City square, city lanes

This article is the third and final one in a series on Australia and the key city of Melbourne. In the first two articles, we looked at how the country and that great city are centers for the creative industries in culture, design, fashion and film. We end with a look at the city from the ground level, through its famous lanes and its landmark central space, Federation Square.

Like New York, historic central Melbourne is organized in a grid. New York has Central Park and Times Square as key public spaces. Melbourne has Federation Square, although this space is relatively new.

Melbourne has always been gifted with a system of large parks spread around the city and its suburbs. Its historic core had small squares, but as it grew in the 20th century, it needed a large central open space. This need was addressed in the 1960s with a city square being built near Melbourne’s city hall. The space did not succeed due to access issues and the nature of urban development in those decades that focused on suburban development.

The city and its residents felt the need for a larger square. This was felt even more from the 1990s as its central area experienced a renaissance, with the development of the Yarra riverside, the rise of new developments, improvements in urban design, walkability, sidewalks and bikeways.

A rail yard, however, separated the historic core and its main riverside drive, Flinder’s Street, from the river. This yard also marred views of the city’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral. In the 1960s two large modernist towers were built on a platform above the railway yard. It blocked views of the heritage buildings of the city. Fortunately the towers were demolished in 1996 to make way for a new mixed-use development focused on large square.

Federation Square was the result of an international design competition won by a consortium of UK and Australian architects and landscape architects. It features a large square paved in Australian stone cobbles. The new square was built atop the rail lines.

The square itself occupies most of the 3.2-hectare site. It is defined by a cluster of low buildings separated by lanes, which mimic the historic lanes of the city nearby. These low buildings include the National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Visitor’s Center, a theater, an event facility, the ACMI museum, SBS, a broadcasting company, and a large digital screen which regularly features sporting events broadcast to the square’s crowds.

On my one-week stay in Melbourne, I crossed the square several times, twice when there were large civic gatherings. I love the irregular geometry of the square, which plays off the de-constructivist style of the architecture of the buildings. Local Melbournians took a few years to warm up to the building design but the square itself quickly became the center of the city.

Over 2,000 events are held in Fed Square every year. The vibrancy of the space now defines Melbourne as a city. It is acknowledged as one of the great squares and plazas in the world, an exemplar of urban design and landscape architecture. Over 10 million visitors a year visit this destination, twice more than the total number of visitors to the entire Philippines.

I also liked that the square connects to the riverside, which was one of the main aims of the original competition brief. One can board a boat for a cruise of the Yarra River and surrounding areas from a quay right next to the square. I kept imagining how Manila could take cues from Melbourne’s development of Federation Square.

I spent my last afternoon in the city not just on the square but also walking through the lanes embedded in the city grid nearby. I was given a private tour of these lanes, which we call eskinitas, by Trevor Howard, the husband of Yoly Estomata, a college mate from my alma mater, UP. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they lived right opposite the square and right next to Hosier Lane, the most famous of the city’s laneways.

Trevor is a professor of sociology at La Trobe University and has a keen interest in urban issues and also heads the Philippines Australia Studies Center. He took me on a walking tour of over a kilometer of lanes and related arcades.

The lanes have become a tourist magnet after they were appropriated by local graffiti artists as a living canvas for urban art. The lanes originated from the 1800s as part of the grid development. They served as service lanes in between building blocks. They still serve that function today, as well as providing pedestrian shortcuts to key streets and historic shopping arcades. The theater district is also nearby and provides cultural options to the city’s expansive arts center across the river.

The lanes host a multitude of nightlife options, as well as daytime cafes and restaurants. The lanes have colorful names reflecting the occupant’s professions or industry — Hosier Lane, Hardware Lane, Tattersalls Lane. They even have AC/DC Lane named after that famous Australian rock band.

Trevor explained that there are issues of gentrification and maintenance as more and more tourists flock to the district and the lanes. Real estate development pressures are also being felt by local residents. These have so far been resisted by stakeholders. It is complicated but, compared to heritage districts in Manila, there is no comparison with Melbourne’s success in conserving its identity and bringing back vibrancy to its core.

Manilans have a lot to learn from Melbournians. This is in the areas of urban planning and design, parks and recreation, mass transport, and biking. Like Melbourne, we could bring our metropolis into the 2st century by creatively adapting heritage and urban form to accommodate modern lifestyles without losing culture or identity.

I do hope we learn these lessons soon.

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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.