The Dubrovnik Cable Car. Image by flickr user Michael_Spencer.
It’s generally accepted that Urban Gondolas and Cable Cars don’t exist in high-density, residential areas. Generally, that is.
That’s likely the reason people have such an adverse reaction when proposals bubble up to the surface for systems flying over residential areas. Look at Portland or Burnaby, for example. How Urban Gondolas and Cable Cars interact with urban form and fabric should therefore be of the utmost concern when planning a line.
At the same time, we’re also beginning to discover more and more systems that – while touristic in nature – interact with the urban form in such a way that they appear to be less detrimental to residential areas that we originally thought (the Bolzano 3S or Pilatusbahn, for example).
Along that line of thinking comes a link from Bob . . .
Bob points us in the direction of the Dubrovnik Cable Car in Croatia. This modest and newly refurbished Aerial Tram opened just last year. It’s only 778 meters in length and can only transport 470 pphpd, but the way it engages with the surrounding urban environment suggests systems like this may be more acceptable in the future.
If nothing else, notice the use of orange in the cabins that reflect and remind one of the orange clay roofs so characteristic of Dubrovnik. Sometimes small, subtle touches like this make all the difference in the world.
It would be fascinating to know the planning process that underpinned this system. How was it originally proposed? Were people against it? Were they for it? What was the impact on surrounding property values? All these would be valuable questions to answer. So if any readers out there have any answers, we’d love to hear them in the comments.
In the meantime, take a look:
Just a quick note: Thanks so much to Bob for the link! More and more we’re relying on the collective intelligence and resourcefulness of our community to spot interesting developments and projects that have a direct impact on the urban environment. So like Bob and the others that came before him, if you know of a Cable Propelled Transit system we should look at, please send us an email or a link at gondola (at) creative urbanprojects (dot) com. We can’t do this all by ourselves, after all.
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