STUCK IN THE MIDDLE A discussion paper examining how to unlock the potential of Sydney’s Central City WESTERN SYDNEY LEADERSHIP DIALOGUE is a not-for-profit, community initiative leading a national conversation about Greater Western Sydney. The Dialogue facilitates interaction between key opinion leaders, across industry, government, academia and the community, to inform public policy debate and to advance a Western Sydney regional agenda through research, analysis, advocacy and events. If you would like to know about partnering with the Dialogue, please email [email protected] requesting our company credentials or an event sponsorship prospectus. AUTHORS Stuck in the Middle is a collaborative effort drawing on the resources of Taylor Street Advisory and Astrolabe Group. Both organisations share a passion for the advancement of new ideas in public policy and a commitment to bringing attention to the urban transformation of the Central City. TAYLOR STREET ADVISORY is a ASTROLABE GROUP works with clients corporate advisory, public affairs and on strategy, research, data insights and strategic communications firm that has engagement to deliver positive impacts been operating since 1995. for people and places. We are a strategic consultancy anchored in collaboration Our team brings to its clients deep and innovation, working with clients to experience in government relations, address complex challenges and enabling corporate advisory, marketing & brand, them to deliver transformational benefits public policy, management consulting, for their stakeholders. strategic media engagement, stakeholder relations and project management. Our focus is on building partnerships that create increased investment and TSA is heavily involved in its local improved liveability outcomes. We community and sees public policy leverage our public sector, industry and activism as a platform for both social community networks to bring the right progress and economic development. people together to create value, impact and scale. Our clients include local government, state and federal governments, peak representative bodies and universities. Map source: ©Mapbox STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Granville Auburn WESTERNSYDNEY.ORG.AU 3 CONTENTS Image: Artist’s impression, Parramatta Light Rail Foreword from the Chairman 06 A Vision for the Central City 08 The Heart of Sydney 10 Defining the Central City 10 Building from Strong Foundations 12 The Central City at a Glance 16 The Way Forward 20 Governance 22 Connectivity 26 Transport 27 Digital connections 30 Employment and Skills 31 Employment sectors 31 Locations of activity 37 Environment and public spaces 40 Green spaces 40 Aboriginal and heritage sites 42 Local centres 42 Housing and community infrastructure 44 A Call to Action 46 Governance 46 Connectivity 46 Employment and skills 47 Environment and public spaces 47 Housing and community infrastructure 47 Endnotes 48 WESTERNSYDNEY.ORG.AU 5 CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD NOT LONG AGO, Sydney was The Central City is where I grew up – when it was just called the ‘Western divided colloquially along an Suburbs’, and inclusive of Parramatta and my nearby family home and east - west axis – an older, schools near the edge of the Dundas Valley public housing estate. Now wealthier east and an emerging it is loosely defined as the area of post-war suburban development, from aspirational west. The Greater Castle Hill in the north to Hurstville in the south and stretching westward Sydney Commission flipped this from Burwood to Blacktown. This area is set to take on 50 per cent of paradigm, and quite rightly has all Greater Sydney’s population growth over the next 20 years. In 2019, defined our city as aMetropolis the region is already home to approximately 1.5 million people; it has of Three Cities, with three distinct Sydney’s most congested transport corridors; it has been “ground zero” 30-minute cities, each with its own in the recent community push-back against over-development; it suffers central economic anchor. terrible environmental degradation of its waterways; and has sadly become a focus of our security agencies in recent years. I’m a big supporter of the three cities approach, and an Also contributing to community cynicism, the Central City has seen some even bigger supporter of the notorious examples of mismanagement and dysfunction at the local advancement of Greater Western government level – fuelling a lack of confidence in governments’ ability to Sydney. However, while the manage growth in certain areas. Western Parkland City steams ahead with the development But this is not for a lack of public investment in the Central City. Within of Western Sydney Airport, the a decade, it will have three metro lines, a light rail through Parramatta, Aerotropolis and its very own upgraded motorways, two new stadiums and a convention centre, new City Deal, and the Eastern City universities and upgraded hospitals to service the growing population. It continues to play on the global will also be home to Australia’s newest CBD, Parramatta, at its epicentre, stage as it has done so well for with a unique blend of high rise office towers and colonial and indigenous generations, the Central City risks heritage, the looming Powerhouse Museum, rebuilt Riverside Theatres, being left behind, or stuck in the Bankwest Stadium, the RAS Convention Centre and new hotels providing middle. a cultural outlet and the Westmead medical hub, new university campuses and a vertical school leading the innovation push. There’s plenty happening for sure, and this paper makes the case for joined-up thinking and governance reform on all these projects to ensure there are hefty social, economic and environmental dividends from all this investment. We do not assert there is a lack of investment but that it needs more coordination if this activity and growth is to be ultimately productive and sustainable. The GSC’s advocacy for the Greater Parramatta & Olympic Peninsula (GPOP) and pioneering of the Growth Infrastructure Compact is an example of what can be achieved with appropriate co-ordination and collaboration. The Central City, like Greater Sydney, is split in half Also instructive in imagining the renewal of the by the “latte line” delineating our ‘haves and have- Central City is the urban transformation of the nots’. In this regard it is perhaps a microcosm of industrial suburbs of the East London ‘brownfield’ the Metropolis, but unlike its eastern and western area where innovative use of private finance, neighbours, cultural diversity in the Central City well community engagement and national government and truly makes it Sydney’s melting pot. Incredibly investment has seen significant improvements in diverse, cohesive, and increasingly educated most economic and social metrics and has taken communities are a common thread throughout, but much pressure off housing affordability, traffic where disadvantage persists, we need to do better congestion and employment creation in the UK to bring the less fortunate along with the rest of us. capital. Disengagement can lead our kids towards the fringe of society, and inclusive growth is key to avoiding Application of successful governance and this. We cannot allow youth unemployment, social coordination policies in our own Central City exclusion and cultural disengagement to fester nor could unlock the area’s advanced manufacturing allow the existence of a permanent welfare class potential with universities and TAFE embedded amid our boomtown economy. within, the continued development of a bio-medical and research innovation hub at Westmead of Linking outcomes with investment across a region, international renown, the repair and protection of across government departments and levels of Sydney’s great rivers and regeneration of liveable government is what City Deals are all about, and the and loveable cities to attract and retain talent and Central City is an ideal location for such a unique nurture local community harmony. It would also governance model. A federal contribution to the unblock the heart of the Sydney metro area, allowing Metro West rail project – Sydney’s ‘steel spine’, for a more connected, productive and cohesive city. which is without question a project of national economic significance – ought to be the basis for Put simply, Sydney cannot truly thrive without an a Central City Deal, combined with other Canberra- efficient Central City region. If we can get the region linked projects and policies (such as Bankstown to reach its full potential, I have no doubt that all Airport’s future, relocating SBS to a multicultural of Greater Sydney will enter a new stratosphere base, providing public access to Lancer Barracks, of prosperity. There is no metropolis of three cities social cohesion measures and the Liveability Fund, without a functional core. to name a few). Having made a significant contribution to the The on-again, off-again Commonwealth interest in advocacy that has seen governments commit cities policy appears to be back on for now, and if significant infrastructure investment and policy they are serious about City Deals, we outline a pretty reform in Sydney’s Western City, I am proud that compelling case for one in this paper. the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue is now sparking a renewed debate about the Central City. I At the state level, we need the same governance thank the team that has delivered this provocative approach for GPOP and the Central City as we have discussion paper, led by Luke Turner, Faith Halliday seen successfully