The Never Ending Docklands Debate: Evolution Over Time or 'Soul' Design

Another day another series of articles ragging on the poor old docklands. Once again it's the Age swinging in, with this piece in today's paper:

Lack of 'soul' has Docklands tenant ready to leave

Medibank Managing Director is disappointing in the ole 'docks, saying it lacks 'soul'. Presumably, it should have been designed with one. Saying the Docklands lacks soul happens a fair bit in such debates, but what does it really mean? The Age has a larger piece in todays paper that goes some way to explaining what honestly most people just 'feel' when walking around the 'docks. A lack of public space, interesting alleys and smaller shops, a diverse range of...well anything just isn't available. Buildings are big, the ground floors are catalouge-picked shops designed to service the local well-off apartment owners, but none of it is...interesting. I've never found myself thinking "gee i'd like to visit that place in the docklands" because there's nothing interesting going on or being sold. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

The question is: can one design-in soul into a new large scale development? Is 'soul' a feature of a gradual organic evolution of a space, or is it built environment feature that we can 'design'. A classic problem, evolution or design. 

Thoughts?

Read more: here.