Ponsonby Road - Streets for People Project
I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in the three workshops for this project - as a resident for six years, Ponsonby Road is my neighbourhood. I have a background in urban design so have seen many of these consultation processes roll out and it’s heartening to see that the facilitators are striving to embed the community in the design decisions, and have gathered a wide range of voices.
It’s important that these voices are translated through to the finished product. Even as a ‘tactical urbanism’ approach, a trial - it’s been really clear through the process what people want to improve - expanding on safety, bringing together the community, and enhancing the vibrancy of Ponsonby Road.
No one wants their livelihood ‘trialed’ with. This has set a pretty clear mandate to the team and steered towards outcomes that will have a real benefit. It’s fairly exciting to see some of these changes could be implemented this year.
It’s fair to say that the trial itself has been more in this community lead design process - which hasn’t been done before. It’s better than any process I’ve been involved in to date yet there are some things that could be improved upon. What has been really encouraging is getting such a spectrum of voices, ideas and some really great knowledge from the Ponsonby Road community.
Cory Manson, Ponsonby
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