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A quick shot of Lorne St in front of the library. It appears Brobdingnagian gardeners have dropped by with some seriously big pot plants. I love them!

About the only criticism I every heard about the shared space in Lorne St was the lack of greenery. This is a fast and cheap way to inject some trees into the street, well done Auckland Council. Excellent “cheap and cheerful” New York style treatment. Hopefully there is a stack of these things stashed somewhere ready to be dropped in around the city as needed.

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      1. >> About the only criticism I every heard about the shared space in Lorne St was the lack of greenery.

        A few more things that would be very nice to have:

        – Non-linear arrangement of furniture or other cues to deter motor vehicles speeding through.
        – More effective barrier against right-turning rat-runners at the northern end, feeding into Wellesley.
        – Better pedestrian connection to the rest of Lorne St across Wellesley. Perhaps just pave it similarly to the surface between the Gallery and Khartoum.
        – Permeable frontage. Could mean rehabilitating the St James; opening an arcade through it to Queen; setting up perma-temp stalls/containers/markets; or, indeed, greenery.
        – Some kind of thing-in-the-street in the middle of the huge intersection with Rutland St. I sometimes wonder if the statue at the stairs up the road could be moved down. Or a tree.

        1. “Non-linear arrangement of furniture or other cues to deter motor vehicles speeding through.”

          Need to overrule the Council-sanctioned contractor who values symmetry and straight lines, even though genuine shared spaces include neither of those.

  1. Beautiful.

    There are a couple of things to be rectified. Firstly, the St James needs to be reopened in some form, allowing for active access to facilities and hosted events through Lorne St. Secondly, after hours commercial activity should be encouraged, whether that be in the form of food stalls and trucks, restaurants and bars, or other activity. Some interesting lighting like that in Eyelight Lane would do wonders for its perceived welcomingness.

    1. I’d love it if they could at least secure and open the foyer bar. There is a wonderful, if shabby, marble and velvet type bar in there which would nicely link Lorne and Queen Sts.

  2. Was really happy to see these trees go in when I saw them first a few months ago. However I feel like there needs to be more! At least 5 or 7 trees rather than the 3. Having more would mean there could be more colour too.

    Also unfortunately the plant choice isn’t quite right… Pohutukawa and flower carpet roses? (The roses are cut back for the whole winter already and look pretty bare) Would be nice having green groundcovers spilling over the sides perhaps…

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