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Adelaide has a wonderful unique layout. Victoria Square in the very middle of the city and then another 4 squares surrounding it (Whitmore, Hurtle, Light and Hindmarsh). In my opinion the four squares are by far the biggest wasted potential of Adelaide. Currently they are unused, wasted and ugly spaces. Mainly ugly trees and some grass.

If done well, i think each square could become an attraction in itself. I think we could do better than just using them as pretty sitting spaces. I think the more out of the ordinary the better!
I would love to hear some ideas people have on how we could use this space?

The usual stuff:

Kid's playgrounds. I would assume Whitmore and Hurtle Squares to be the closest to where families live.
Picnic tables.
More shade.
Open air cafes.
Anything else?

Cheers

I agree, whitmore and hurtle should definitely be more family/child friendly. But it still needs to be different and more impressive than your stock standard playground and bbq set up.

As for light and Hindmarsh. I think they need to focus on making them beautiful places to both go to and to look at


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Ideally what you would have in at least one square is a bunch of cafes bars and restaurants surrounding it. Vehicle access would be minimal, and outdoor dining/seating would be maximised.

Unfortunately the reality is this is Adelaide, and like Ho Really mentioned, picnic tables and playgrounds and more trees.

One thing though could be more light. Brighten the place up at night.
Lighting through the trees, really bright lighting. Bright enough so that the squares actually stand out at night, and basically emit a glow of their own.

rev wrote:Ideally what you would have in at least one square is a bunch of cafes bars and restaurants surrounding it. Vehicle access would be minimal, and outdoor dining/seating would be maximised.

Agree with this. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of businesses fronting on to our squares - certainly not many which customers would naturally 'spill out' to populate the squares (e.g. bars, restaurants, cafes etc). I guess food trucks play an important role here.

Perhaps some sporting/leisure activities such as boules/petanque, giant chess sets etc might entice people in? Maybe even some other 'fixed' attractions. I love the heritage tram that's on display in Glenelg near the Buffalo but it seems like a really odd and secluded place for it with very little passing foot traffic. One of the City squares might be a good place for something similar? Perhaps even open it as a kiosk of some sorts?

Llessur2002 wrote:

rev wrote:Ideally what you would have in at least one square is a bunch of cafes bars and restaurants surrounding it. Vehicle access would be minimal, and outdoor dining/seating would be maximised.

Agree with this. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of businesses fronting on to our squares - certainly not many which customers would naturally 'spill out' to populate the squares (e.g. bars, restaurants, cafes etc). I guess food trucks play an important role here.

Perhaps some sporting/leisure activities such as boules/petanque, giant chess sets etc might entice people in? Maybe even some other 'fixed' attractions. I love the heritage tram that's on display in Glenelg near the Buffalo but it seems like a really odd and secluded place for it with very little passing foot traffic. One of the City squares might be a good place for something similar? Perhaps even open it as a kiosk of some sorts?

Whitmore Sq has a giant chess set. Never understood the petanque fields, which seem to be a go-to on every new park development (and aside from the odd game on the Rundle Park field, I've never seen any of them used).

thecityguy, you forgot Wellington Sq.

Nathan wrote:Whitmore Sq has a giant chess set.

haha - totally missed that one...

How about a skate park?

Could possibly create some man made mounds to make things interesting and a little different, good for sitting and rolling down if your a kid.




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Skate park is quite practical and would get used, but don't they try to deter people from skating in most public area. And I have to admit there is something about a skate park that looks a tad tacky


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One thing to post ideas here. It's good for brainstorming and testing out your ideas. Another approach is to subscribe to the ACCs park lands strategy website and formally engage: http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/ ... y-adelaide

I've personally submitted many ideas and pleased to see others submitting similar. Trends are identified and move towards action.

Here's an example (just one of many many pages of ideas) from the recent park lands strategy exercise. Hundreds of people contributed ideas. Public consultation on the collated feedback starts Feb 1, I believe.

Wayno wrote:One thing to post ideas here. It's good for brainstorming and testing out your ideas. Another approach is to subscribe to the ACCs park lands strategy website and formally engage: http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/ ... y-adelaide

I've personally submitted many ideas and pleased to see others submitting similar. Trends are identified and move towards action.

Here's an example (just one of many many pages of ideas) from the recent park lands strategy exercise. Hundreds of people contributed ideas. Public consultation on the collated feedback starts Feb 1, I believe.

example-park-lands-development.jpg

Boring and more of the same. Make something unique, exciting and fun. How many more walking trails do we need

100% agree Ben! The more unique the better. Needs to be something out of the ordinary so it becomes an attraction of sorts. Especially in the squares in the city


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Submit your ideas to the ACC. You can discuss here to test your ideas, but they'll go nowhere if discussed here alone. Sorry to be blunt...

Can the squares at least not be left alone to be just pleasant green space for adjacent office workers? Sure, have the roads around them activated with cafes or whatever, but the parks themselves, don't overcrowd them with tacky structures or themes. Just nice green shady well maintained space. The squares are not huge. If we go cluttering them up with too much they loose the tranquil appeal. Maybe a fountain or water feature for interest, like the beautiful little fountain on the corner of East Terrace and Hutt Street, somewhere to paddle your feet at lunch on a hot day-that should be it. Even Victoria Square despite the millions spent and all the "useable" structures and space at the northern end seems largely deserted during the day.

The thing is at the moment, they aren't that well maintained and aren't particularly nice to look at.

They look tacky as they are right now, that's the main issue


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