Liveable green network

Sustainable Sydney 2030 is a set of goals to improve the local area's sustainability by 2030. We are encouraging 10% of journeys in the local area to be made by bicycle and at least half to be made on foot by 2030. We also wants residents to be within walking distance to services and facilities such as fresh food markets, child care, health care and public parks.

Routes laid out for the liveable green network will encourage cycling and walking. Improvements will include separated cycleways, lower speed limits, widened footpaths and improved crossings. Cycling routes will be clearly marked with easy-to-read maps and signage. More seats, bubblers and bike parking will be built along major cycling paths.

Locals and visitors will benefit from the liveable green network as it supports:

• Liveability: Walking and cycling are important benchmarks for a liveable city. High levels of walking mean a city is safe, vibrant and easily accessible by everyone.
• Health: Cycling and walking are excellent forms of physical activity. They can form part of journeys to and from work, rest and play that might not otherwise feature in people’s busy schedules.
• Environment: Encouraging people to walk or cycle for short distances can help reduce pollution, improve sustainability and complement public transport links.
• Fairness: Young people, older people and people without a car need choices when it comes to transport. People who live in the local area are less likely to own a car than others elsewhere in Sydney.

There is significant potential for greater walking and cycling paths under the liveable green network.

Every day in metropolitan Sydney people make more than 16 million trips that are less than 10km, including 392,000 bicycle trips – more than the number of ferry trips each day. The cycling share for trips under 10km has grown from 1.9% to 2.5% since 2010 and since 2006 the number of people riding to work has increased by 50%.

These are considerable figures and highlight the need for the liveable green network to be rolled out across central Sydney.

This report develops and refines the Sustainable Sydney 2030 project idea by undertaking background research and case studies, reviewing previous cycle and pedestrian network planning studies, and undertaking route assessments to identify network gaps and amenity shortfalls.

We will consider approval requests for signs that provide directions to be installed in public places.

To reduce street sign clutter across our local area, directional signs will only be approved if the request complies with our draft signage rules, which can be obtained from the our principal engineer, programming and communication.

To apply for approval you need to state how your proposal meets the draft rules in writing, to our principal engineer, programming and communication.

If you need to replace an existing directional sign that has been destroyed or removed, you will also need to apply for approval before the sign can be replaced.

Twice a year we carry out walking count surveys to give us a picture of walking trends across the local area. The counts take place at around 100 locations from 6am to midnight in fair weather conditions, on a weekday and a day on the weekend in March and October.

The survey locations were selected based on the liveable green network, such as locations of interest or where change is occurring or expected.

After each survey, locations may change slightly depending on review information and upcoming construction or new areas of interest in the city.  For example, locations on and around George Street have been increased due to light rail construction.

The locations are detailed in the map of walking count survey sites.

Our surveys use a methodology devised by Danish architect and urban design expert, Jahn Gehl, where counts are carried out for 10 minutes every hour then multiplied by 6 to provide an approximate count for a whole hour.

When the counts first started in 2013, surveys were done manually but technology improvements now allow for data collection through video surveys.

You can download data from our walking count surveys.