Featuring walking maps and text in braille and large lettering, the signs will help guide the 2.3 million people who visit and 16,000 people who live in Chinatown, to nearby destinations, useful shortcuts and local transport.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the new signs will help visitors get outside and explore the city more.
“With over 200 restaurants and retailers in the Haymarket area, walking is the best way to get around – in fact, 90 per cent of trips in the City of Sydney area are made on foot.
“Navigating our energetic and expanding city can be daunting for visitors, so this new network of wayfinding signs, maps and braille will help people get the most out of their visit.”
Haymarket was crowned Australia’s most walkable suburb in 2013 by American website walkscore.com. The site measures terrain, traffic and access to public transport. It looked at journeys by both visitors and locals and described Haymarket as “a walker’s paradise”.
President of the Chinese Australian Historical Society, King Fong OAM, welcomed the improvements to make it even easier for everyone to find their way around the area, particularly in bustling Dixon and Hay streets.
“Chinatown has become a tourist mecca, not just for Chinese tourists but for visitors from around the world. People love walking up and down Dixon Street – the sights, smells and sounds are all unique to Chinatown,” said Mr Fong.
“Dixon in Chinese means virtue and trust – the exit archway says ‘within the four seas, all men are brothers’. That’s referring to the first Chinese immigrants who left their homes and made their way to Australia more than 100 years ago.
“In Australia, 1 million people identify as Chinese or have Chinese heritage, and they have shaped the unique Chinese–Australian culture that has developed.”
The wayfinding signs in Haymarket and Ultimo are part of the City’s legible Sydney wayfinding system, which also includes 2,100 braille and tactile street signs at every signalised pedestrian crossing throughout the city.
The tactile aluminium panels feature street names and building numbers in both braille and large, raised lettering to allow touch-reading by people who are blind and close range reading for those with low vision.
A new walking tour for tech savvy visitors has also been released highlighting Chinatown’s unique sights, sounds and public art.
The izi.travel app was developed by the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce with the assistance of a City of Sydney grant.
