Cardiff Council has appointed Arup to support Cardiff city centre plan for its reopening. The firm is developing a strategy that addresses both the immediate challenges around reopening the city centre and the longer-term opportunities to improve public space in the city as we move out of lockdown.
The strategy will initially focus on ways to bring people back into the city and support the reopening of businesses, taking social distancing into account. Looking beyond COVID-19, it will investigate opportunities to improve access to high-quality open space, digital networks, air quality, resilient infrastructure and active travel.
The concept for the immediate strategy centres on accentuating the city’s welcoming nature, with new spaces for pedestrians and the construction of welcome gateways to provide information, orientation and sanitation. There will be flexibility in the measures used to ensure that the widest range of different business needs can be met.
The longer-term strategy will aim to enhance the city centre experience, maintaining and building on its vibrancy and economic resilience. The council will consult with city partners and residents to inform its plans– existing options include creation of a ‘loop’ of green public space around the city, repurposed streets that prioritise pedestrians and cyclists, consolidated logistics, and servicing linked to enhanced digital infrastructure and monitoring.
