CITY space designer David Engwicht wants Cleveland to re-invent itself, turning the CBD into a social and cultural hot spot.
He wants locals to come up with ideas that will see people gravitate to the CBD and spend more time there.
Mr Engwicht said the key to making such commercial places successful was to have them heavily populated. In turn, this attracted still more people.
“It’s just like coffee shops. People go to the busy ones,’’ he said. “They don’t go to the cafe with no one in it.’’
Mr Engwicht has been brought in by Redland City Council to lead the Cleveland CBD makeover.
The CBD and its businesses have struggled in the face of opposition from shopping malls and the restaurant precinct of Raby Bay just a block away.
Mr Engwicht said he wanted the revival to be community led.
He has created a 7 Day Makeover process in which communities come up with ideas about how to refresh town centres on a shoe-string budget.
"If the CBD is to compete with the regional shopping centres, it has to offer more than just convenience shopping,’’ he said.
"...What we would like to achieve is a more vibrant and prosperous CBD that feels like it's the civic heart of the community.
“It needs to be a place where people want to hang out and relax because it's welcoming and interesting.’’
During the process, Mr Engwicht will take people on a CBD walkabout and ask them to come up with make-over ideas.
He wants to see “linger nodes’’ created. These could be almost anything from improving seating, to decks or places where children could play.
He said town centres were about aesthetics and Redlands Meat Hall butchers understood this with their fibreglass cow outside the store.
“The butcher with the big red bull is engaging with the street reasonably well,’’ he said.
Butcher Will O’Brien said his bovine addition was a talking point. “I guess it’s about putting a bit of effort in,’’ he said.
“It’s Ferrari red at the moment with love hearts but I’m thinking of doing peace signs.
“You’ve got to reinvent yourself every now and then.’’
Mr Engwicht said basic infrastructure did not need changing but the CBD had to feel like a place where people would like to hang out and it had to have playful elements. Businesses had to engage with the footpath.
Mayor Karen Williams said council would trial a more flexible approach to footpaths.
"Taking a step back and reviewing whether some of our rules and regulations are impediments to creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, will be a critical part of the 7 Day Makeover process,’’ she said. "We are committed to providing as much latitude as possible.’’
Mr Engwicht said the presence of the Raby Bay restaurant precinct and the proposed Toondah Harbour development made the challenge more difficult but not impossible.
Newcastle, NSW, had suffered from 80 per cent vacancy rates but had managed to turn it around and so could Cleveland.
The 7 Day Makeover will take place May 6 to 12. Mr Engwicht will kick it off at a community information session at 6.30pm Tuesday, April 11, at Binary Music Studio, Shop 11, Cleveland Plaza, 48 Bloomfield Street.
The program's Facebook page is <https://www.facebook.com/7-Day-Makeover-Cleveland-377059772678238/>
