Question for the community? How easy and intuitive is it to access your local shopping centres on foot?
A lot of the shopping centres I regularly visit seem to be outright hostile to pedestrians in favour of cars. Take this example of Midland Gate in Western Australia:
As you can see, if you’d like to walk from the bus stop to the nearest entrance to the shopping centre, you either have to cut through the car park (not possible or safe for people with a disability), or follow the path in red. The path itself feels more just like an edge to the car park, with the second picture showing how it narrows and slopes towards the road. Once again a challenge for people with mobility struggles.
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Here’s an example of nearby Midland Home. If you have a trolley or can’t use stairs for any reason, the crossing encourages you to just walk out onto the road. The slope is rather steep, and you’re left just hoping cars give you right of way.
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I too find it very awkward to walk to my local shopping centre: Westfield Booragoon (Garden City). Most mall entrances must be accessed via a carpark. Hopefully renovations will improve the situation as there will apparently be a pedestrian precinct w restaurants.
If we are to reduce the reliance on cars, shopping centres must be more accessible by foot, bus or bike.
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Our local shopping centres are pedestrian friendly, however we mainly walk or use public transport to get around and have also noticed that it is difficult to find entrances to certain shopping centres, and sometimes there are no designated pathways for pedestrians. As a result, we are forced to walk through the car parks, which creates a sense of unease as it seems inappropriate.
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