Drifting Above the City

Taking a walk in Sydney is quite different from New York. NYC is fairly flat and hyper-organized with its grid system. Even though I have spent the last ten years walking just about everywhere, I find that in Sydney, walking for a few blocks can be a serious workout where I break into a heavy sweat. Sure, my body is probably very confused—thinking that it is winter not summer—but the intense topography of Sydney’s streets makes me sweat profusely. It’s almost as bad as living in San Francisco! Try setting your treadmill incline to 8 or so, and turn the heating up to 90 degrees, and that will give you a good idea of what I am experiencing. 

Because of this changing topography, every once in a while you discover a unique urban geographical condition. The other day when walking from Darlinghurst to Paddington, I stumbled upon the Cutler Footway, a bridge that hovers above the dense residential neighborhood full of colorful cast iron terrace houses, Sydney’s most common urban dwelling. As you walk along the sidewalk, you peer down into the back yards and windows of the residences below. 

The bridge was constructed in the 40’s as a tram passageway. In fact, if you look at the old Eastern suburbs line tramway map, you can see that it went directly past our apartment door, terminating in Bondi. But when the tram network (which surprisingly was the largest tram network in Australia) was completely shut down by 1961, the bridge was paved to accommodate cars and buses. Today, trams are widely used in Melbourne and are a major part of the cities infrastructure but in Sydney you only find these relics (although they have and are continuing to try and bring the tram back).

Images Courtesy of High Riser

While it is just a street and sidewalk, when you’re walking across the Cutler Footway it feels as if you are in a Sci-Fi flick- floating above the city, walking on top of roofs, watching people and cars circulating beneath you. Narrow stairways take you down to the streets below where artworks have been installed, deteriorating over time. While the typical passerby would not think twice about it, I am pretty sure it would excite the architect/urban enthusiast….Or am I just a geek who gets excited by random urban interventions... For more photos, click here.