WE NEED PUBLIC PLACES, NOT JUST PUBLIC SPACES

We all know Sydney is one of the best cities in the world. Much of what we love about Sydney is based on its natural beauty and, as someone born and raised in Sydney, I admit I am biased. Sydney Harbour is the finest body of water in the world. We have a beautiful mountain range to our west. Our botanic gardens are a breathtaking oasis. And we have plenty of beaches, rivers, hills and creeks which enhance local environments.

Now for the controversial bit. Sydney's natural beauty has made us lazy.

We have such environmental advantages that we have failed, as a community, to care about our urban environment, to invest in the communities we live in.

For generations, Sydney and Melbourne have had a great rivalry. We have Sydney Harbour. They have the Yarra River. It's hardly a fair comparison. The Yarra is a fine enough river, but it's not in the same league as the most impressive body of water in the world.

But over many years, Melbourne has made more of an investment in the beauty of their city, in the public art and public spaces. They have made much more of an effort at "placemaking".

Public spaces can be made into public places. Engaging public places, places which are inviting and beg you to stop and enjoy. Places which are a destination - not just a space to be travelled through on the way to somewhere else.

When you wander around Melbourne, you can see that bridges over the Yarra built earlier this century have ornate, attractive designs. You can see recently constructed statues of former premiers.You can see Federation Square.

You just don't see this attention to design in Sydney. There are, of course exceptions. That's just the problem: they are exceptions, not the rule. We have two great icons in Sydney: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. But we have been resting on the laurels of these two magnificent structures for too long. The small and interesting are as important to a city as the grand and great.

Place management is not just important in the Sydney CBD. Innovative councils around Australia (including Fairfield and Parramatta in Sydney) have done a good job of focusing their management efforts on improving the built environment in discrete geographical areas.

This is also a matter of social justice. Areas that are challenged economically are typically sparse of examples of well-designed public spaces. This is understandable: local councils often feel they have higher priorities than investing in public art or spaces.

But if we are interested in improving the lives of the disadvantaged, we need to engage in improving the urban environment surrounding the disadvantaged. Just as we need to improve equality of opportunity, we should improve equality of amenity.

The US author and academic Richard Florida has made the case that cities need to invest in their liveability and culture to attract high-earning, high-spending, high-productivity workers in the 21st century. He coined the term "quality of place" to sum up the attractiveness of a city to attract workers.

This is not just a matter for governments and councils. The Sydney community can engage in a conversation about what sort of an urban environment we want.

Sydney will always be attractive because of its natural beauty. It's a great start, but the city deserves more than that. We risk falling further behind Melbourne and other cities if we don't recognise the need to invest in our public spaces and make them areas for community engagement.

Add A Comment