Journal of Urban Design
ISSN: 1357-4809 (Print) 1469-9664 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjud20
Designing the global city: Design excellence, competitions and the remaking of central Sydney
Grace Oliver & Julian Bolleter
To cite this article: Grace Oliver & Julian Bolleter (2019) Designing the global city: Design excellence, competitions and the remaking of central Sydney, Journal of Urban Design, 24:5, 812-813, DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2019.1619343
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2019.1619343
Published online: 27 Jun 2019.
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BOOKREVIEW
Designingtheglobalcity:Designexcellence,competitionsandtheremaking ofcentralSydney,byRobertFreestone,GethinDavisonandRichardHu,Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan,2019,353pp., €79.99(hardback),ISBN978-981-13-2056-9
Survivalofthe fittest:designcompetitionsandthemakingofcentral Sydney
Onalmosteverymetric,theCityofSydneysitssomewhereatthetopofglobalcityrankings. Notmanycitieshavereinventedthemselvestothesamedegree.Fromtherelativecultural isolationofthemid-1970s,Sydneyisnowconsideredtobeasgloballyconnectedtothe worldeconomyasNewYork,London,Tokyo,ParisandHongKong.
In DesigningtheGlobalCity,authorsRobertFreestone,GethinDavisonandRichardHu demonstratethatthisfeatwasnotachievedwithoutaleapoffaith.Thearrivalofneoliberalisminthe1980ssawurbandevelopmenttakecentrestageasSydneycompetedfor ascendencywithinagreaterglobalurbannetwork.
ThisbookoffersacomprehensiveaccountofhowtheCityofSydneyadaptedtothetwin forcesofglobalizationandneoliberalismwhilestillprioritizingpublicinterest.Also,howit wouldaddressthenewmantraof ‘designexcellence’,universallyregardedasthecornerstoneofaglobalcity.Inthefaceofthesechallenges,theCityofSydneychosetomandate acompetitivedesignprocessforallmajorpropertydevelopmentswithinthecentralbusiness district.Theonlycityintheworldtodoso. DesigningtheGlobalCity isthe firstcomprehensiveanalysisofthecompetitivedesignprocess.Howthepolicycameabout,anditsimpact, areofgreatimportanceandformthemainthesisofthebook.
Surprisingly,littleresearchhasbeenundertakentounderstandfullycompetitivearchitectural andurbandesignprocesses. DesigningtheGlobalCity helpstoclosethisgap,introducingoverdue andtimelyresearch.Thislargelyuntroddengroundprovideda ‘laboratory’ inwhichtheauthors wereabletoevaluateforensicallytheeffectivenessandshortcomingsoftheCityofSydney’s competitivedesignprocessgarneredfromtwodecadesofevidence.Acompetitivedesignprocess wasconceivedtoproduceprojectsofaestheticinterest,butwouldalsoneedtodeliversustainable, liveableanddignifiedurbanoutcomes.Threateningtodismantlecosyrelationshipsbetween establisheddesignofficesanddeveloperclients,theinitialadoptionofthecompetitivedesign processwasnotwelcomeduniversally.However,theresearchdescribesaprocessthathasselfcorrectedorintheauthors’ words,undergone ‘finetuning’.Stakeholdershavebecomemoreknowledgeable,sophisticatedandcreative.Here,the lessonisthepowerofcumulativelearning,attainedthroughthissubstantialseriesofprojects.This isevidentintheprojectsthemselves,which,theauthorsnote,arebecomingdemonstrablymore impressive.Thedepthofresearchusedtobackthese findingsisbrutallycomprehensive,the authorsdrillingdeepintoindividualcasestudies.
DesigningtheGlobalCity answersimportantquestionsaroundthebenefitsandcostsof thedesigncompetitionformat.Sydneyisacitythathasembracedthecompetitiondesign formatlikenoother,placingitinauniquepositionandmakingitaworthycasestudy. Freestone,DavisonandHuhavepresentedanobjectiveandcriticaloverviewofapolicythat JOURNALOFURBANDESIGN 2019,VOL.24,NO.5,812–813
hasreimagineddesignculture,buildingproposalsandthepublicrealm.Indemonstrating theefficacyofawell-designedcompetitivedesignprocess, DesigningtheGlobalCity allows onetodiscerntherealdriversbehindtheimpressivetransformationoftheCityofSydney’s skyline.
GraceOliver AustralianUrbanDesignResearchCentre(AUDRC),Perth,WA,Australia Grace.oliver@uwa.edu.au
JulianBolleter AustralianUrbanDesignResearchCentre(AUDRC),Perth,WA,Australia
©2019GraceOliverandJulianBolleter https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2019.1619343
