Imagine living in a city where the layout, form and character are encapsulated by the landscape and an understanding of the processes that have created that landscape. More importantly, imagine an urban planning process that would lead to this! Such a process has been realized in Tyrrellstudio’s proactive approach to making the spatial and temporal qualities of the natural systems central to planning decisions and actions for the Western Parkland City. The jury was impressed by how this work sidestepped yet another “planning report” and strove instead to create champions of various stakeholders for the South Creek catchment. To do this, the studio underscored the deep-time stories of the landscape and turned discussions about the blue/green infrastructure into yarns about cooling breezes and the experience of exploring creek lines. While the consequences of flooding in our urban environments are still at the forefront of our minds, this work, this process – which avoids sometimes incorrect representations of the problem and solutions – is indeed a breath of clean air.
The Western Parkland City: Landscape-led Design applies to Western Sydney, New South Wales, the land of the Darug, Dharawal, Gundungurra and Darkinjung people.
Project credits
Design practice Tyrrellstudio Images Tyrrellstudio (top), The Greater Sydney Commission (bottom)
To view all the winners of the 2022 National Landscape Architecture Awards, go here.
