comments + mo to come

General comment from 1 of the panelists
- All the groups should look at the movement along and onto Louis
Botha more (particularly group 3). They should look at who is moving
along the street, how they are moving, where do they stop etc. The
speed of movement and frequency of traffic lights is very important to
the character and usability of the different segments of the street.
- If possible it would be a good idea to identify buildings or urban
design interventions in their segments that do work and use these as
case studies for their future projects.

Group 1 –
- The group needs to work on simplifying their presentation – making
it clearer, more legible and not read the presentation.
- The point that the road is a barrier did not come across. This
needs to be understood and later on dealt with.
- The detail that they went into and the 3d modelling was good.
- I liked the fact that the identified opportunities and started to
look at urban design principles / interventions. They must be careful
not to make assumptions without backing them up – e.g. shop front have
to be transparent etc.
- They need look at and understand the two communities on the
different sides of the road. This was lacking.
- They should look at buildings that have a positive interaction with
the street – the Bedford Centre corner to see how they work. They
seemed to miss this.

Group 2 – - Presentation was good and clear.
- I question the portion of the segment that they chose – it is
atypical for the segment.
- They should look at what is working along the street – institutions
that have lasted – and understand why they work and what they can
learn from these.
- They need to look more at the movement along the street – vehicular
particularly. The speed, type and number of vehicles. They are what
make the street both functional and dysfunctional. All of the groups
should look at this.
- I thought the detail they went into was great – pavements etc.
- They should look at understanding the community as much as they do
the physical environment.
- I like the fact that they started to question what they found.
- They should map in more than 1 dimension.


Group 3 –
- I like the idea of giving the project a theme – they must be careful
not to set them selves unreachable goals…
- I enjoyed some of their graphics – especially the hand drawings.
- I think that they need to look more carefully at Louis Botha, the
shops and communities along it, how it is used, the traffic and
movement etc. I didn’t get the feeling that they were connected to
their research area. They should give us a sense of both sides of the
road.
- Better three dimensional mapping would be great.
- I suggest that they look for points where the two communities interact.
- I admire how involved they have become in trying to understand the
Jewish community. I think that they should look at their experience –
as traumatic as it was – and try to understand why they were treated
with such hostility (the community obviously feels threatened). This
could be a great opportunity for their intervention later on in the
project. I am however a bit concerned that they could get bogged down
in the politics of it all…
- I think that they are on the right track – they just have a lot more
work to do.