JayBev

Awkward, specialising in Transport Planning this/next year... Ill be sure to keep my head down if it all goes t*ts up!

Thankfully i can take no credit in the planning failures of Sheffield, of which there are numerous. (The road system as you mentioned is particularly and notoriously bad)

Ah, good stuff. I do Town Planning, writing my dissertation as we speak!

What course did you do?

Yeah, makes more sense. Just feel in general a more pedestrianised city centre would stop the alienation of areas. Moor Vs Fargate vs Division Street Vs Castle Market etc

Trams would still have access, many European cities have pedestrianised areas while maintaining a tram/LRV service. Yeah, good points. As mentioned a scheme could be ran from Park square to the cathedral allowing full car and taxi access to West Street? (Im not personally saying this is the best idea, was just curious on peoples thoughts on the matter)

Pretty much, or even Park square to the cathedral. Just that road with the tram lines then a the really busy bus route is such a chocke point on what could be a very decent continuation of pedestrian access leading on from the end of fargate. The markets on the move but feel that part of the city will just be left to die when it goes. Just think it would be a natural progression of fargate and give the whole area a more connected feel. Bus redistrobution would be the most obvious problem but not one that coulnt be worked around, arundle gate etc

Was just wondering if people thought it would a) possible and b) beneficial. Must of been incedents especially on nights out regarding cars and drunk people, plus it cuts the cathedral and market off from the rest of the city (Tram's would still have accces but bussess, taxis's and cars would not).

Bluntly Medowhall was a mistake. It was a mistake for Sheffield and for the Sheffield conurbation, dragging much needed shopping into the Don Valley and away from the city centre. This was done during times of economic difficulty, and hence the council and thus the planners had their hands tied, as they do now. One option was to allow the Laissez-Faire development on the outskirts of the city, which would bring jobs and an economic boost, the other was to allow the city to continue to fail, losing any kind of competitive edge with the other Northern cities, but whilst keeping a strategic heart to the city. I agree they chose badly, but perhaps it was the lesser of two evils, and now they are in a situation in which many big companies prefer to locate their shops in Medowhall and not the city centre (Sports Direct etc). However, the abandonment of any retail in the city centre seems extreme to the maximum. People will become completely disenfranchised from their city, and will cause social exclusion. While the foods, pubs, bars etc won't necessarily be effected (but well could be), the city centre will become more of a ghost town, perhaps this is what the people of Sheffield want but I'd rather a vibrant (But at times/ in areas poor) city centre then BE FORCED to use a soulless, heartless, unsustainable mega shopping centre which encourages the use of the car to outrageous levels while discouraging walking and cycling. With regards to the Moor they are doing the best they can with a limited budget, and I believe they have the right idea. All development of this sort I believe should occur within the inner ring road, and should be done strategically to link to other areas. The moor and fargate are still/will still be too far disjointed and disconnected even after this work, and any long term success of restoring the city centre will rely on pedestrianisation and the development of the central area to connect the Moor, Division Street and Fargate (John Lewis potential indoor shopping centre has been suggested numerous times but very difficult to find the capital to get such a project of the ground and may require a private company to undertake the venture (Usefull example of this is in Gateshead in which an arm of Tesco is regenerating the city centre (Google trinity square gateshead)). Unfourtunitly I would do this at the expense of the castle market area, which while being a traditional hub of the city is far to disjointed over that busy road and tram tracks, and long term should be the location of residential/office/students not retail. ---------- Post added 15-04-2013 at 13:31 ---------- Really good link, alot of good points made in there, depressing that Leeds seems so much further ahead of the game then Sheffield (Not a SHeffield native btw either)

This argument that goths dont cause trouble because they in general are white middle class is rediculous stereotyping, most the 30,000 students in Sheffield are Whilte middle class, and they cause a fair bit of trouble. (Carnage - Urinating on the war memorial springs to mind)

This sounds amazing, never heard of it though

It makes sense from a residents point of view, but for the city as a whole a healthy tourist industry obviously helps. Would also help the regeneration of the city centre which has been in decline since Medowhall.

I wasnt even aware the Museums were closed on weekends, that seems utterly pointless out of holidays! As for the mentioned museums i couldnt say as have never visited them! The point i was trying to make in general is certain places such as York can rely on History far more in attracting tourists then the more Industrial cities such as Sheffield and Newcastle. True, good points, as you say there location becomes part of an obvious overal experience! But yeah, id agree, the lack of any kind of central location is a poor strategic desision, the idea of unique method of taking people around the city is an intresting one, as this in itself could become a unique selling point, the liverpool duck boat thing as you mentioned is a great example, London busses a more obvious and less applicable one.

Haha, geordies are for deffinite, I for one cannot talk for the unwashed down the A19! Soggy sandwhiches whilst have an awfull name are so good! Steak in a warm baguette with gravy poured in! I also doubt anything in the Stadium of Light will improve anytime soon, fingers crossed!

Comparing Sheffield to places such as York is pointless, while Sheffield has a proud history, industrial history is never going to pull in the punters in the same way a castle or cathedral (of a grander nature then the one present (Durham etc)) will. As many have posted Sheffield's primary competitors are Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Newcastle. Industrial Northern cities that whilst having problems, both internal (Slump estates, unemployment etc) and external (Shotingham, Robberpool etc) have to a certain extent reinvented themselves. The Liverpool One and Albert Dock developments are prime examples in Liverpool of developments with an ability to attract. Meadowhall type developments will never attract people to the city in the same way is city centre developments will in my opinion, and they are far too common now anyway to represent any kind of unique selling point. Sheffield needs to build upon good work like the peace gardens which give the city centre a nice feel; however that may bring people back it won't bring people in the first place. There is an inherent lack of unique draws compared to other localities, such as museums, flagship developments and landmarks. Compare Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside to anywhere in Sheffield and you'll struggle to find a comparable location. The city centre is a void of any kind of activity for children, and the Museams mentioned are too far and disconnected from the city centre, with no natural desire line that makes any kind of sense, the walk is instead disjointed and takes you over main roads The walk to Kelham Island is still confusing to me, and I've lived in the city for near three years. I've never been to Kelham island museum but I have heard its good, but no tourist is going to walk there from the train station or city centre hotel(same applies to other draws such as the botanical garden, and asking tourists to take awkward bus journeys or taxis to places where they could walk to similar attractions in other cities is down right stupid) (The Supertram whilst could have helped is instead suited primarily to locals and to the businesses in the Don Valley). The inner ring road is more of a noose than anything else, making pedestrian access uneasy and unnatural, and to make matters worse, the road system is one of the worst I have seen. To improve these problems there needs to be a strategic improvement to the city centre, within the ring road. Encouraging hotels and access, something I believe the council is making decent strides towards with Moor and the Indoor shopping development; however in this economic climate it's difficult to imagine anything will improve drastically anytime soon.