City of Sydney presents 2030 vision for a green, global and connected Sydney

26 March 2008

What if Sydney had a light rail loop in the city centre, an Indigenous Cultural Centre, a major new park at Darling Harbour, George Street reclaimed for people, and sustainable development over Central Railway Station's rail tracks?

These are some of the visions in the City of Sydney's Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategy unveiled today. The draft plan will be considered by Council on Monday 7 April for public exhibition from April 17.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said Sustainable Sydney 2030 is the result of the most comprehensive community consultation program ever undertaken by the City, involving tens of thousands of people during the past 12 months.

"The people of Sydney have spoken," Ms Moore said. "They want a City that is green, global and connected. They want a City for people that celebrates Sydney's climate, natural beauty and open spaces, and is easy to move around, whether by public transport, bicycle or walking.

"It is vital that we act now for a sustainable future, 97 percent of people told us they want global warming addressed by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. All Australians have a stake and interest in Sydney and Sustainable Sydney 2030 is about addressing challenges, protecting our best attributes and working for a shared vision for the future."

"Included in this vision are three squares connected along a pedestrian boulevard with public transport and cycle access. The three City Squares would create activity at Central Railway Station around a convention and exhibition square, a new civic square at Sydney Town Hall and a cultural square linking the Museum of Contemporary Arts and Opera House at Circular Quay."

During the past 12 months the City has met with more than 4,000 people at more than 30 community forms, round-table discussions, business forums and City Talks; received more than 15,000 visitors and 200 comments through its website; and received more than 2,000 comments through the Future Phone.

This community feedback has led the development of Sustainable Sydney 2030 by Sydney's best minds across planning, architecture and design, coordinated by the City of Sydney's internal strategy team and an expert consortium headed by SGS Economics and Planning.

"The ideas in the plan will not only revitalise the City Centre and improve our local villages, they will completely transform how we live, interact and move within the City."

"Sustainable Sydney 2030 provides a vision for the future that can work across the three tiers of Government. Sustainable Sydney 2030 proposes a partnership approach to achieve the vision the community has demanded."

"The last comprehensive strategic plan by the City released in 1971 delivered visionary projects like reclaiming Martin Place as public space, while a 1980 plan refurbished the QVB and gave us Pitt Street Mall. It is difficult to now imagine Sydney without these icons, but they all came about as a result of a visionary process just like Sustainable Sydney 2030."

Pat Fensham from SGS Economics & Planning said Sustainable Sydney 2030 is defining Sydney of the future.

"Projects and ideas to achieve the vision may shift over time but the strategy and targets to address global warming and provide a liveable sustainable City will continue. Some of Sydney's brightest minds have developed these plans as a response to community demands," he said.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 includes a series of project ideas - large visionary projects to transform Sydney and to meet community needs. These are preliminary ideas developed by the Sustainable Sydney 2030 team which we want to test with the wider Sydney community before progressing more detailed work, including plans and costs.

Just some of the project ideas include:

• City Centre Light Rail Loop - Make it easy to move around the city centre and removing bus congestion from the City Centre with a high frequency north-south light rail loop connecting Circular Quay, Barangaroo and Central Station.
  
• Three City Squares - Create a new north-south central spine for the City Centre created by transforming George Street into a pedestrian boulevard with public transport and cycle access. Three City Squares will create activity at Central Railway Station, Sydney Town Hall and Circular Quay. The vision includes investigating the long-term removal of the Cahill Expressway to open up Circular Quay to the City.
  
• Revitalising the City's western edge - Burying the Western Distributor to better connect the City Centre with its western waterfront and create new, people-focused development. The revitalisation of the western waterfront could also include major new parklands at Darling Harbour by relocating the Entertainment Centre and Convention Centre as we look for new uses for the airspace over the Central railway tracks.
  
• Central Station air space - Investigate the long-term development potential to create new floor space above the Central Railway Station tracks. This could house new development that will assist in healing the scar of the railway yard and provide better connections between surrounding villages, as well as new exhibition facilities and green open space.
  
• Green transformers - Establish new, cleaner, efficient power generation within the city and its surrounding areas to reduce dependency on coal-fired electricity and shift to sustainable low carbon energy. Green transformers generate electricity with low greenhouse gas emissions, provide hot water and cooling and, potentially, convert waste to energy.
  
• Integrating Indigenous culture - Celebrate Sydney's Indigenous culture and heritage with a new cultural icon and tourist destination: an interpretive walk through the City from Redfern to the Harbour, and create a major Indigenous Cultural Centre along the walk.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 highlights five big moves to transform the City:

1. 1. A revitalised City Centre at the heart of Global Sydney - Lively, people-friendly centre for premium business, reconnected to the Harbour

    
   2. An integrated Inner Sydney transport network - New sustainable transport connecting Inner Sydney, the City Centre and the City's Villages, with congestion removed from the City Centre and Villages.

3. A liveable green network - Continuous green corridors integrated with liveable streets, providing dedicated pedestrian and cycle ways, and new ways to explore the City and its Villages.

4. Activity Hubs as a focus for the City's villages and transport - Sustainable places for communities in the City's distinctive villages to meet, catch transport, create, learn, work and shop.

5. Sustainable development renewal - Initiatives to re-make the City, including energy and water efficient infrastructure, affordable housing, high quality public space, design and access to essential transport choices.

After consideration by Council the Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision is expected to be the subject of a six-week public exhibition at Customs House, Circular Quay from April 17. The exhibition will present the key strategies and projects ideas in an engaging and visually informative way.

"Although the Council has a critical role in delivering Sustainable Sydney 2030, the 2030 vision will not be achieved by the City of Sydney alone. We look forward to working with State and Federal Governments, our communities and other partners to achieve these goals," Ms Moore said.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 is an initiative of the City of Sydney developed in consultation with City communities and a team of Sydney's best minds in urban planning, architecture and design.

The team led by City of Sydney and SGS Economics and Planning includes; Simpson + Wilson; Kinesis; Anagram; Strategic Economics; Australia Street Company; Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects; Lacoste Stevenson; Tonkin Zulaika Greer; Merrima Design; Tony Caro Architecture; Francis -Jones Morehen Thorpe; Johnson Pilton Walker; Hassell; Neeson Murcutt; Olsson Associates; Peter McGregor; Neil Prosser; James Mather Delauney and Bates Smart.

Related Resources

www.sydney2030.com.au

 
See what Sydney could look like in 2030

OTHER 2030 MEDIA RELEASES

• Sustainable Sydney 2030
• Grand vision to develop Central Station as Sydney's green gateway
• Park to reconnect City Centre with one of the world's greatest waterfronts
• Green transformers could generate electricity in the City

FACT SHEETS
 Sustainable Sydney 2030 consultation (49KB)
 Sustainable Sydney 2030 - planning history (49KB)
 Lord Mayor statement (46KB)

ARTIST IMPRESSIONS

 
Project idea - Darling Harbour After.jpg (1.2MB)

 
Project idea - Darling Harbour Before.jpg (1.2MB)


Project idea - Central Station Before

 
Project idea - Central Station After.jpg (1MB)