INFRASTRUCTURE

Last updated: Tue 28 November 2023 By WCCF Editor

Funding is being provided to promote micro-precincts – pockets of the city with a particular cultural, hospitality and nightlife character – with their own branding, marketing and programming.

A target of 40,000 square metres of new cultural and creative space will be added in the city centre by 2035 as part of the City of Sydney’s new strategic plan, plus a commitment to ‘no net loss’ of cultural infrastructure.

Redevelopment of the Sydney harbour foreshore and Barangaroo precinct will include indoor and outdoor performance infrastructure, exhibition and conference venues.

Redevelopment of the Central railway station precinct in partnership with Altassian will create a ‘Tech Central’ area, attracting start-ups and linking to creative industries in the city’s east.

New planning controls have been adopted to revitalise Sydney’s Oxford Street as a creative and cultural precinct, potentially adding 14,000 square metres of new creative floorspace and enhancing existing cultural assets. The planning controls are accompanied by an LGBTQ+ place strategy which aims to maintain the social and cultural connection LGBTQ+ communities have to the area.

Sydney today is in a phase of unprecedented expansion, with its population forecast to increase by 20% by 2031. Greater Sydney continues to be the heartland of the nation’s cultural sector, almost 30% of the nation’s cultural workers live in Greater Sydney.
Since 2014, the City of Sydney has pursued a particular focus on live music, performance venues and the night time economy following the introduction of the controversial state government ‘lock-out’ laws.
The impact of development controls and local environment plans are increasingly being recognised in discussions around cultural participation and creative industries employment. This is leading to efforts to create more effective links between cultural and planning policy.

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