Can the city centre have an exciting future?

NORTH SYDNEY City Centre is

On Sydney Harbour…
•  one of Sydney’s most accessible places
•  in the heart of a diverse and switched-on community

At the centre of…
•  Sydney, and
•  Sydney’s creative industries, and
•  Sydney’s knowledge economy

It is also…
•  one of Australia’s largest CBDs
•  in Australia’s largest school cluster
•  Australia’s best-placed urban centre?

BUT…     IN REALITY, it’s also:

•  an office park with through traffic
•  private commerce with no civic functions or activities

•  canyons and wind tunnels with no sun
•  concrete with no nature and nothing green
•  congested footpaths, minimal public spaces

•  cut off by big traffic and big rail
•  neglected by governments, ignored by community

YET…
Good government and city planning based on local principles
can transform the North Sydney city centre in 20 years —

SIX PRINCIPLES for the strategic transformation of North Sydney:

  1. At critical private sites and in transformed streets:
    fine, sunny public plazas; landscaped spaces and connections; green buildings and infrastructure.
  2. Reconnecting the city centre to the neighbourhoods and the harbour:
    Walker Street joined up again, over the railway, and the Greenwood link extended to Lavender Bay; the tram bridge reinstated over the expressway as a green walkway to Kirribilli; Pacific Highway tamed, both sides connected again…
  3. Contributions from every development:
    Contributions – on site, or cash in lieu – to public open space, people-places, venues, community services, shared spaces, start-ups, activities, events…
  4. Recovery of places lost:
    cinemas, galleries, people places – and busy, sunny, interesting places like Tower Square before Sydney Metro knocked it down.
  5. Relentless implementation of the highest qualities:
    in sustainable buildings, and in the public domain.
  6. New infrastructure and new technologies will allow the transformation of spaces presently dominated by traffic —
    Get ready for the new paradigm:  the opportunities for downtown car-free places start now!

 THEN…   the VISION can be achieved as: