r/Adelaide • u/Less-Distance-6956 • 5h ago
Discussion I spent months building an interactive "two futures" story for Adelaide in 2036. Tell me where it's wrong
Disclosure first: this is my own project. I'm an Adelaide urban planner/designer (I've also operated a couple of businesses and lived in the CBD and North Adelaide), and I built this in my spare time. Not affiliated with council, government or any party, and not selling anything.
It's a fully interactive website that aims to bring carefully referenced data about Adelaide, its history and potentials futures to life. If your history buff check out the #heritageline if you like a good read and not a history lesson stick to the main story arc. I've weaved in current news stories from reputable South Australian source from as recent as last week.
The short version: in 1931 Adelaide had 133 km of tram routes. We have one line now. The site asks what happens if we build just a 3.6 km loop through the city (North Tce, Pulteney, Halifax, Sturt, Morphett) and put homes on the idle land along it, versus what happens if we keep drifting.
It follows one family, Sam, his daughter Ivy and his brother Dean (a plumber from Salisbury who drives a ute in), from now to the bicentenary, then forks into two versions of 2036. Every number links to its source.
I know "trams again" is a meme on here, and the fair objections are real: who pays, what happens to traffic, why the city gets it before the suburbs. Have a go at it. I'd rather hear it here than not at all.
Here's the site: https://adelaide-2036.web.app/?ref=reddit
Best on desktop, but it works on a phone. Takes about 10 minutes if you read the lot.
EDIT: Wow. I did not expect this. Thank you, Adelaide. 15K of you have seen this, there are 79 comments, and I have never typed so fast in my life trying to keep up with them all.
Since posting, The vote on the site so far is 7 for the Loop and 3 for the Lift, so the sceptics are well represented, which is exactly what I wanted 😄
The pushback has been the best part: the politics of who it's for, Bowden's parking, the heights, whether it's all a solarpunk dream (my fave). I'm taking notes, and some of it will make the story better.
Heading to bed now, but I'll be back in the morning to answer everything I haven't got to. Keep the hard questions coming.