The industry highlight of this year’s Sydney Architecture Festival, The Colloquium, was a day-long immersion into several of the key challenges facing global Sydney as its centre shifts decidedly west. Hosted by the ever-dapper Tony Jones and located at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre, the event was refreshingly devoid of the microcosm that often infuses architecture events (thanks to its curators Andrew Nimmo, Joe Agius and Peter Salhani). Instead, The Colloquium (meaning an academic event or seminar) physically transported more than 150 members of the profession into the centre of contemporary Sydney, to hear 14 speakers from private practice, research, academia and government pose a series of big-picture questions (and give some potential answers) into what it could take to actively realise a ‘greater’ Sydney.

The day was centred on three key themes: Growing, Connecting and Improving. The Lord Mayor of Parramatta, Scott Lloyd opened the day with the statement ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’ (Benjamin Franklin), while Lucy Turnbull, Chair of the Committee for Sydney stated to those present that planning for the whole of Sydney currently involved 41 local government areas (LGAs) and that governance reform was necessary to make local government ‘fit for the future’. The first speakers established the underlying challenge posed by the day: that Parramatta sits at both the geographic and demographic centre of Sydney, and to realise the global Sydney of the future, improved connections with Parramatta and Western Sydney are vital.

GROWING
“Cities are the engines of economic growth,” stated Paul Donegan from the Grattan Institute, reminding the audience why cities are important and how their location matters. Since 1901 the Australian economy has been shifting from an agricultural focus to manufacturing (late 1960s), and more recently to an educated and skilled knowledge economy (2011). This move to knowledge-based employment brings with it place-based winners and losers. Parramatta has been stated as an important centre for employment; however, it and other employment hubs cannot currently compete with the sheer number of knowledge-based jobs that choose to co-locate (for efficiency and productivity) in the Sydney CBD. For the majority of people in Western Sydney, this geographic disjuncture between their place of residence and work leads to long commuting times and congested transport connections (car and rail), and creates a negative impact on family life and the economy.

Bob Meyer, Director of Planning at Cox Architecture, spoke to the historic context of Sydney’s spatial plan with its monocentric focus radiating from Sydney’s CBD. He explained why the monocentric model has broken down over time, but remained optimistic that Parramatta’s access to an educated labour force could be improved to rival Sydney’s CBD in the future in terms of job numbers. Philip Graus, Director at Cox Architecture, went further,  describing how the spatial plans have contributed to the jobs deficit in Greater Sydney. An obsession with housing targets has usurped the need for ‘better parks, better transport, better jobs’ and more activity; needs that are greater ideals for a ‘city that is bigger and better, not bigger and bigger’.

The first plenary session on ‘growing’ Greater Sydney framed a number of problems: the shift to a knowledge-based economy; the deficit of jobs in Western Sydney; and the need for new ways to assist people to access jobs. While Parramatta may be well positioned to close the gap between a growing population and the location of jobs and capture a labour force from a 360 degree catchment, for this to occur an increase in knowledge-based employment to rival that of Sydney’s CBD would be required, with one eye ever watchful that this city-making also brings qualitative life improvements to those living in Western Sydney.

CONNECTING
The second session, Connecting, began with a ‘new’ philosophy for urban regeneration from UrbanGrowth NSW Head of Strategy, Julian Frecklington. Frecklington described UrbanGrowth’s involvement in six large-scale brownfield projects located across New South Wales, which underlined a clear departure from Landcom – its former greenfield-focused identity. With a new ‘visionary’ and ‘courageous’ governance model to underpin delivery, each of these projects is intended to transform city living through the redevelopment of government land.

From this ambitious beginning, Ross De laMotte, Principal of Hassell, then spoke to the human element of designing infrastructure and the importance of the design process in bringing different disciplines together to enable those very rare moments of ‘transcendent’ public architecture. De la Motte reminded the audience of the importance of patronage and introduced the concept of infrastructure as both a social and architectural opportunity. David Holm, Director at Cox Architecture, picked up this thread with a specific focus on airports, presenting a number of international case studies that demonstrate how and why airports that go beyond the basic provision of a transport interchange and incorporate social infrastructure can support the creation of work and community, and if supported by connecting infrastructure can change cities for the better. While not explicitly mentioned by Holm, the implications for a new Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek  –  announced by the Federal Government this year  –  were clear: transport infrastructure projects of this scale are a once in a lifetime opportunity to build the ‘urban cathedrals’ of tomorrow, and wouldn’t it be great to get it right.