Melbourne’s tram system is undergoing a strategic modernisation program including redesign of over 1,000 tram stops and a rethinking of corridor streetscape designs in order to improve both tram operations and the quality of the customer experience. The program represents a significant opportunity to reimagine how tram corridor streetscapes can function as key places that build upon unique neighbourhood identity and sustain local economic activity.
The research project seeks to better understand individually perceived place quality through a mixed methods inquiry and measurement process. The information gathered from this process will inform the development of a Place Quality Audit Tool which will be applied to a variety of segments along Melbourne’s tram corridors.
By developing a stronger understanding of perceived place quality, the research will help to guide the redesign work Yarra Trams is undertaking so that it not only improves functional operation, but also results in an enhanced customer experience via the restructuring of tram corridor streetscape environments through a passenger-oriented set of design standards.
This project is part of the Sustainable and Effective Public Transport – Graduate Research Industry Partnership (SEPT-GRIP) and is supervised by Professor Graham Currie and Chris De Gruyter . The project is being undertaken by Matthew Diemer and is sponsored by Yarra Trams and Monash University.
PUBLICATIONS/OUTPUTS
- Diemer MJ, Currie G, De Gruyter C and Hopkins I (2018) ‘Filling the Space between Trams, Transport and Place: Adapting the ‘Movement & Place’ Framework to Melbourne’s Tram Network’ JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY Volume 70, June 2018, Pages 215-227
- Diemer, Matthew; Currie, Graham; De Gruyter, Chris; Kamruzzaman, Md; Hopkins, Ian (2021) ‘A Streetcar to Be Desired? The Development of a New Approach to Measure Place Quality in the Context of Tram Network Modernisation’ JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY Volume 94, June 2021, 103109