UNSW Built Environment in partnership with CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) presents the Cities@UNSW lecture featuring Professor Robert Freestone.
Professor Freestone will speak on ‘Design excellence and the competition dividend in central Sydney’:
Competitions are long associated with securing quality designs but mandating them as part of a development approval system is virtually unknown. Except in Sydney. Instituting competitive designs for major property development projects in central Sydney was a hallmark reform of Frank Sartor’s mayoralty in 2000. Over the last two decades the central Sydney skyline has been shaped by the products of this approach to design excellence. Drawing from Professor Freestone’s new book, Designing the Global City, this presentation summarises the findings of a multi-year research project into the effectiveness of competitive processes in Sydney’s CBD. From numerous interviews and background reviews it points ultimately to a value-adding process: one that has significantly contributed to striking the right balance between private commercial interests and the public city.
This will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic, chaired by Professor Helen Lochhead, Dean of UNSW Built Environment, and led by senior industry professionals:
Please join us for what promises to be an inspiring and engaging discussion on designing the global city.
Registration: 5.30 pm
Lecture: 6.00pm
Panel and Q&A: 6.30pm
Networking: 7.10pm
Professor Robert Freestone specialises in the area of City Planning, Urban Typologies in the Faculty of Built Environment at UNSW Sydney. His expertise in urban policy has focused on the development of planning, theory and practice, in particular regional and metropolitan visions; heritage and conservation; infrastructure provision; and urban design.
