Expert says over-policing Little Malop St is not the answer

GEELONG will not police its way out of trouble in the Little Malop St mall, a leading urban designer argues.

Steve Thorne, who has held key Victorian public sector roles amid a wealth of international experience, has prepared a paper on the future of the city’s trouble spot.

He said an increased secur- ity presence, aimed at deterring people from the area, was not the solution and argued for improvements that attracted people to visit the space.

“If safety and security is the aim, then this seems the only way to achieve this in (the) mall.

“Every other approach has been tried and has clearly failed. Short of building walls to cut off the space, a defensive approach has not worked.”

Mr Thorne, a Design Urban Pty Ltd director, has called for Market Square Shopping Centre to be cut in half to create a straight public connection from Union St to Malop St.

“It would be desirable to have this link as direct as possible, and open to the sky, thereby replacing the public streets and lanes which were removed in the past,” he said.

“This would guarantee increased footfall through the shopping centre to the benefit of retailers.”

He also wants to ensure the edges of the mall are more diverse and open, which will require private investment and potentially an extension of the shopping centre.

“Buildings to the south will need to clean up their facades, open windows once again and create tenancies which are attractive to the market, and which result in active edges to Market Square mall,” Mr Thorne said.

“This will require fundamental changes to the buildings, and expenditure from owners.

“It may also require the City of Greater Geelong to allow Market Square shopping centre to encroach slightly onto the Mall to allow shops, cafes and restaurants to be developed which face out to the public space.”

His other suggestions include adding residents to the area, while looking at potentially developing homes above the existing car park, and making design improvements to the mall, with much of the street furniture now impractical.

Mr Thorne played a key role in the design of Geelong’s ‘City in a Park’ long-term plan, which involves 26 projects and $90 million in investment.