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Executive summary
Public life
The George Town World Heritage site has a rich public life
Socialising &
Eating
Trading &
Working
Shopping &
Buying
Relaxing &
Enjoying
Exercising &
Health
Religion &
festivals
The public realm
The public realm of the George Town World Heritage Site
Accessible public realm (33.7 acres)
Potential public realm (38.4 acres)
Car parking
9%
Potential
public
realm
19%
Formal public space
8%
Religious/
worship/
cemetery
6%
Streetscape
58%
Pedestrian infrastructure
The George Town World Heritage Site has 23km of five-footway and 18km of pavement in the George Town World Heritage Site covering approximately 80% of roadsides.
100%
90%
80%
18.1
23.2
10.0
6.1
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
10
20
30
40
50
Km
0%
Pavement
Five-footway
No infrastructure
Roadside
Pavement
Five-footway
No infrastructure
Other/access/lanes
60
Walkability assessment
Walkability varies significantly, however highly walkable environments are in short supply.
Moving forward
Improving infrastructure, increasing connectivity, enhancing public spaces & reducing the impact of traffic
Improving infrastructure
•
Ensure all streetscape improvements adopt MS1331:2003 at a minimum, and seek to develop a broader set of streetscape design guidelines for the World Heritage Site. $
•
Develop strategies to either fill in infrastructure gaps or change streetscape design to officially accommodate shared uses. $$$$
•
Formalise shared streets with streetscape modifications in both the tourism and leisure zone (Love Lane & Muntri St) and the cultural enclave (Armenian & Acheh St). $$$
•
Develop a combined pedestrian & cycle lane along the southern side of Chulia Street from Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling to Penang Road. $$
•
Upgrade the back lanes of the Tourism and Leisure zone and the Cultural Enclave to create new pedestrian spaces and linkages. $$$
•
Develop a public programme of five-footway upgrading along the main pedestrian spine, with a particular focus on the northern side of Chulia Street as a pilot project. $$$
•
Cover open drains with no historic value. $$$
thousands = $
hundreds of thousands = $$
millions = $$$
more than 10 million = $$$$
Increasing connectivity
•
Introduce 12 new signalised pedestrian crossings along the main pedestrian spine. $$$
•
Ensure all bus stops are accessible with sufficient pedestrian infrastructure, in particular along Chulia Street and Weld Quay. $$
•
Develop a pavement along the northern section and walking lanes along both sides of the southern section of Pengkalan Weld. $$
•
Upgrade the exiting link between the Esplanade and Green Hall Lane and create a new pedestrian seafront link between Green Hall Lane and the E&O hotel. $$
•
Create a pedestrian linkage between Tanjong City Marina and the Raja Tun Uda Ferry & Bus Terminal. $
Enhancing public spaces
•
Launch a consultation exercise on the potential of opening up the grounds of public institutions. $
•
Asses the feasibility of a multi-storey parking facility on Downing Street. $
•
Open up Dewan Sri Pinang to greater public access and re-designate Duke Street as a shared space. $$$
•
Promote the Padang as a venue for sports once again with improved changing and storage facilities. $
•
Improve accessibility to Green Hall lane pocket park and engage local businesses and stakeholders in redevelopment proposals. $
•
Redevelop the Street of Harmony as an urban linear park, removing existing on-street car parking. $$$
•
Redevelop surface car parking at Shih Chung School, Chulia Street Car Park, People’s Court and Carnarvon Street car park into urban parks. $$$
•
Create small public spaces in setback spaces and convert underutilised spaces into spaces for people. $$
•
Develop a street furniture plan for the World Heritage Site and launch a public competition for street furniture designs. $
•
Re-purpose non-operational telephone booths as tourist information kiosks or telephone boxes as upright cycle parking. $
Reducing the impact of traffic
•
Examine (and model) the impact of alternative one way traffic flows on vehicular volumes in the George Town World Heritage Site. $
•
Develop a car parking strategy for George Town with a particular emphasis on the World Heritage Site. $ (see 5 detailed recommendations $-$$$$)
•
Evaluate the existing CAT service adding an additional function of a Park & Ride service, improving routing and stops, signage and mapping, frequency and fleet. $$$
•
Conduct ferry user surveys to understand vehicular parking and provide a ‘Park and Ride’ service at Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal. $$
•
Work with major employers to develop ‘Travel Plans’, potentially as part of the Penang Green Office programme. $
•
Promote a single ticketing Stored Value Card that can be used on all public transport. $
•
Develop cycling infrastructure in George Town that promotes cycling as an alternative form of transport, ensuring sufficient parking provision for privately owned cycles.
$$$
Recommendation map
The recommendations and suggestions made in this report should be viewed as pilot projects from which the learning can be rolled out. The focus is on the main pedestrian spine
and on achievable changes, with a number of positive interventions possible at minimal cost.