Have COVID-19 measures such as parklets and extended outdoor dining been good for the economy?

Often the transport profession is reticent to remove kerb-side parking for fear of backlash from the community and businesses particularly. This study has shown the opposite. - that in the right place, parklets are embraced and can create economic benefit as well as community amenity. Of course, being armed with some hard economic data can also help.

Urbis have been working with the City of Melbourne over the last few months to evaluate their Extended Outdoor Dining (EOD) program. Council's EOD program has supported businesses to keep operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program created roughly 18,000 new outdoor seats, resulting from a 113% increase in outdoor dining permits issued, comprising of:

• 201 new dining parklets from 384 kerb-side car parking spaces
• 21 street/laneway were converted into people-friendly dining spaces
• 551 new or extended on-footpath dining locations 24 new dining areas in parks/promenades

One of the things I've loved about this program is how warmly it has been embraced by the community with 96% of businesses citing that they think it has created a 'positive vibe' and 88% of the general community feeling like it has been a good addition to the city.

How our streets are managed matters to both the ambience of our cities but also our cities ability to thrive economically

The Urbis team found that 75% of businesses were receiving at least an additional $1,642 per week in revenue from their individual EOD areas, including parklets. With this income, those businesses were able to retain and in some cases employ additional people, order produce, get deliveries and more, resulting in the broader economy benefitting from the program to the tune of $20.6m. How our streets are managed matters to both the ambience of our cities but also our cities ability to thrive economically.

Thanks to the team comprising of Graham McCabe, Amelia Thorpe, Richard Gibbs, Ryan Bondfield and our wonderful clients at the City of Melbourne including Sophie Handley, Matthew Comport and Natalie Siragusa. A link to their committee report can be found here.

Urbis have been heavily involved in projects which are focussed on creating people-centred places both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such work has resulted in designing temporary street upgrades and closures in Wyndham during the pandemic, closing streets to making pedestrian friendly spaces in the Northern Beaches of Sydney and the Re-Imagining Campbelltown Strategy. Reach out to a #cityshaper near you if you want to know more about this project or any of Urbis's approach to transport projects which have people at their heart.