ALBERT REX
WALKING OUT OF MELBOURNE ALONG CORRIDORS
CORRIDORS
Albert Rex . s3602426 . MLA . DRS 3/4 . Traverse . Steve Mintern . 28.05.2021
This design research projects investigates corridors. Specifically, it investigates the structural organisation and pedestrian traversability of a range of Melbourne’s transport corridors, as well as how these corridors negotiate their surrounding urban fabric. This research is undertaken through processes of walking and a subsequent drawing of sections based on site observations. The project defines a corridor as any linear space design to or resulting in the acceleration of material through space. This material could be people, trucks, freight trains, water, etc. with the key point being that linear landscapes of movement reoccur at a range of scale across Melbourne and that multiple infrastructures enabling the transport of material tend to agglomerate together in transport corridors. More specifically, as the project is worked up through the primarily pedestrian lens of research having been undertaken while walking, the work investigates the often-times parasitic relationship between pedestrian/ cycling infrastructure and larger pieces of heavy infrastructure built at great cost to enable the rapid movement of goods around the city. While not resulting in any concrete landscape architectural proposals, this research gestures toward the possibility that landscape architects might be able to leverage this parasitic relationship between pedestrian paths and heavy infrastructure to draw the Melbourne citizenry’s relationship with global flows of consumer goods into clearer focus, in a similar way to that in which the rethinking of the value of creeklines in recent decades1 has achieved similar outcomes in terms of the citizenry’s relationship to waterflow infrastructure. KOROROIT CREEK KEY PLAN 9
KEY PLAN 13
13. SECTION 15B
WESTERN RING ROAD
DERRIMUT
KEY PLAN 10
13. SECTION 15B Page 13
GLENGALA
18. SECTION 20F Page 18
KEY PLAN 1
SUNSHINE
14. SECTION 17A Page 14
KEY PLAN 12 KEY PLAN 11
MARIBYRNONG RIVER
01. SECTION 1A Page 1
KEY PLAN 1
BRAYBROOK
12. SECTION 15A Page 12
KEY PLAN 8
02. SECTION 1B Page 2
FOOTSCRAY
03. SECTION 2C Page 3
KEY PLAN 3 KEY PLAN 2 KEY PLAN 7
17. SECTION 20A Page 17
16. SECTION 18C Page 16
15. SECTION 18B Page 15
11. SECTION 14B Page 11
05. SECTION 4E Page 5
KEY PLAN 6
KEY PLAN 5
ALTONA
04. SECTION 3D Page 4
MELBOURNE CBD
KEY PLAN 4
YARRAVILLE
10. SECTION 10D Page 10
08. SECTION 6D Page 8
PORT OF MELBOURNE 07. SECTION 6C Page 7
06. SECTION 5E Page 6
09. SECTION 7B Page 9
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SECTIONS Many landscape architectural proposal derive their organising structure from a plan drawing based on an aerial image (See this page). This mode of representation, borrowed from Architecture,2 is a clear, easily decipherable method for setting out geographically bounded information and is a valuable tool in a landscape architect’s representational repertoire. This piece of design research, however, is not well suited to plans. It traces a long and winding walk along corridors, from Royal Park in Carlton (adjacent the Melbourne CBD) to Mt Derrimut Nature Conservation Reserve, a remnant grassland at Melbourne’s western fringe, in Derrimut, adjacent Deer Park. In mapping out the transport corridors, access tracks, creek-line reserves and suburban streets that made this walk possible, sections, or more accurately cross-sections, provide a clearer elucidation of the way these corridors are structured, particularly the way some form of pedestrian access is nearly always incorporated as one of the many thoroughfares that are often crammed into these corridors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT I acknowledge that this research was undertaken on the unceded lands of the people of the Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations. I respectfully acknowledge their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. I also acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of lands and waters across this continent. I acknowledge that I am the beneficiary of an ongoing and shameful dispossession.
Sections also lend themselves better than plans to the tracing of a walk at a human scale. This is because temporally, as well as spatially, they are one dimensional. While a plan can trace a route through space and time, it is incapable of slicing out a single experiential moment in space and time in the way that a section can. A section, conversely, has the ready capacity to concisely communicate how the traversal of a given corridor is experienced by a given individual at a given time. Layered up, as through the narrative herein, sections can therefore provide an experiential account of the traversal of transport corridors from the centre of Melbourne to its urban fringe, inevitably drawing forward - in the inquiring mind - opportunities of landscape architectural intervention along the way.
CONTENTS
SECTION 1B
SECTION 1A
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KEYPLAN 1 1 : 60,000 @ a2
THE GRASSLAND IS CONSCIOUSLY SET AGAINST A VIEW TO THE MELBOURNE CBD SKYLINE
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WALKING ACROSS THE GRASSLAND FEELS IMMENSE AND UNGROUNDED. THIS IS PARTLY BECAUSE A VISITOR HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE CORRIDORS ALONG WHICH WE SO REGULARLY FLOW
A DISTINCT, LOW, DARK TREE LINE ENCIRCLES THE GRASSLAND
RAMBLING, CRISS CROSSED GOAT TRACKS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE FACE OF THE GRASSY OVAL THROUGH TIME
Research Observations: The traversing of corridors of material flow began at Royal Park’s striking native Australian grassland. This piece of landscape architecture was impossible to overlook in the context of this research in that at first glance it seemed to posses none of the kinds of corridors of material flow that this research investigates. This was a condition rendered all the starker by the implications of proximity of huge amounts of material flow inferred by the site’s disarming view toward the Melbourne CBD and a knowledge that Royal Park is bisected by a major arterial road connecting North and West Melbourne. The only elements on site that could possibly be characterised as corridors were unplanned goat tracks winding through the long grass.
2m 1
SECTION 1A . 1:100 @ A2
ROUTE 58 TRAM TO WEST COBURG
SECTION 1B
SECTION 1A
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CONCRETED TRAM LINE MARKS BREAK IN VEGETATION DENSITY
ROYAL PARK SLOPES UP TOWARD CARLTON
ROYAL PARK SLOPES DOWN TOWARD FLEMINGTON
DENSER VEGETATION MAKES FOR SLOWER PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT
LIGHTER PLANTING AND MORE SIGNIFICANT GRADE MAKE FOR QUICKER PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT
THE ROUTE 58 TRAM RUNS THROUGH ROYAL PARK. HERE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT ENABLES RAPID TRANSPORT IS THOUGHTFULLY EMBEDDED INTO AN OPEN, NONLINEAR, PUBLIC SPACE
ROUTE 58 TRAM TO TOORAK
Research Observations: Section 1B centres on a concreted tram line that bisects Royal Park. This is a transport corridor that proved, in the light of heavier infrastructure documented below, (E.g. 18B, 19C, 20A) a relatively carefully managed and well-balanced integration of a significant public transport corridor and a piece of public open space. This will prove an uncharacteristic organisation of space for the city as these drawings progress, but it also serves as proof of concept that the relation between public open space and transport corridors can be better managed than what we see in some of the examples below.
2m 2
.SECTION 1B . 1:100 @ A2
TO WEST GATE FREEWAY
TO PORT OF MELBOURNE & MELBOURNE’S WESTERN SUBURBS
TO MELBOURNE CBD
TO VICTORIA HARBOUR, YARRA RIVER, PORT PHILLIP BAY
SECTION 2C
TO MELBOURNE CBD
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AUSTRALIAN FLOORING SUPPLIES WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION CENTRE
PLANNED CONSTRUCTIONS LOGISTICS CENTRE AND WAREHOUSE
GERMAN TECHNIK AUTO SERVICING AND REPAIR DISTRIBUTION CENTRE
SHARED USER PATH
LARGE STORAGE AND LOGISTICS CENTRES/ WAREHOUSES RUN ALONG NORTH SIDE OF CITILINK, UPFIELD TRAIN LINE CORRIDOR
CITILINK, UPFIELD RAIL CORRIDOR
MOONEE PONDS CREEK RIPARIAN CORRIDOR
TO UPFIELD, COOLAROO
TO CRAIGIEBURN
Research Observations: Section 2C is a clear example of where a creek-line reserve, likely originally left undeveloped due to flood-risk, has subsequently been taken advantage of by city planners for the development of significant road and rail infrastructure servicing the CBD. Nearby logistics and storage operations take advantage of the close proximity to transport infrastructure3, and a shared user path is well suited to the long, open corridor of space. This dense concentration of material flows examples the tendency of a range of transport infrastructures to agglomerate together in corridors, and will prove characteristic of a number of the landscapes the walk eventually traverse. (6D, 10D, 15A, 18B).
2m TO COOLAROO
3
TO GREENVALE
TO YUROKE
SECTION 2C. 1:100 @ A2
TO PORT MELBOURNE
TO PORT OF MELBOURNE, PORT PHILLIP BAY
TO MELBOURNE’S WESTERN SUBURBS
TO MELBOURNE’S NORTHERN SUBURBS
SECTION 3D
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2.88 MILLION CONTAINERS PASSED THROUGH THE PORT OF MELBOURNE IN THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2019-2020.
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PORT OF MELBOURNE
OLD HOUSING STOCK RE-PURPOSED TO SMALL LOGISTICS OPERATIONS
Other Agriculture: Other Cereals:
Other Manufacture:
Wool:
Wine:
Wheat:
Timber:
Clothing:
Paper Pulp:
Plastic:
Metal & Rubber Manufacturing:
Vehicle Parts:
Iron, Steel, Aluminium:
Hosehold Goods:
Dairy:
Beverages:
Beef:
150k
BUSINESS PARK SERVICE ROAD
100k
DYNON ROAD
50k
Port of Melbourne exports 2016 & 2060 Infrastructure Victoria 2017
TO DYNON ROAD
Research Observations: Dynon road, an arterial truck corridor, is flanked by port, freight, and logistics operations. Here, the provision of pedestrian paths does little to ease the sense that Section 3D cuts through a corridor dominated by infrastructure designed to enable the rapid movement of heavy freight, with little thought for how a pedestrian might traverse the corridor. Additionally, unlike many subsequent infrastructure heavy sections further away from the city centre (10D, 15B, 17A, 18B, 19C), Section 3D does not boast a significant, pedestrian accessible, open space buffer – the 2 x 1.5m wide footpaths being the only corridors along which a pedestrian feels they can freely travel.
TO MELBOURNE CBD
4
2m SECTION 3D . 1:100 @ A2
TO VICTORIA HARBOUR, PORT PHILLIP BAY
SECTION 4E
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KEYPLAN 4 1 : 60,000 @ a2
TO MELBOURNE’S WESTERN SUBURBS
TO MELBOURNE CBD
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DYNON ROAD
DYNON BRIDGE
REFURBISHED/ NEW ‘KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY’ OFFICE SPACES. E.G. ‘THE IT SOCIETY’
LINEAR WATERFRONT PARK
PORT OF MELBOURNE AND ASSOCIATED LOGISTICS OPERATIONS MARIBRYNONG RIVER CORRIDOR
PEDESTRIAN PATH ALIGNED TO MARIBYRNONG RIVER
PEDESTRIAN PATH ALIGNED TO MARIBYRNONG RIVER
Research Observations: While Dynon Road remains an unfriendly arterial thoroughfare above, the Maribyrnong River corridor below Dynon Bridge has been carefully managed (particularly on it’s West side) to serve as a public open space for local residents. Flanked by community facilities, this riverfront corridor privileges pedestrian and cyclist thoroughfare in a manner that will prove characteristic of creek-line reserves through this research (14B, 15B), and by extension a potential precedent for landscape interventions along access tracks to heavier transport infrastructure. (E.g. 10D, 17A, 18B, 19C)
2m 5
FROM MACEDON RANGES
SECTION 4E . 1:100 @ A2
TO WILLIAMSTOWN/ NEWPORT
TO YARRAVILLE/ PRINCES HIGHWAY
SOMERVILLE ROAD
SECTION 6C
SECTION 5E
TO PORT OF MELBOURNE, LOGISTICS OPERATIONS
SECTION 6D
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VACANT/ STAGING LOT TO LOGISTICS CONTAINER STORAGE CENTRE
YARRAVILLE GARDENS DOCKLANDS HIGHWAY
DOCKLANDS HIGHWAY: LARGE, ARTERIAL, MULTI-LANE HIGHWAY ADJACENT PORT OF MELBOURNE/ LOGISTICS OPERATIONS
TO FOOTSCRAY/ MELBOURNE CBD
Research Observations: The Docklands highway is a significant piece of transport infrastructure that cleaves port and warehousing facilities along the Maribyrnong to the East from old-stock suburban Yarraville to the West. Included in Section 5E are the Yarraville Gardens, the first of only two suburban-style noncorridor public parks our route intersects. (See 7B). Both these traditional-styled public parks are within the inner and older suburban area of Yarraville, with public open spaces traversed further out often taking the form of access tracks (10D), buffer reserves (18B), screening planting (19C), or linear reserves (17A).
2m 6
SECTION 5E . 1:100 @ A2
TO TOTTENHAM/ SUNSHINE
SECTION 6C
TO WILLIAMSTOWN/ NEWPORT
WILLIAMSTOWN ROAD CORRIDOR
SECTION 5E
TO FOOTSCRAY SECTION 6D
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NEW BUILT PRIVATE RESIDENCE
OLDER PRIVATE RESIDENCE (LARGER BLOCK)
SOMERVILLE ROAD CORRIDOR
SLOW
TO PORT OF MELBOURNE/ MELBOURNE
Research Observations: Somerville road is typical of large suburban thoroughfares. Pedestrian paths to each side are well used by the relatively (and increasingly)4 dense local population and are flanked by a mix of old low density, and new higher density housing stock. The continued viability of large suburban roads as freight thoroughfares is likely put under increasing pressure by the increasing density and walkability5 of inner-city neighbourhoods whose residents will increasingly seek out local amenity on foot. If mixed use, higher density living puts pressure on local government to provide pedestrianfriendly infrastructure, could this be a tool landscape architects could leverage to achieve a better balance along corridors such as Section 3D?
2m 7
SECTION 6C . 1:100 @ A2
TO MELBOURNE CBD
TO WEST FOOTSCRAY
TO YARRA RIVER
TO FOOTSCRAY
SECTION 6C
SECTION 5E SECTION 6D
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KEYPLAN 5 1 : 60,000 @ a2
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WERRIBEE, WILLIAMNSTOWN RAIL CORRIDOR
YARRAVILLE STATION CARPARK INNER-URBAN HOUSING ALONG RAIL CORRIDOR LOW DENSITY INNERURBAN HOUSING (FRONT YARD)
SIGNIFICANT LINEAR CAR PARKING TO RAILWAY EASEMENT (FOR NEARBY YARRAVILLE STATION)
WOODS STREET
TO YARRAVILLE STATION
IT COSTS VICROADS AN AVERAGE OF $0.60 PER YEAR FOR STANDARD MAINTENANCE ON EVERY LINEAR METRE OF ROAD.
TO WERRIBEE
TO YARRAVILLE STATION TO WILLIAMSTOWN
PLANTING ALIGNED TO RAILWAY CARPARK
TO YARRAVILLE STATION
Research Observations: Significant parking and planting along approach to train-station indicates investment increasing accessibility of train services.6 Railway-line flanked by pedestrian path continues tendancy for transport infrastructure to agglomerate together along transport corridors.
2m 8
SECTION 6D . 1:100 @ A2
SECTION 6C
SECTION 6D
SECTION 7B N
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LARGE, MOSTLY OPEN, LIGHTLY PLANTED, GRASSY AREA
TREE FLANKED ASPHALT PEDESTRIAN PATH
BEATON PARK
DISCRETE CHILDREN’S’ PLAY AREA
CONCRETE SEATING SEPARATES PLAY AREA FROM WIDER PARK
LOCAL PARK FLANKED ALL SIDES OLDER SUBURBAN RESIDENCES
Research Observations: Beaton park is the second suburban park the walk traverses. (See 5E). The park takes up a suburban block and is surrounded on all sides by suburban residences. Asphalt walking paths within the park reflect a lighter-touch as opposed to the concrete pedestrian paths which surround it. Beaton park is another rare example of a section along which transport infrastructure is relatively limited (See 1A), serving rather as a public open space for people to come together – a place rather than a corridor.
2m 9
SECTION 7B . 1:100 @ A2
TO ECHUCA MOAMA
TO REGIONAL VIC/ INTERSTATE TO MILDURA
SOMERVILLE ROAD
SECTION 10D
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TO PORTLAND
JBS SOUTHERN LIVESTOCK ANIMAL PROCESSING FACILITY
TO BAIRNSDALE
VLINE / FREIGHT (DIESEL) RAIL CORRIDOR PRIVATE ROADS SERVICING MEAT PROCESSING AND LOGISTICS PARK
VICTORIAN CONTAINER MANAGEMENT LOGISTICS FIRM.
VICTRAK ACCESS/ MAINTENANCE TRACK
Research Observations: Section 10D is another transport infrastructure focused corridor. Here a regional and freight rail corridor is flanked by logistics and meat-processing operations.
TO PORT OF MELBOURNE/ SOUTHERN CROSS STATION
Access tracks run to each-side of the railway and example well the way in which this research draws out opportunities for landscape architectural proposals: These access corridors are long tracts of under-utilised land, accessible to, but clearly6 un-utilised by pedestrians that when walked along greatly expand a citizen’s sense of the way their city operates. How could a landscape architectural intervention extend this opportunity to more people?
PRINCES HIGHWAY
10
2m SECTION 10D . 1:100 @ A2
SECTION 14B KOROROIT CREEK WEST BRANCH
STONY HILL CREEK N
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PRIVATE RESIDENCES BACKING ON TO CREEK LINE
‘JUTE-MATT’ STYLE GEO-CELLS TO PREVENT EROSION TO STEEP CREEK LINE VALLEY
SHARED USER PATH
LARGE ROCKS TO PREVENT EROSION TO TIERED CREEK LINE LANDSCAPE
SHARED USER PATH
KOROROIT CREEK
CREEK LINES LEND THEMSELVES TO SHARED USER PATHS
Research Observations: Section 14B sits in stark contrast to Section 10D. The careful management and curation of public open space and pedestrian/ cycle tracks along the Kororoit Creek corridor is an example of how our city’s valuing of waterways has evolved over time.7
TO PORT PHILLIP BAY
Not long ago it’s likely that the Kororoit Creek corridor was held in the same regard as the access track in Section 10D is today. This contrast begs the question: Is there an opportunity for freight transport corridors to be valued by local communities in the same way as waterway corridors?
TO PORT PHILLIP BAY
11
2m SECTION 14B . 1:100 @ A2
TO GEELONG
TO BALLARAT
TO SUNBURY
SECTION 15B
SECTION 15A
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TO SHOPS, PUBLIC BUS HUB
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INCREDIBLE INVESTMENT MADE TO LIFT HAMPSHIRE ROAD ABOVE SUNSHINE STATION - INCREASING RATE OF FLOW ALONG THIS KEY CORRIDOR HAMPSHIRE ROAD
TO SUNSHINE WEST
TO SUNSHINE
SUNSHINE RAILWAY STATION
BUFFER PLANTING TO SUNSHINE STATION CORRIDOR
BUFFER PLANTING TO SUNSHINE STATION CORRIDOR
SIGNIFICANT PEDESTRIAN THOROUGHFARE
WESTERN SUBURBS RAIL CORRIDOR
Research Observations: Sunshine station is a huge part of a wide range of transport infrastructures. Not only is it a significant stop on a number of Metro and V-line routes, it also links directly into bus networks, is accessible on foot by a significant and growing suburban community,8 but has also been championed as a lynch-pin in the proposed Airport Rail and Suburban Rail Loop projects.9 This isn’t to say that Sunshine Station doesn’t feel the weight of it’s role. Sacrifices are made in the balancing of the needs of the infrastructures that make use of the corridor, not least by pedestrians for whom the station doesn’t necessarily feel particularly human-scaled and friendly.10
2m TO CITY
TO CITY
12
SECTION 15A . 1:100 @ A2
SECTION 15B
SECTION 15A
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NO VISIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE TO THIS SIDE OF CREEK: STARK CONTRAST TO OPPOSITE BANK
KOROROIT CREEK TRAIL
ARTIFICIAL BERM SEPARATES STORM WATER OUTLET & CREEK PROPER
PRIVATE RESIDENCES TO CREEK LINE EDGE
ARTIFICIAL CHANNEL FEEDS OUTLET INTO KOROROIT CREEK -> TO PPB
KOROROIT CREEK
HEAVY STORM DRAIN INFRASTRUCTURE: OUTLET INTO KOROIT CREEK
TO KOROROIT CREEK
Research Observations: Section 15B returns to the Kororoit Creek corridor. A visible reduction in the manicuredness of the green spaces of the corridor is a likely reflection of socio-economic changes as the walk moves along and may also explain why a significant piece of storm drain infrastructure is installed here. That said, investments have been made in ensuring that this infrastructure controls the way storm-water enters the creek, slowing it down through berms and a side channel. This is a reflection of local government’s increasing willingness to invest in transport infrastructure (in this case the transport of storm water) that in fact slows down the movement of material through space in recognition of it’s contribution to the health of a shared resource.11 Could the way Section 15B engages with infrastructure offer opportunities for learning in terms of future infrastructure proposals along transport corridors like Section 15A or Section 10D? Particularly in terms of how a corridor can serve in the transport of a broader swath of interacting goods?
2m
TO PORT PHILLIP BAY
13
SECTION 15B . 1:100 @ A2
TO KEILOR TRANSMISSION STATION
SECTION 17A
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SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF DOUGHNUTS BEING DONE IN RARE VEHICLE ACCESSIBLE LARGE OPEN SPACE
DERRIMUT TRAIL
PRIVATE RESIDENCES
PRIVATE RESIDENCES
SIGNIFICANT ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE & EASEMENT
PIPE OR CABLING BELOW SURFACE?
Research Observations: Section 17A is a huge corridor utilised by relatively few pieces of transport infrastructure. Significant power transmission lines above likely service entire suburbs, while the concrete Derrimut trail below provides a pedestrian and cycling route. While epic in scale, the space feels sparse and under-utilised, and barring any underground cabling not visible from the surface, it presents as another landscape, that like Section 10D, has significant potential to be better incorporated into the social lives of local residences. This particularly when considering that unlike Section 10D, Section 17A is surrounded by private residences.
2m 14
SECTION 17A . 1:100 @ A2
TO TULLAMARINE LOGISTICS CENTRES/ NORTHERN SUBURBS/ FREEWAY NETWORK
SECTION 18B
WESTERN RINGROAD FREEWAY CORRIDOR
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FITZGERALD ROAD (EXIT) WESTERN/ METRO RING ROAD
WESTERN/ METRO RING ROAD
PRIVATE RESIDENCES WESTERN RING ROAD TRAIL
TO CBD/ FREEWAY NETWORK
Research Observations: Heavy transport infrastructure appears with increasing consistency toward the tail end of the walk. Section 18B is taken up nearly entirely by the Wester Ring Road but again, like (2C, 3D, 10D, 17A) a parasitic pedestrian trail, the ‘Western Ring Road Trail’ provides pedestrians and cyclists a thoroughfare also. Again, this pedestrian path feels like it’s working at a freeway scale. How could this public open corridor by better incorporated into the city’s urban fabric? And what positive role could the freeway itself play in that integration?
2m 15
SECTION 18B . 1:100 @ A2
SECTION 20A
SECTION 19C
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‘LEFTOVER’ OPEN SPACE BUFFER BETWEEN FREEWAY SERVICE ROAD AND LOGISTICS OPERATIONS
WAREHOUSING AND LOGISTICS OPERATIONS ADJACENT RING ROAD
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CONNECTING WESTERN FREEWAY AND METRO RING ROAD
‘WELLNESS’ TRAIL
Research Observations: The public open space that makes up a large part of Section 19C would by cherished as a public pocket park in many other parts of Melbourne. Is there any way it’s sandwiching between a freeway bypass and a logistics firms could be recast as something valuable to anyone other than those seeking a covert place to dump rubbish? Could its location away from residences by recast as a positive rather than a factor leading to its neglect?
2m 16
SECTION 19C . 1:100 @ A2
TO WESTERN FREEWAY
SECTION 20A
SECTION 19C
MT DERRIMUT ROAD
TO LAVERTON
TO DEER PARK
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‘WELLNESS’ TRAIL CONT. DEER PARK BYPASS
WESTERN FREEWAY
TO MOUNT DERRIMUT
TO PRINCES FREEWAY/ MELBOURNE CBD
Research Observations: Walking across the Derrimut road overpass provides a first view back to the city and the distance covered over the course of the walk. The distance is significant and looking down at the Western Ring Road, it is difficult not to feel that the city was not built to be traversed over these kinds of distances on foot. Doing so, however, has elucidated opportunities for a re-evaluation of a range of public open spaces in our city as well as how the essential infrastructure that enables that rapid transport of goods around our city - on which nearly all of us rely - actually operates. I feel like I know the city more, and if this research were to move toward landscape architectural proposals it would likely to be do with increasing the accessibility and desirability of some of the corridors along which we have walked - in the hope of providing citizens of this city with more opportunities to develop a better understand of their home.
2m 17
ALBERT . SECTION 20A . 1:100 @ A2
TO DERRIMUT (SUBURBAN STREET)
SECTION 20F
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MOUNT DERRIMUT NATURE CONSERVATION RESERVE (NOT PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE)
PRIVATE RESIDENCES
PENDRAGONS CRESCENT
TO DERRIMUT (SUBURBAN STREET)
Research Observations: The way suburbia butts up against the Mount Derrimut Nature Conservation Reserve is as striking a contrast as the way the Melbourne CBD is framed by the Royal Park native Australian Grassland, 40km away, where this walk and set of drawings began. They are both beautiful places, and likely places that landscape architects have had a hand in designing – or at the very least an influence over. The journey between these two places, however, investigated through the 18 sections above, gives us a picture of a city whose built environment professionals are clearly far more invested in the building of ‘place’ than in the managing of a diverse range of connections between places. These sections, by representing this walk through the organization of flows of materials, offer opportunities for landscape architects to curate and manipulation these material flows, and in doing to reveal more of the way our city operates to more of it’s citizens, as well as connected previously unconnected areas.
2m 18
SECTION 20F. 1:100 @ A2
Albert Rex . s3602426 . MLA . DRS 3/4 . Traverse . Steve Mintern . 28.05.2021
Beginning Walk 01
Middle Walk 02
End Walk 03
CONCLUSIONS
KEY SOURCES
This research proves the generative capacity of walking - particularly protracted, immersive walking - as a design research tool for learning about large, disillusioningly scaled landscapes such as cities.
1. Brimbank City Council, 2018, ‘Revised Brimbank Sustainable Water Management Strategy 2013-2023’, Viewed 25.05.2021, https://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/plans-policies-and-strategies/ strategies/sustainable-water-management-strategy
The documentation of a walk through a series of sections at roughly regular intervals has proved invaluable in the sense of direction it provides, its relatable human scale, and its elucidating of the internal inter-relations of the agglomerated transport corridors along which you will nearly-inescapably pass through as part of any long walk. Together, the walking and the subsequent documentation have enabled a widened understanding of the way our city operates to be communicated to the reader, as well as gesturing toward opportunities for landscape architectural intervention, particularly intervention that looks toward encouraging a greater pedestrian use of these access tracks, cycle paths, and heavy infrastructure offsets. A long walk inevitably teaches us about the way our landscapes are put together, cutting sections through our walks provide us with a language we can use to explain what we have learned and pin-point opportunities for reform.
2. Olin L, 2008, Drawing at Work: Working Drawings, Construction Documents, In: Representing Landscape Architecture, Trieb M, Taylor And Francis, London & New York, p. 142. 3. Elliot, P 2017, ‘Why strategic planning matters: a case study apprach to examining industrial land use planning and developement in Melborune’, State of Australia Cities Conference. 4. Profile ID 2021, ‘Footscray, Estimated Residential Population’, viewed 25.05.2021, https:// profile.id.com.au/maribyrnong/population-estimate?WebID=110 5. Premier of Victoria 2017, ‘Win for the West – New Tunnel to Deliver 24/7 Truck Bans’, viewed 25.05.2021, premier.vic.gov.au/win-west-new-tunnel-deliver-247-truck-bans 6. Pucher, J, Garrard, J & Greaves, S 2011, ‘Cycling down under: a comparative analysis of bicycle trends and policies in Sydney and Melbourne’, Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 332–345. 7. IBID 1. 8. Profile ID 2021, ‘Sunshine, Estimated Residential Population’, viewed 25.05.2021, https:// profile.id.com.au/brimbank/population-estimate?WebID=240 9. Jacks T, 2021, ‘Fears plan for Sunshine rail ‘super hub’ will be watered down’ The Age, Viewed 25.05.2021, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/fears-plan-for-sunshine-railsuper-hub-will-be-watered-down-20210409-p57hu1.html 10. Derived from primary site observations. 11. IBID 1.
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