David Sim: keynote speaker at Transportation 2020 conference

The thinking developed during that period is now becoming evident on the ground and, during David’s presentation, he compared the striking likeness between the visionary montages created years ago, and the now-completed Ōtākaro Avon River Park. He thought this was a great outcome for the city.

Tim went on to note the importance in joining the dots between high-level Government policy, progressing towards close land use and transport integration, and the meaningful ‘people-centred‘ urban design approach at eye level that David promotes.

“Boffa Miskell sees the value of David’s insights in this regard and we wanted to share them with the transport industry and our own people,” he says.

Through David’s charismatic presenting style and real-world examples and anecdotes, he made some important points:

• We easily get stuck on futuristic transport ideas, but walking will remain a vital part of fulfilling our accessibility and social needs – connecting ‘people to place’ at eye-level.
• There is always a human dimension to travel and there are many ways to observe and accommodate people’s behavioural quirks into the ‘hardware’ and ‘software’ of our designs to make public transport comfortable and convenient for them. This included managing perceived waiting and travel times to be more of a pleasure than a pain.
• There’s a ‘Grand Slam’ of walking, cycling, public transport and public space that all interact together within our streetscapes. They can either be buddies or foes – ‘Will you find the love of your life there?’ was one of many catches he used to quickly gauge the success of an urban place!
• Successful ‘people-first’ approaches to transport not only help the functioning of our cities, they create great opportunities to enhance our safety, health and sense of community.

Rachael Eaton, an urban designer in our Dunedin office found much of David’s insights applicable.

“We’re on the cusp of experiencing significant change here in Dunedin with major new developments planned, including the new Hospital, the central city streetscape projects and the Dunedin Waterfront Vision and changes to the transport system,” she says.

“While the city changes and bigger projects take shape over the next 10 years, small scale ideas and interventions, such as the ones David talked about, will help make a big difference to the quality of our everyday life and create a people friendly city.”

Ideas David mentioned include tactical urbanism, engagement activities and events as well as physical infrastructure, such as cycleways, continuous footpaths, trees and planting, areas to sit outside, areas to play and hang out.

“There’s value in providing for all our communities, including the elderly, disabled, women and children, as that can really empower people to embrace change,” Rachael continues.

“It’s important to work with the environment and weather as opposed to against it – and that’s something worth remembering here in Dunedin, where the weather is often used as a reason not to invest in quality public realm.”

For further information please contact Tim Church or Rachael Eaton