The redevelopment of more than 100 publicly-owned acres at Barangaroo and Darling Harbour is poised to transform Sydney's western side. By ignoring the lessons of past projects, and bowing to commercial interests, the projects are "civic failures".
"Lend Lease is currently designing the major part of the 22 hectare waterfront redevelopment at Barangaroo and an additional 20 hectares to its south, at Darling Harbour," writes Laura Harding. "The future of the entire western side of the city rests in its hands, and all of it is publicly owned land."
"It has been depressing to see how every attempt to set an urban framework that would protect public rights, make the sites an inclusive part of the broader city and ensure long-term adaptability, has been undermined by commercial interests," she rues. "Rather than inclusive and lively public streets, parks and squares, we are offered exclusive places to spend, and ever-diminishing open spaces surveilled by the lofty eyries of the international elite."
"The guardians of the public interest, state governments of both political stripes, have capitulated."
Read the full story: Barangaroo and Darling Harbour are civic failures
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