The City of Sydney

The City of Sydney City Planning, Urban Design and Planning, CVUT. Seminar Work by Phoebe Ford. LOCATION The City of Sydney, by M.S. Hill, 1888. State Library of New South Wales. Regional Relations The New South Wales Government conceptualises Sydney as ‘a city of cities’ comprising: The Central Business District (CBD) which is within the City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA), the topic of my presentation, and North Sydney, which make up ‘Global Sydney’, and the regional cities of Parramatta, Liverpool and Penrith. This planning concept applies the Marchetti principle which aims to create a fair and efficient city which offers jobs closer to homes, less travel time and less reliance on a single CBD to generate employment. The concept is that cities should be supported by major and specialized centres which concentrate housing, commercial activity and local services within a transport and economic network. Walking catchment centres along rail and public transport corridors ‘One-hour Cities’ of the Greater Metropolitan Region of Sydney Sydney’s sub-regions and local government areas Inner Sydney Regional Context City of Sydney Local Government Area Importance Within Broader Context of the Settlements Network • Over the last 20 years, ‘the Global Economic Corridor’ - the concentration of jobs and infrastructure from Macquarie Park through Chatswood, St Leonards, North Sydney and the CBD to Sydney Airport and Port Botany- has emerged as a feature of Sydney and Australia's economy. • The corridor has been built on the benefits that businesses involved in areas such as finance, legal services, information technology, engineering and marketing have derived from being near to each other and to transport infrastructure such as the airport. • It has been reinforced by the motorway system focused on the Eastern Distributor linking across the harbour, and by the amenity and services available in and around the CBD. • The success of Global Sydney, including the CBD within the City of Sydney, is the foundation for economic activity to extend along strategic corridors, among regional cities and other strategic centres. The Global Economic Corridor extends from the airport through to Macquarie Park, with future plans to include Parramatta. This corridor contains 40% of Sydney’s jobs. Key Global Sydney is the main focus for national and international business, professional services, specialised shops and tourism. It is also a recreation and entertainment area for the Sydney region, with national significance. The Global Economic Corridor concentrates jobs and activities in centres from North Sydney to Macquarie Park and from the City to the Airport and Botany Bay. The Eastern Distributor Motorway within the Global Economic Corridor HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT A view of Sydney Cove, New South Wales. Artist: Francis Jukes, 1746-1812. In the National Library of Australia. Roots of the City • Under instruction from the British Government, a convict settlement was founded by Admiral Arthur Phillip, who arrived at Botany Bay with a fleet of eleven ships on 18 January 1788. The site, however, was deemed to be unsuitable for habitation: it had poor soil and lacked reliable fresh water. Subsequently, Philip founded the colony one inlet further north along the coast, at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. The British called the Aboriginal people there the Eora, meaning ‘from this place’ in the local language. • Sydney is mostly Triassic Rock, that is sandstone which was laid down in the Triassic Period. • Many of Sydney City's main thoroughfares, such as George Street, Oxford Street and King Street Newtown follow Aboriginal tracks which served as trading routes between farmed grasslands or bountiful fishing areas. Key Moments in Urban Development • In April 1789, a catastrophic epidemic disease, possibly smallpox, spread through the Eora people and surrounding groups, with the result that local Aborigines died in their thousands. By 1820 there were a comparatively small number of Aborigines who were subject to oppression by the British. • Under Governor Lachlan Macquarie, roads, bridges, wharves and public buildings were constructed by British and Irish convicts. By 1822 the town had banks, markets and established thoroughfares. This early development laid the physical foundation of what is now city of Sydney and the buildings around which development and redevelopment occur. • Early in the 19th century, the population of the agricultural settlements, including Parramatta and Liverpool, exceeded that of the main settlement around Sydney Cove. Development continued on the flatter, more fertile terrain on the south side of the harbour which also allowed easier road construction. • By the middle of the 19th century, with a population of 100,000, Sydney extended to surrounding municipalities of Glebe, Randwick, Waverley, Woollahra, and Marrickville, Newtown, Paddington and Balmain. These suburbs were linked to the city centre by the emerging tram network. Left: Trams running down Sydney’s main street, George Street, which is decorated to celebrate the beginning of the Commonwealth in 1901. • Up until the 1950s, the pattern of the city continued to follow access to the rail and tram network. Urban expansion in linear corridors along major transport routes was encouraged. • Buses replaced trams in the early 1960s and the city grew to almost 70km wide east to west and 60km north to south. • The 1970s brought an increasing reliance on the private car that changed Sydney, with new lower density suburbs distant from the fixed public transport networks. Composition and Shape of the City: Ways of Growth, Main Axis of Development and Environmental Impacts. If the first fleet had settled at Parramatta rather than Circular Quay, Sydney would be a more typical global city, with the CBD in the middle of the urban area on relatively flat ground next to a river that could be bridged easily. Instead Sydney grew from a town perched on the harbour at the eastern edge of the coastal basin, then spread quickly to the more fertile areas south and west along the rivers, across the flatter lands to the west, and north across the harbour. The Greater Metropolitan Region occupies most of a Coastal Basin bounded by the Pacific Ocean, and the extensive national parks of mountains and bushland to the north, south and west. These physical elements present a natural barrier to endless outward expansion. The North-West and South-West Growth Centres are two regions of undeveloped land in Sydney’s north west and south west, totaling 27,000 hectares and divided into 34 Precincts. The NSW Government identified these areas in 2005 as land to be released for new communities to accommodate 500,000 people over the next 30 years. An economic study found that growth paths where more than 30% of dwellings were in greenfield areas raised social, environmental and infrastructure costs (especially transport and water) while not necessarily providing housing where people preferred to live. Therefore the NSW Government is aiming for 70% of growth to be in existing infill areas, and 30% of housing in greenfield release areas, mostly in the ‘Growth Centres’. Sydney’s Urban Footprint CURRENT NEEDS AND TRENDS OF DEVELOPMENT INTO THE FUTURE Sydney before Earth Hour on March 31, 2007. Sydney Morning Herald. Urban Renewal Opportunities Supported by the Rail Network Within the City of Sydney, Redfern Waterloo area is Identified as an Urban Renewal Centre. Revitalisation and Rehabilitation needs, Preservation of Monuments Above: View of CBD from Redfern. Top Right: Conversion and re-use of former railway workshop heritage buildings (now houses a theatre and marketplace). Bottom Right: Other heritage buildings remain unused in dead-zones of the Australian Technology Park. The Redfern–Waterloo Authority (RWA): place–based interventions and partnerships between stakeholders. Used as a model for urban renewal by the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority. Redfern has importance as home to the first Aboriginal support organisations. The achievements in Redfern– Waterloo have been delivered through cooperation between different levels of government, community organisations and private developers. RWA has facilitated the delivery of social infrastructure such as the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in 2010. This is a community facility with gymnasium, sports hall, outdoor swimming pool, intensive literacy tutorial centre, arts/craft activity rooms, sporting field and campus Above: accommodation for visiting groups of Aboriginal Housing Company’s indigenous youth. Pemulwuy Project will result in the redevelopment of ‘The Block’ in Redfern RWA runs indigenous education schemes in for affordable housing as well as cultural, partnership with other agencies and community and commercial uses. community groups. RWA invested $4.7 million to house the National Information Communication Technology Centre for Excellence (NICTA) and the Defense, Science and Technology Organisation at the Australian Technology Park. The RWA aims to grow an industry cluster in a local centre, whilst it also promotes skills development to address the economic and social needs of the local community. Strengthening Redfern and the Australian Technology Park will contribute to the maintenance of the Global Economic Corridor and the 40% of employment within it. Despite being located along the global economic corridor, the bus interchange at Redfern Station does not befit its position as a strategic corridor interchange in terms of its design

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