NZ visual diary - entry 57

Federal Street promenade

Federal Street is a narrow passageway running in a north-south direction parallel to Hobson Street to the west and Albert Street to the East.

The development arm of Auckland Council, known as Eke Panuku, is quite proud of its work on the redevelopment of Federal Street. Panuku would have us understand that the ongoing Federal Street project is part of a city centre focus on Auckland's 'laneway circuit.'

Panuku reports:

'When complete, the upgrades to Federal Street will form part of Auckland city centre’s ‘laneway circuit’ . . . a growing network of city centre laneways designed to open up urban spaces and provide routes with good pedestrian access and opportunities for people to connect, enjoy outdoor areas, and access cycleways throughout other areas of the city.'

Today's image above captures the ambiance of a portion of Federal Street I most enjoy visiting. The laneway segment is colourful and verdant --murals, banners, street trees and foliage abound. The intimate physicality of a narrow passageway and contemporary features of urban design, in balanced combination, evoke both old world charm and urban hipness.

My one salient complaint is that the street is still open to one-way car traffic. With the completion of Auckland's City Rail Link project, which will vastly augment the city's excellent bus system, I hope to see much of the 'laneway circuit' of Auckland's city centre closed to car traffic.

Auckland needs desperately to get over its love affair with the passenger car.