Redfern Thoughts

Been spending some time walking around Redfern.

In an effort to try to comprehend the suburb, where people congregated, main infrustructure nodes etc I compared it to Surry Hills or even Paddington; areas of gentrification.

If we look at Redfern I couldn't really see any main streets or areas where significant amounts of people congregated, e.g. that were "Crown St"-esque. Instead, little pockets of cafes, restaurants and bars, as well as some parks seemed to be where small amounts of people congregated, and that these areas were spread out throughout the suburb. Paddington has its Oxford St, Surry Hills its Crown St, which are both fairly major thoroughfares when moving through the suburb. However Redferns main thoroughfares would probably be Gibbons St next to the train station, which provides access towards the city, and Redfern Street, which is smaller scale. Gibbons Street is noisy and loud, and it is no surprise that it is not pleasant to be around. Redfern Street I feel has potential, with the newly developed BVN park adjacent and lots of retail shops, but a significant minority of shops were empty storefronts waiting to be leased.

If we look at the transport in the area, the busiest area (disregarding the roads) would be Redfern Station. Watching the station in the morning saw it extremely busy as people went to work. Despite this, the public areas around the station were not particularly pleasant, and access points were awkward and congested. It struck me that the Station really just acted as a transit point, there was nowhere to meet people or spend time. Should this be improved?

Furthermore I realised that Redfern was potentially a suburb of dispersal, as opposed to congregation. Surry Hills and Crown St I would suggest are areas where people congregate, and yet in Redfern there are no real areas to congregate. You get off your train from work, and walk home via networks of laneways. Different precincts such as the station, the Australian Tech Park, the BVN park, the social housing towers, are not linked by any large roads but medium to small streets and laneways. It made me wonder what the qualities f the public areas are like (mostly not great), do people actually use them (sometimes), do they have multiple uses (no, excepting the BVN park), are laneways considered public spaces (yes), how do they affect people moving around the area, what infrastructure is linked to the public areas, and if we use Redfern Station as a generator for people, what are the public areas and thoroughfares surrounding it like?