter requesting that PPS be involved, and we could submit on S-A letterhead.

We've just been contacting people as "concerned citizens", or "meddling busybodys" depending on your perspective. Personally, I'm cautious about the idea of invoking the S-A name because (1) I don't think it's clear how many people would actually support the idea and (2) you don't want to overuse it.

The building height submission or the 2030 vision submission had broad input and interest from the forum's members and I think represented pretty well a position that the majority would say that they supported. Heck, for most of the people on the site the topics in those docs were the reasons that they joined the site. But while most people here would probably not oppose the PPS being involved, I wonder if they feel strongly enough to say they support the idea.

S-A's like a storm with winds blowing in every direction at once. So are the corporate bodies 'n' stuff, but they have a board or executive group of some sort who ultimately set the policy direction; they vote on a subject and decide the matter. S-A doesn't have that, so I think we should be cautious about throwing the name around and stick to something like sending a message individually. Besides, seeing a number of individuals taking the time to put their own name to something is pretty impressive too ...

[Prince George]

"an inspirational public place that fosters a dynamic and vibrant city lifestyle"

I was going to have a go at designing this myself,, but looking at monotonehell's design on the first page is hard for me to go past, for its powerful simplicity.

I would add a nightime sense of inspiration with something like a Northern Lights project or similar bling (cost of electricity forgiven) to give the space two identities.

Cam, since you like some of the aspects of the designs that have already been proposed, why don't you try your hand at some of the things that Jan Gehl and the PPS get people to do when they are working on a site? The PPS call their method "the Place Game" and we don't know the details but we do know this much - instead of thinking about designs, think about uses.

Imagine that you are at Victoria Square, don't try to imagine the shape or the features yet just that you're in that part of town. Start asking questions about your imaginary visitor - why are you there, what are you doing while you are there? Do you work in the area and are having a break? Do you live in the area and are walking the dog? Do you have to travel through the area? Are you young or old, a local or a visitor, homeless or live in a penthouse? Is it the Christmas Pageant, did the Crows just win a Premiership, is it New Years, or the Festival?

See if you can build up a catalog of uses and use it like a brainstorming session. From all those considerations, do you start to get a picture of a square in your head? Maybe not one that you can pick up a pencil and draw, but one that you can describe as at least an idea. Then you've got something that you can use to assess the designs that other people (like the ultimate design team) are putting forward.

[Queen Anne]

Hi all,

I just thought I'd post a bit of an update regarding Victoria Square/PPS. George and I have been exchanging emails with council members / city design people, and PPS - and I think we know a bit more now.
...
Cheers, Caroline

hiya queenie, does the ACC realise George and yourself are members of S-A, or do they think you are acting simply as concerned individuals? I'm thinking you could draft up a letter requesting that PPS be involved, and we could submit on S-A letterhead.

Hey, I like 'queenie' I wish I had thought of that when I registered!

I think George outlined pretty well why we never mentioned to the council that we were S-A members. I'd be happy to write such a letter but I wouldn't like to involve the S-A community in anything they are not totally sure about.

Anyway, I'll keep contact with PPS and I'll post any news I get. To be honest, I'm not super confident that PPS will end up being involved with Vic Square, but I live in hope and I think PPS will let me know how things turn out.

[jk1237]

With your fantastic interest in our city, Adelaide needs both of you here, not in Seattle please come home