Jury comment
The transformation of George Street, Sydney has overturned more than a century’s dominance by vehicles, bringing it back into service as a place for people and public transport. It has not only reinvigorated a street, but also revolutionized the atmosphere, use and movement patterns of the entire city.
The project’s impact is testament to the power that the collaboration of multiple levels of government can bring to cities. More than seventeen years of planning and advocacy by the City of Sydney and Lord Mayor Clover Moore, working in partnership with local, state and federal government agencies, has delivered a step change. The project’s delivery negotiated multiple levels of regulatory complexity and technical challenges, but the public commitment endured. That this transition has been achieved in such a contested urban place sets a benchmark for what is possible in every street, in every city and town in Australia.
George Street, Sydney is located in Warrane/Sydney on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.
To view all the winners of the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards, go here.
