Crafting A Sense of Place in Sydney
Design reflecting people and cultural heritage through patterned paving in Albania to echo the famous pattern work of Albanian carpets.
The exciting thing about megacities like London and New York, and even many smaller towns, are their distinct images and sense of place unique to their populations and locations. A lot of this comes down to the branding and placemaking interventions that highlight the organically grown nature of a place. According to the Project for Public Spaces, placemaking “facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution”. Sydney has a bit of an identity crisis and through developing our placemaking across all our diverse and unique regions we can start to form an image of who and what Sydney is and will be. Ralph Ashton of Australian Futures Project stated in an interview with Ross de la Motte of Hassell, “We’ve just sort of stumbled from one thing to the next to the next and we’ve created something, which I don’t think is as good as we could have and is even what we, as Australians or Sydneysiders, want for our city, for our country.” He then went on to say “urban planning, design, building, architecture, infrastructure, planning, they’re so central to creating this sense of community. And we’ve lost that [since the 2000 Olympics].”
Placemaking design can be used to answer the big questions about our collective identity and similar to the boroughs of New York, in Sydney it can celebrate our distinct cultural villages to foster feelings of joy, belonging and a sense of community. Who are we beyond beaches, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House?
As a city, we need more public spaces that reflect our past, present and future and celebrate place through design interventions.
When researching urban interventions for my own university projects I have come across some really exciting design projects and placemaking strategies that have made me wonder why we aren’t doing the same. These interventions give people a sense of wonder and something to engage with which is the perfect way to revitalise and understand the character of our urban spaces. Based on the projects I’ve come across over my last few years of studying design here are my recommendations for Sydney’s public spaces -
Using Public Space for Thought Provoking Urban Interventions
In many big cities design practitioners are able to develop temporary urban installations that are easily and publicly accessible by everyone by placing them in high traffic public areas or alternatively placing them in underused areas as a more transformative intervention. Meanwhile, emerging designers are given the space to create for and directly engage with the public early on in their design career when their work may be at its most imaginative and creative. This breaks up the everyday and gives people something new to explore, question or feel inspired by.
Turn the Mundane into Meeting Points
Design can transform ordinary or overlooked spaces into landmarks that hold special significance for a community. By reimagining these everyday spaces, unique stories can be highlighted and make them more meaningful to the people who interact with them.
As Charles Landry says in the Art of Citymaking, “Cities need stories or cultural narratives about themselves to both anchor and drive identity as well as to galvanise citizens.” Through placemaking design that’s inclusive, personal and accessible we can break up the non-stop commercial designs and ads that surround us and instead reflect and shape the communities we live in.
Sydney is such a special city and our public design should reflect that.
Thumbnail Image: Colourful Crossings by Camille Walala
Originally published on a previous iteration of my blog on 28/4/2022.