About the Bowden Urban Village

The Bowden Urban Village was developed over 13 years ago, following the closure and purchase of the former Clipsal site. The village was designed to create a walkable community with a focus on people, designed to feature safe streets and open spaces, like Bowden Park and Kevin Taylor Park.

In the 2024/25 budget, Council endorsed funding to review the Bowden Urban Village Precinct, with a particular focus on Bowden Village Reserve and Kevin Taylor Reserve.

The review also provided an opportunity to look more broadly at:

• Transport and Movement
• Accessibility
• Safety across the Precinct

Community engagement was undertaken in November and December 2024 to better understand how residents, businesses and visitors use the Precinct, what is working well, and where improvements could be made.

Overall, feedback indicated that while the Precinct is working well in many areas, the community identified some targeted areas for improvements.

Improved accessibility – blue and orange public art.

The blue and orange public art adjacent to Bowden Brewing has been relocated to:

• Provide additional footpath space
• Ensure compliance with Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requirements

This will improve accessibility and pedestrian movement through the area.

Bowden Village Reserve - Open space improvements

Minor improvements will be made to the playground at Bowden Village Reserve to improve accessibility and better align with the age group of children currently using the space.

A concept plan outlining these changes is available in the document library.

New parking controls – Second and Fourth streets

To improve accessibility in Bowden, Council will install:

• One new accessible car park on Second Street
• One new accessible car park on Fourth Street

These changes respond directly to community feedback, including requests for:

1. Improved accessible parking near the Nightingale Building on Second Street
2. Additional accessible parking near Bowden Park on Fourth Street, where demand is high

In addition, a new public car park is currently under construction on Third Street. The completed development will provide:

• 221 total car parks
• A minimum of 170 publicly available car parks (5 of these will be accessible car parks)

New loading zone – Fourth Street

A new loading zone will also be installed on Fourth Street to support short-term deliveries. This responds to ongoing issues with delivery vehicles stopping inappropriately in the area and is intended to help keep the street operating safely and efficiently.

Overall, these changes will improve accessibility while having minimal impact on parking availability in the wider area.

Our City Operations team will undertake these works progressively over the coming months.

During consultation in 2024, the community raised a number of transport and movement matters, including:

• Requests for pedestrian crossings at Drayton Street, Third Street and Fourth Street
• A need for additional parking for residents, businesses and visitors
• Improved traffic calming measures
• An improved intersection at Gibson Street and Port Road

These matters require further investigation and discussion with key stakeholders and cannot be progressed immediately. Over the next 12 months, they will be considered as part of Council’s broader transport and movement planning across the City.

Where improvements can be delivered using existing funding and resources, they will be progressed alongside other works programs. More substantial infrastructure projects will be subject to future budget consideration