The way aspects of the built environment of the Russel Street transect influence or control pedestrian movements at odd hours in the night The influence or control of pedestrian movements is looked at through the lenses of ‘safety’, as one of the purposes behind controls in a city is pedestrian safety and feelings of safety. Control or its lack thereof affects feelings of safety and thereby controls movements of pedestrians at night. To set the map in a specific context, the map considers control within the transect at 1.00am on Wednesday 11th May 2016. The aspects considered in the exploration of control in the transect at night are the presence of CCTV, impermeable interfaces, direct transparent interfaces, entrances to theatres and venues of spectacles, and entrances to residential buildings. To identify and gauge pedestrian movements and behaviours at this hour pedestrian counts at 1.00am on 11/05/2016 and pedestrian flows to and from buildings active at this time are considered. CCTV : The presence of CCTV controls and affects people’s behaviours in public space by discouraging those interested in committing crime while providing a feeling of safety to other users of public space, which encourages pedestrian use of the area. Pedestrian counts: The pedestrian counts identify pedestrians within the transect at 1.00am on Wednesday 11th May 2016 (City of Melbourne 2016). Data specific to this day and time was chosen as it is a typical week day without special attractions to draw people into the city and thereby skew the data. The time was chosen as the city is perceived to be most dangerous at odd hours late in the night/early in the morning which affects pedestrians numbers in the city. Pedestrian counts help identify areas which are prone to greater numbers of pedestrians helping explore reasons behind it: whether it is due to feelings of safety due to effective controls, or attractions (e.g. theatre/spectacle) or both. It is difficult however to draw correlations between pedestrian counts and CCTV coverage amongst other factors, as the pedestrian counts are only for a few locations within the CBD and are not distributed evenly across the transect. Therefore while the counts are useful for identifying pedestrian users at a specific location the counts do not represent pedestrian use of the entire transect. Impermeable interfaces: They are interfaces that do not provide passive surveillance which is a form of control over public space (Jacobs 1961). Areas dominated by impermeable surfaces can be identified as spaces lacking control of antisocial behaviour (e.g. some laneways), particularly at night/early morning. The lack of control in such spaces due to the absence of passive surveillance, influences feelings of safety negatively (Jacobs 1961). Such feelings would control movement and behaviour of pedestrians in public space, as such spaces are likely to be avoided at night. Direct transparent interfaces: They were identified as clear sight into the street provides passive surveillance; which controls antisocial behaviour and encourages pedestrian use by increasing pedestrian feelings of safety (Jacobs 1961). However, the majority of these interfaces do not contribute in this way to increasing control and thereby increasing feelings of safety and encouraging pedestrian use at night; based on the hours of activity of different buildings: the only functional or active buildings at this hour are residential buildings and theatre and spectacle venues. All direct transparent interfaces are interfaces which can contribute to greater pedestrian activity by positively influencing feelings of safety and encouraging pedestrian use at night, as a positive form of control. Entrances to theatres and other spectacles: They are identified as they are one of the few entrances used in the evening and later on in the day, helping identify possible presence of pedestrians at a time when not many people are in the city. The existence of individuals in such areas help identify the existence of passive surveillance, which influences how people behave in public space. Its inclusion also assists with identifying locations pedestrians will be travelling to or from late in the night. Based on the size of the ‘dots’ used to identify points of entry, the level of the flow of users into and out of the building too can be gauged. Residential entrances: Identified because they are entrances used day and night and an important feature of a safe city is when its residents can reach home feeling safe regardless of the hour. Identification of the residential entrances help identify whether or not pedestrians have ‘safe’ routes to get home at odd hours in the night. The absence or presence of such ‘safe’ routes help evaluate the effectiveness of the control measures of the transect.
Bibliography City of Melbourne, 2014, 'Beyond the Safe City 2014-17', City of Melbourne, accessed May 19, 2016, from <https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/beyond-safe-city-strategy-2014.pdf>. City of Melbourne, 2016, 'City Of Melbourne : Pedestrian Counting System', Pedestrian Counting, accessed May 19, 2016, from <http://www.pedestrian.melbourne.vic.gov.au/#date=11-05-2016&time=1&sensor=LtB210_T>. Jacobs, J 1961, The death and life of great American cities, Vintage Books, New York. Jefferson, A 2015, 'Revealed: Melbourne’s Inner-City Crime Hot Spots', Herald Sun.
Legend CCTV Pedestrian Counts Impermeable Interfaces Direct Transparent Interfaces Residential Entrances & Pedestrian Flows Spectacle/Theatre Entrances & Pedestrian Flows Safest Streets for Total Crime Offences 2014 (CBD) Worst Streets for Total Crime Offences 2014 (CBD)
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Morphological Mapping ABPL30051 - Semester 1, 2016 Akla Nanayakkara 633943
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CONTROL