Dec 13, 2012 Update: Apparently, NearMap has closed its doors to the little people, so I've replaced the links below with Google Maps links to at least give an idea of where the changes are occurring.

In Part 1, I posted some of the commercial and government developments occurring around Dandenong. In this part, I point out a couple of changing public spaces.

Dandenong Park Regional Playground. The prime public space known as Dandenong Park has been cluttered with essentially private buildings for as long as I can remember. This is changing, beginning with the south side of the creek. (Link.)

Until recently, the south side has seen much less use than the rest of the park, but this seems to be changing with the new playground and picnic area.

There are several important things that I think still need to happen with the park overall. This includes removing the buildings on the northwest side of the creek, more footbridges over the creek, significant rehabilitation of the creek itself and an improved track running from the park up to Clow Street and down towards Meridian (with tree plantings for cover — the sun can be brutal when walking this track). Nonetheless, this is an extremely promising start to the park's redevelopment.

Settlers Square and Halpin Way west. Major changes to north of the station are currently being made. Even in the weeks since the below aerial shots were taken, more developments are occuring at the station itself, with the bus interchanges being redone. I don't think these changes will have any major short term impacts on how Dandenong functions, but I think they are important foundational developments for the future. Below, you can see Settlers Square, Halpin Way (City Street) to its north and the new precinct energy building wedged in at the top. The Pop-Up Park to the left of Settlers Square has been there almost a year now, and seems to be quite popular (the soccer pitch is, at least). (Link.)

To the east is, of course, Halpin Way east, which is now complete and open. It is somewhat purposeless for the time being, but will be a critical, well-trodden link in the future. Also of some interest are the changes to Cadle Street. I'm not sure why Cadle Street has remained closed to George Street for such a long time, but they've extended the asphalt footpaths recently so maybe it will be opened soon. Residential apartments were slated for either side of Cadle Street, but exactly nothing seems to have come from the tenders VicUrban had put out for these sites. Quite unusual, given the level of development that other parts of Dandenong have seen recently.