Reimagined Bridge St could be blueprint for future design ideals
The “What if Whakatu” discussions were an exciting measure of how many people feel inspired about the future of Nelson. Going forward, yet respecting our past and remembering our city’s stories. Defining who we are now and how our needs have changed over the two centuries since the town map was laid out.
It will be exciting to see the changes and to think about how those who come after us will be living their lives in the future.
One of the things people struggle with in this ultra-modern world is “how to connect” as more and more of it happens online. The city should be a place to connect.
Nelson City Council is required by central government to allow intensification of areas within walking distance of the centre of town.
Bridge St is in line to be one of the first areas to see the change. The street will need to be excavated to allow new services to be laid, providing an ideal opportunity to re-think the concept of the street.
If Bridge St is to help define the city for the next 50 or 100 years, it needs to reconnect the people and our changing times.
While city malls are attractive to pedestrians, they don’t meet many of the other needs of an urban street.
When I first came to Nelson in the 80s, I was captured by the Bridge Cafe, a very bohemian iteration of an inner city mall building challenging most of our modern building standards.
This had the personal spaces and scales that suited Nelson.
We need another vision for Bridge St, which breaks the mould and will last for the coming century.
Some of the most exciting pedestrian streets I’ve experienced make use of the through traffic to enhance action, introduce change and excitement: Las Ramblas, Champs-Élysées, Market St.
A one-way system down Bridge
St would leave plenty of room for pedestrians, attract bicycles, scooters and taxis while still allowing for service vehicles.
The western end of Bridge St is the original 1840s shoreline and may challenge long-term visions for this end of the street.
We have been pushing the tide line back for most of the last 200 years. It may be time to start making room for the sea again.
“What if” the reclaimed areas beyond the 1840 shoreline became a sponge zone. Sponge zones are robust, low tech buffers against the threats of climate change.
Nelson has a wonderful botanical heritage already and we can enhance this even further. Imagine nikau forests and wetlands on all our unused green areas of reclaimed land.
Whakatu Square connects to Bridge St via Haven Rd. It links the bus service, the shared pathway to the sea, Anzac Park and Trafalgar St. The Square feels neglected, partly due to its flooding problems.
It was the tidal zone once before and predictions suggest it may be again. This could be a place to look at telling some of our story.
I love the Taurapa waka sculpture on the Maitai. Waka used to be tied up at what is the lower end of Bridge St, Auckland Point and Paruparu Rd.
Our young people are saying that the city fails to deliver spaces for them. Whakatū Square could be an opportunity to provide a place for rangatahi where they can gather.
Being the original shore line will always be part of its whakapapa.
The tide line is still currently visible at the Saltwater Creek Bridge.
We could start planting a trans-evaporation forest, include the next generation, and allow them some space in the climate change discussion. A climatorium in Whakatū Square would be a sentinel place.
Sean Walker has been anarchitectural designer for 40 years in Wellington, Christchurch and Nelson, where he has resided since 2000.