Carless City - Decentralised City

Trams once served Brisbane CBD from 1885 to 1969. Trams served the inner city region and were held with great affection by locals. An example of trams used in current society is in Melbourne. They are the second most used form of transport. To reduce congestion in peak hour there are special lanes, lights and right of way road laws. I believe this would ideal to restate into the inner city to replace no-car zones. Light rail can be high fequency, low volume which constantly serve the inner city region. Technology to make the trams run on alternate energy would make this a clean form of transport making it far more convenient travelling from one end of the city to the other.

The light rail could operate from all the inner city rail stations (South Bank, South Brisbane, Roma St, Central and the Valley) so that people are encouraged to use rail or busways.

This diagram shows how Brisbane can take advantage of the existing TOD and Major Centres. Making the city carless presents transport issues for people who usually drive. By providing more carparking and better ways of accessing TODs and Major centres (Satellite Nodes), the need for cars will be decreased. These satellite nodes can become more self-sufficient to reduce the strain upon the city. Designing according to the community needs at these points would benefit the localise areas around the satellite nodes while reducing strain upon the city. 

The issue in this would be to make sure the city is still viable. I think that the city will always be a popular, high population region. Current trend in Brisbane is for urban sprawl - higher population is pushing the city outwards, eating into precious bio-diversity. Densifying the urban condition in the inner city would counter the need to spread. More high rise residential will therefore mean more people will be inner city. Eventually, the satellite nodes may become macro versions of the CBD. Keeping these developments sustainable is the key so the issues mentioned in the previous weeks tutorials must be developed in parralel.