Paris Plages: the beaches they brought to the middle of the city. Photo / supplied
Paris Plages: the beaches they brought to the middle of the city. Photo / supplied
A downtown beach in the city. Who doesn't want that? A city with such an abundant coastline as Tāmaki Makaurau ought to be able to manage it many times over. Especially as the landlocked Paris has been doing it for 20 years now.
Paris Plage began in 2002 on theRive Droite, the Right Bank of the Seine: a pop-up beach with palm trees, umbrellas, deck chairs, icecreams, no cars and thousands of tonnes of sand. In 2006 the Rive Gauche, the Left Bank, joined in. The next summer another beach was created at La Villette in the northeast of the city, complete with free swimming pools with filtered water, because the ordinary river water is too polluted to swim in.
Swimming pools at La Villette, one of the beaches of Paris Plages. Photo / supplied
The banks of the Seine are car-free all year round these days and over a couple of months in summer, Paris Plages pop up in five locations, complete with cafes and bars, movies and concerts, volleyball and water sports, pedal boats and kayaks, art shows and markets. Each beach has a different vibe, from serene to pumping, and four million people make the most of it.
In Auckland, we already know we can swim in the inner harbour, so we could do this better than Paris. We already know, from the jumping platform next to the tidal steps at Karanga Plaza, in the Wynyard Quarter, just how keen people are to have fun in the water. Kids come from all over the city for that.
We also know, from the limited offerings on Queens Wharf, that setting up a few food containers and deck chairs in a wasteland is not the way to do it.
So why aren't we fixing this? One day, the containers and cars and all the bulk goods at the port will be gone. And one day after that, there will be, who knows, beaches and parkland and maybe a stadium and commercial development too. But are we really going to wait another 20 or 30 years?
Where's the plan to put steps down to the water from Quay St and/or the finger wharves, truck in the sand, build the protected swimming areas and have some fun? Get those cars off Bledisloe Wharf now and so much will become possible. Downtown Auckland is desperate to be brought back to life. Inner-city beaches could be a part of that.
Design for Living - bright ideas to make cities better - is a regular series in the Herald's Canvas magazine.
