RE-DEVELOPMENT ZONEAPPROX. 1KM DIAMETER

Aerial view of Footscray 2030 Central Activity District vision

Aerial view of Footscray central area

Planning map of Footscray today

Street view on Hopkins Street Typical street front section

Office

Office

Shops

Office

Office

Footscray 2030: 1km cityThis project attempts to simulate a much more desified Footscray CAD (Central Activity District), area with a diameter of roughly 1km. The goal is to bring in a hybrid of programes, including more commercial, more retail, more urban residential, more public function, and a transit fabric that is friendly to bikes and pedestrians, as well as rail transport.

The vision will be that Footscray as a highly compact activity center is able to meet all people groups’ various of needs, needs to live, to work, to transit, to entertain, to shop, to meet, to learn, to ... Let’s say living here you do not need to go to city as all.

3ds Max has been used as the primary digital tool to undertake these tasks, with the goal to parametrically generate urban built forms based on numerical analysis and input. The extent of realistic and the quality of visualisation are only secondary goals to achieve.

Although, in some sense, this is an Utopian vision of future Footscray urban planning, yet it is based on the Footscray Renewal: Review and Update of the Skyline Study, responding closely to the proposed tactics it has addressed.

Footscray 2012: Themes• Housing : higher density options, sensitive location and design, mixed-use, mixed-affordability, maintaining access to public.• Retail : enhancing rather than changing current conditions, diversity of experience, cleanliness. Take full advantage of the steets exposure and lanes.• Commercial: higher rise office buildings and compact employment area zoning, work place close to homes and public transport.• Recreation and entertainment : Footscray currently lacks entertain-ment facilities, and has too quiet environment at night which leads to poor perception of safety, importance of meeting/hanging out space (informal/passive recreation) needs to be respected.• Learning : need better integrating campuses, and to improve condi-tion and publicity of the schools, including community learning op-portunities.

Footscray 2030: ZoningFor a vibrant and robust CAD, future Footscray is zoned in a way large-ly due to the distance to important traffic network and nodes, made up with railway network and automobile network.

At the far end of the 1km circle shall be suburban houses where public traffic is at minimum level. The Hopkins St will be enhanced towards its west, where more medium and high rise buildings will be established, and also public transit link and nodes will be inserted. The Footscray Market precinct will be converted into a high density mixed-use zone with retail and recreational places for all people to meet.

Footscray 2012: Opportunities and ConstrainsWith a short distance to Melbourne CBD, Footscray has great poten-tials to become a highly prized living and working community, to gain rapid economic growth, to emerg into an education precinct, and to become a transit city linking Docklands and further suburbs.

Footscray has an established railway train and tram network, which can be better ulitized with a more sustainable planning scheme. The main street Hopkins St is now too narrow and unwelcoming. It is neccessary to either expand the width of the main street or seek altanative traffic routes to aleviate the traffic pressure, and to free pedestrians and cy-clists from automobile traffic. Tram will be introduce to the main street and activate the retail and restaraunts along the main streets and little lanes.

(image below sourced from Footscray Renewal Skyline Study by Maribyrnong Council)

Working and LearningThe built form highlighted in orange indicates the proposed further input of employment and education programs inside Footscray CAD. They will be close to residents, community, transport, retails, and recreational facilities, which Foot-scray currently lacks.

Mixed High Density LivingWhile maintaining the suburban dwelling ty-pology, high density living will be largely intro-duced and inserted at points that are close all sorts of functions. A most common form will be shops at Ground and street level, with apartment tower set back at the levels above.

Meeting, Shopping, and FunThe central area’s low built form will be main-tained while improved architecturally, providing places for recreation such as cinema, and bring-ing in more big brand supermarkets and retail-ers. These together will form a low rise small grain pedestrain-welcome core of the town.

Green and OpenFootscray today lacks properly planned and managed public open space and parks. This will be integrated will all types of functions, especially for younger and el-der users to use.

Proposed planning map of Footscray 2030

medium rise commercial/education building

low rise retail building

high density mixed residential + retail building

medium rise retail/recreational building

low rise commercial/education building

medium rise retail building

suburban houses

green/open space

Footscray: 1km city 2030Flexible Digital Urban ModellingPatrick Yiwei Peng 235157