Last night Council endorsed a long term vision for King William Road based on concepts that have recently been worked up by our administration and an extensive public consultation. They also approved a pilot parklet program.
Council unanimously backed this initiative via a motion put by Cr Koumi (who is the presiding member of the Unley Business and Economic Development committee) and seconded by myself (as a member of that committee).
As I spoke of last night this about Council (who consist mainly of the baby boomer and driver generations) recognising that the future of what once was the premier shopping destination in the wider Adelaide environs must be based on what the gen X and gen Y generation expect from their shopping experience.
The focus on the transaction that typifies the boomers and Drivers must give way to the wish of the Gen X & Y’ers which is based not on the transaction but the experience. This is a necessity where simply transactional shopping can and is predominantly being done on the internet.
And we have not just endorsed the vision we have approved taking the first baby steps via the use of two parklets to be located by collaboration with the businesses of the strip. This project will test the waters of what can be achieved.
I congratulate the design team for working up the concepts that now form part of the vision for this strip. If you would like to check out their report go to this link.
This should lead in my mind to King William Road again being the premier shopping strip of the wider Adelaide environs.
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