Builder-developer ALAND has drawn back the curtain on its first city-focused new apartment development.

The North Sydney development, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-walden-north-sydney-173-179-walker-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">The Walden</a>, is the first time the company has ventured this close to the city, having previously completed thousands of apartments predominantly in Sydney's west, and more recently in Gosford.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aland">ALAND</a> acquired the prime North Sydney site, spanning Walker and Hampden Streets just down the road from the Victoria Cross Metro station, for $240 million in June.

Now they've unveiled the new project, a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments across a 30-level building designed by Rothelowman.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6384]

The Walden will capitalise on the site’s front-row position on the eastern fringe of the <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/north-sydney-nsw-2060">North Sydney</a> CBD, which offers uninterrupted Sydney Harbour views stretching from the Sydney Harbour Bridge all the way to Sydney Heads.

The main tower will be flanked by a small four-level amenity building known as The Pavilion, offering exclusive resident-only amenities including a dedicated concierge service, a sauna and private wellness studio, a gymnasium and fitness studio, a resort-style rooftop pool and sundeck.

There will also be a&nbsp;residents’ lounge, private dining and a wine cellar, and co-working facilities with an on-site meeting room and boardroom.

&nbsp;

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[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6382]

ALAND Founder Andrew Hrsto said the company knew they could create something "iconic" with The Walden when they saw the site.

&nbsp;

“As a company, we had been searching for a site in one of Sydney’s blue-chip locations, spanning the Eastern Suburbs, the Sydney CBD and the North Shore, and when we had the opportunity to purchase this site, we immediately recognised that it could be something iconic – being the last development with a view offering this exceptional.

“We identified the attributes and quality of the site as being perfectly aligned for ALAND – and we feel that this off-market acquisition is a perfect opportunity to showcase our craftmanship and expertise through a truly unique offering."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6399]

Hrsto pointed to ALAND’s longstanding development expertise as a significant benefit in delivering a positive outcome for The Walden.

“Being a fully integrated development and construction business with a highly experienced team, we have the benefit of in-house experts across the development spectrum, from acquisitions, design, planning, and construction, to sales, marketing, property management, through to building management.

“As one of Australia’s largest private development and construction groups, we’ve been in operation for 23 years, with a Gold Star iCIRT rating and a 100 per cent delivery success rate across numerous masterplanned and mixed-use projects – and we’re very much looking forward to bringing this expertise to The Walden and contributing to the ongoing revitalisation of North Sydney."

The Walden is the latest development in Sydney to have the 10-year Latent Defects Insurance policy by Resilience Insurance, protecting buyers from any structural or waterproofing-related issues for 10 years post-completion.&nbsp;

Demolition of existing structures on The Walden site has already commenced through specialist civil contractor Moits, with the aim of completing preparatory ground works by the end of 2025, ahead of construction commencement in early 2026.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134323]

Joel Robinson

ALAND unveils The Walden, North Sydney's latest luxury apartment development

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/toga-group">TOGA</a> has opened sales for the final building in Macquarie Rise, its latest mixed-use development in Macquarie Park.

Since launching its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/macquarie-rise-122-herring-road-macquarie-park-nsw-2113">Macquarie Rise</a> in late 2023, TOGA has secured over 125 sales in the Herring Road development, to a range of purchasers, from first home buyers to investors and downsizers. Around 65 per cent of purchasers have been owner-occupiers.

TOGA has now launched a new release of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in the final building, Saunders Rise. Many of the apartments feature multi-purpose rooms and offer views of the surrounding greenery. Also part of the release is a series of&nbsp;sub penthouses housed on the upper floors.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=89243 project_image_fid=242696]

&nbsp;

“We’re delighted with the ongoing strong interest in our Macquarie Rise development, which is testament to the need for premium housing in this much-loved Sydney suburb,"&nbsp;Allan Vidor AM, Managing Director at TOGA, said.

"We’re proud to be able to offer buyers a unique product that includes luxury amenities, spacious living areas and flexible layouts, designed to suit all kinds of buyers, from young professionals to families and investors.

“We have long been advocates of Macquarie Park, and once Macquarie Rise is complete, TOGA will have built 1,000 apartments in the area, delivering much needed homes within a thriving precinct. It’s great to see the area become renowned for high-quality apartments, proximity to amenities and green spaces."

TOGA, one of Australia’s few Gold Star iCIRT rated developers, is also handling construction of Macquarie Rise. They are on track to complete the building in 2027.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=89243 project_image_fid=310789]

Macquarie Rise boasts a prime location, placing residents within immediate reach of Macquarie Centre, Macquarie University, and the newly completed Macquarie University Metro, connecting to the Sydney CBD is just over 20 minutes.

&nbsp;

Macquarie Rise residents also have access to Club Rise, an exclusive, residents only lounge designed by luxury hotel designers Stack Studio, offering an abundance of work and break-out areas, a Pilates studio, a gym, and a karaoke room. As well as these premium amenities Macquarie Rise will also feature an impressive podium top 20m lap pool.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=89243 project_image_fid=242695]

“Offering luxury, spacious apartments in a vibrant and well-connected neighbourhood, it’s no surprise that Macquarie Rise remains popular with a range of buyers," said TOGA's General Manager of Sales, Anthony Falas.&nbsp;

"With interest rates tracking downwards, we expect the final apartments to continue to receive high levels of interest.”

Located at 122 Herring Road, Macquarie Park, the development will be delivered in partnership with Baptist Union NSW and Morling College with a value of over $400 million.

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[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=89243]

TOGA launches final stage apartments in Macquarie Rise

Southern Cross Station anchors the western end of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/melbourne-vic-3000">Melbourne</a>’s CBD, connecting metropolitan and regional rail with tram and bus interchanges in one of the city’s busiest transport corridors.&nbsp;

Just metres away, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/640-bourke-street-melbourne-640-bourke-street-melbourne-vic-3000">640 Bourke Street</a>&nbsp;will place residents in the heart of the city, with immediate access to Spencer Street trams, a growing mix of retail, hospitality and cultural venues, and a neighbourhood evolving into a lively residential precinct.

Developed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/far-east-consortium">Far East Consortium</a>, the 68-level project integrates a sculptural glass tower with the heritage-listed Eliza Tinsley Building on a 2,765 sqm Bourke St site.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=335425]

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a>, the development replaces a previously approved scheme for 813 apartments with a refined offering of just over 600 larger-format residences, responding to a growing owner-occupier demand for spacious city living.

The location sits within a dynamic pocket undergoing significant transformation. Marvel Stadium and the Docklands waterfront are less than 10 minutes away on foot, offering both sports and leisure attractions.&nbsp;

Bourke Street Mall, Queen Victoria Market, and the State Library are all within walking distance, while Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne’s oldest park, provides a green escape just to the north.

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[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=335422]

Proximity to some of the city’s largest employers and education hubs, including the courts precinct, legal chambers, RMIT, and major hospitals, makes 640 Bourke Street an appealing residential address for professionals, families and students alike.

Education opportunities span all levels. Nearby, Haileybury City Campus offers private schooling just a short walk from 640 Bourke Street. Just beyond the CBD fringe, Carlton Gardens Primary School, one of Melbourne’s oldest state primary schools, and Docklands Primary School provide convenient government schooling options.

Higher education is equally accessible. RMIT University’s city campus spans multiple buildings just a few blocks away, while the University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus is easily reached via tram along Swanston or Elizabeth Streets.

Victoria University’s City Queen campus, focused on law and business, is also close by, positioning 640 Bourke Street within walking distance of three of Melbourne’s major tertiary institutions.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=335426]

The neighbourhood’s retail tapestry continues to evolve into something distinctly local and walkable. Just steps away, Woolworths Metro on Bourke Street ensures that everyday essentials are easily within reach.&nbsp;

For larger shopping trips, Spencer Outlet Centre on Spencer Street and QV Melbourne on the opposite side of the CBD broaden the offering with supermarkets, fashion, dining and specialty stores.

The lane-to-lane vibe unfolds beautifully in nearby arcades and alleys. Hardware Lane, with its European-style red-brick paving and alfresco dining, pulses with jazzy evenings and casual lunches.

A few minutes north, Howey Place and Centre Place offer leafy, boutique-lined lanes where hidden cafés and niche retailers congregate under historic glass-covered cloisters.

Completing this tapestry is the newly opened Mecca “beauty playground” on Bourke Street. Spanning 4,000 sqm over three levels, the flagship blends immersive retail within an art-deco heritage setting.

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[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=335427]

This finely grained network of shops, eateries, arcades and service outlets defines the everyday lifestyle at 640 Bourke Street - further enriched by over 3,000 sqm of resident amenity including a Turkish-inspired pool, gym, co-working rooms and private cinemas.&nbsp;

Apartments are priced between&nbsp;$640,000 and $3.95 million. Off the plan stamp duty concessions available until October 2026. Prospective buyers can visit the on site display gallery which has&nbsp;fully built one, two, and three-bedroom apartments.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=509]

640 Bourke Street: A heritage address at the heart of Melbourne

Lower North Shore development specialists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/abadeen-group">Abadeen</a>&nbsp;has topped out its new local apartment development,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/northcote-collective-naremburn-2-6-northcote-street-naremburn-nsw-2065">Northcote Collective</a>.&nbsp;

Located in the tightly held suburb of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/naremburn-nsw-2065">Naremburn</a>, Northcote Collective is a collection of just 58 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments designed by award-winning architects Rothelowman.&nbsp;

The building is just a five to 10 minute walk from the heart of Crows Nest and the new&nbsp;St Leonards and Crows Nest Metro stations. Abadeen has also brought doorstep convenience, with a ground-floor retail offering on Northcote Street.

Northcote Collective is being delivered by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/decode">Decode</a> — an iCIRT-rated construction company well regarded in the new development industry.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114189 project_image_fid=272840]

“This is an important and exciting moment for Northcote Collective, and we’re proud to celebrate this milestone with our partners, consultants, and future residents,” said Justin Brown, Executive Chairman and Founder of Abadeen.&nbsp;

“From the outset, our vision was to create something truly special for Naremburn — homes that respect the character of the neighbourhood while elevating the standard of Lower North Shore living. With connectivity to transport, retail on the doorstep and a true village lifestyle, this milestone also comes at a perfect time when buyer confidence is returning to the market. I am incredibly proud of our team and of Decode for their dedication in helping us bring this vision to life.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114189 project_image_fid=272865]

The development is two-tiered, with two rooftops for residents. The taller building has an impressive rooftop pool, a rare inclusion in the new Sydney apartment market. The level, with panoramic views, also includes an entertaining terrace with barbecue facilities.

Local downsizers and young professionals are showing the strongest interest in the development, with recent improvements in the property market — supported by three rate cuts in 2025 — boosting borrowing power and buyer confidence.

Auction activity across Sydney surged by almost 30 per cent in recent weeks, with clearance rates above 70 per cent — signalling a renewed wave of buyer demand.

Northcote Collective will welcome buyers in 2026.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=114189]

Abadeen tops out Northcote Collective in Naremburn

Sunshine Coast-based <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/devcon-property-group">Devcon Property Group</a> has acquired one of Maroochydore’s most prominent development sites for $12 million unlocking the potentialfor a mixed-use project in the Cotton Tree precinct.

&nbsp;

The 4,178 sqm site at 41–43 Aerodrome Road—well known locally as the former home to one of Australia’s last Sizzler restaurants—was sold via an off-market expressions of interest campaign by Colliers agents Nick Dowling and Baydn Dodds. More than 70 targeted buyer groups were approached, resulting in multiple competitive offers for the property.

Devcon Property Group Managing Director Michael Kain said the acquisition was a strategic move in line with the company’s focus on delivering high-quality projects in prime coastal locations.&nbsp;

“We’re excited about the possibilities this site, in one of the Sunshine Coast’s most iconic beachside &nbsp;communities, offers for a broad range of development outcomes,” Kain said.

“Its location, ocean view potential, and proximity to the Maroochydore CBD and beach make it an &nbsp;outstanding development prospect. Our plans are to refurbish the existing building and then review &nbsp;development options for the remainder of the site.”&nbsp;

<img alt="Aerodrome Rd site overlooking Beach (Large)" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a29dc4ed-68c1-4bec-a4fc-283063dcde1e" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Aerodrome%20Rd%20site%20overlooking%20Beach%20%28Large%29.jpg?VersionId=b0WxJWevmLoAfCP4YvGImZpR3rSCJJ9L" />

Colliers Special Projects Manager Baydn Dodds said the sale reflected the ongoing strength of the &nbsp;Sunshine Coast’s development site market, particularly for projects capable of achieving water views. &nbsp;

“Sites of this scale, in walkable beachside locations with ocean views, are tightly held and continue to attract significant interest from both local and national developers,” Baydn Dodds said. &nbsp;

“Holding a prominent position as the former home to one of Australia’s last Sizzler restaurants and more recently occupied by Rashays, the prime site is located just 150 metres from Maroochydore Beach.&nbsp;

“With stunning ocean view potential, located in one of the Sunshine Coast’s best known iconic &nbsp;beachside communities, within steps of shops, cafes and the beach it is no surprise that there was strong interest in the site. The transaction highlights the ongoing depth of demand for well-located &nbsp;mixed-use sites across the Sunshine Coast.”&nbsp;

Colliers Sunshine Coast Managing Director Nick Dowling said the transaction reinforced the &nbsp;Sunshine Coast’s status as one of Australia’s most active development markets.&nbsp;

“The combination of strong population growth, lifestyle appeal, and infrastructure investment is &nbsp;driving demand for quality development opportunities,” Nick Dowling said. &nbsp;

“The Sunshine Coast is one of only three markets nationally to record an increase in crane numbers, &nbsp;reflecting the strength of the region’s construction pipeline.&nbsp;

“Opportunities like this are rare and continue to generate strong buyer interest in the region.”&nbsp;

The Sunshine Coast development market is booming, with several high-profile developers like Cube Developments, Gardner Vaughan Group, and RCQ, planning developments in the region.

Devcon buys Sunshine Coast’s former Sizzler site for new apartment development

culture

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EXPERT OBSERVATION
The current climate has ushered in in a seismic shift in work culture, as many employees transitioning into a work from home set-up.
Australia’s largest privately held co-working space provider, working from home will welcome in a new era where a distributed working model becomes the new normal.
“At Hub Australia, we are already seeing an increased demand for space from companies who may have previously favoured a long-term commercial office model. As many workers, and more importantly their managers, adapt to working from home, the need for the same quantity of space at headquarters will reduce. The importance of having place for businesses and their teams to connect, learn and innovate will not go away. The culture of professional co-working spaces is well suited to meet this demand”.
Along with this, offices will have to shift their focus from real estate providers to a more experience-centric model in order to attract people to come to the office. Traditional working as we know it is being flipped on its head at a rapid pace.”
Here, Brad gives us his predictions for the key changes shaping the workforce:
Goodbye to the traditional office lease
“As we see it, the traditional office lease will be less relevant to companies post Covid-19. There was already a movement by corporates to have part of their office requirements met by flexible workspace operators, Covid-19 will serve to quicken the pace of this movement, but also to enlarge it. Organisations will need to offer work from home flexibility, as well as provide access to a ‘work base’, which could be suburban work hubs and CBD co-working spaces.”
A move to distributed working
“A single headquarters with high densities in an open plan environment no longer seems like the best idea post Covid-19. We’re predicting that employers will need to cater for a distributed workforce and provide multiple working environments, that could be a company HQ, home and third spaces.
Work-life balance, commute times and the rising cost of living means that working closer to home has long been a priority for many employees. But not everybody’s home is going to be an appropriate work environment, and many employees crave the social and community aspects of the workplace, so blending of the two will be essential.”
Set-up for virtual success
“Not only will flexible working become the new norm, but co-working providers will need to innovate their offering. At Hub Australia, we are launching a virtual offering at the start of May that offers members the ability to join the community virtually, with access to mailing packages, software discounts, video conferencing and the ability to work flexibly from Hub Australia locations when they need to. Setting members up for success virtually will become the norm.”
Brad Krauskopf is the CEO and Founder of Hub Australia
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

The future of the workforce is a distributed model: Hub Australia

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Australia has come a long way in terms of planning and development, but times are changing fast. 
With <a href="/architects">architects</a> recognising the impact on climate change and urban sprawl more so than our government, we are seeing projects that challenge the status quo and influence social change through thoughtful design. 
Design can be used to address social equity and diversity in urban environments by providing affordable housing, green space, sustainable living, appropriate density and a green lean towards public transport and cycling facilities. 

Collaborating with other architects and the community to leverage projects that deliver a deep and sustained social benefit is at the forefront of this movement.  
This allows architects to call out social and environmental inequality by simply providing alternative living and civic spaces with the idea of working with communities instead of working for them. 
With erosion threatening beachfront properties along the coast of Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, and the threat of rising sea levels impacting where almost 40% of all Australians livelihood, smart design and planning is most important to influencing and adapting the way we live to retain our lifestyles. 

There are a few projects that unknowingly push the boundaries in opening up discussions between communities on sustainable living and the impact of urban sprawl such as <a href="/architects/breathe-architecture">Breathe Architecture’s </a>Nightingale proposal for Ballarat.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/11325664-3x2-940x627_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Rendering of the Nightingale Ballarat project by Breathe Architecture"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/s3/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/11325664-3x2-940x627_0.jpg?itok=_BUzUGSu" title="Rendering of the Nightingale Ballarat project by Breathe Architecture" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Rendering of the Nightingale Ballarat project by <a href="/architects/breathe-architecture">Breathe Architecture</a></figcaption></figure> 
The architectural form of the project is driven to respond to its surrounding heritage brick industrial buildings along Davey Street and the city centre of Ballarat.  
Breathe’s design strategy is to provide more with less, with untreated, tactile and durable materials recycled where possible.

The landscaped courtyard and gardens offer the ability for deep root planting, which encourages residents to grow and sustain vegetables and plants. The facade is also immersed in native plants giving a deep sense of community pride. Through careful material usage and recycled content where possible, Nightingale Ballarat is to be a carbon zero emissions building. Recycled water, renewable energy sources and high quality waste management attribute to the future residents low cost living.

“Nightingale Ballarat has been designed to make sustainable living simple. Common elements like the roof garden and deck, laundry and clotheslines, bicycle parking and shared building services offer a collectively better outcome. By providing meaningful social and utility-based spaces, we look to encourage interaction and activity with friends and neighbours.” - <a href="/developers/nightingale-housing">Nightingale Ballarat </a>Resident Package.

Open walkways with vertical greenery connect the apartment levels, creating spaces for residents to stop and converse. All apartments have an east or west facing living areas with a private balcony providing planter boxes to allow greenery to grow along the facade as well as natural ventilation and daylight adding additional amenity for the residents.

The development has opened up a major discussion for Ballarat residents about the negative impact of urban sprawl, with the population set to grow by 40,000 people in the next two decades. Nightingale offers the first socially beneficial solution that the residents of Ballarat recognise more as a typical Melbourne development and thus are not yet accustomed to within their own city. 
Victoria’s satellite cities are growing at a fast rate as well as Melbourne’s outer suburbs and in Ballarat alone, there are undeveloped, empty lots within the existing city structure that could be developed respectfully to accommodate for this population growth. 
 

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/86a357642d9acbbb786ca1cd7569f38c_1.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Rendering of the Ivanhoe Housing Estate in Macquarie Park, Sydney"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/s3/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/86a357642d9acbbb786ca1cd7569f38c_1.jpg?itok=M1YFNhcX" title="Rendering of the Ivanhoe Housing Estate in Macquarie Park, Sydney" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Rendering of the Ivanhoe Housing Estate in Macquarie Park, Sydney</figcaption></figure> 
A project unfolding in the Sydney suburb of <a href="/new-apartments/macquarie-park-nsw-2113">Macquarie Park</a> is the Ivanhoe public-private housing estate. 
The development is an integrated social housing precinct that offers community facilities, a school, retail, green space and ‘tenure blindness’ for residential properties. 
This is a social leap into disbanding the stigma between private, social housing and rental properties as tenure blindness offers a connectivity of all diversities and demographics.

The existing <a href="https://ivanhoeestate.com.au/">Ivanhoe Housing Estate</a> is set to be demolished to provide an updated private-public mixed community precinct to which benefits social and environmental strains. 
The architecture practices involved with the project are <a href="/architects/bates-smart">Bates Smart</a>, which produced the masterplan, <a href="/architects/candalepas-associates">Candalepas Associates</a>, <a href="/architects/turner-studio">Turner</a>, <a href="/architects/cox-architecture">Cox Architecture</a> delivering residential and community facilities and <a href="/architects/hassell-studio">Hassell</a> whom are responsible for the project’s urban design and landscape architecture. 

The development will include 3000 apartment units replacing the 259 current social housing units on site with a private vertical high school for 1000 students, a 120-bed residential aged care, two childcare centres, a supermarket, cafe’s, specialty retail shops, a multi-functional centre with a hall, gymnasium, pool and outdoor play areas and exercise stations. 
Local infrastructure will be improved for easy accessibility and connectivity and sustainable measures such as solar panels, green roofs, water capture and reuse as well as incorporating car-share facilities and a bicycle space for each dwelling keeps the precinct at a six Star Energy Rating.

The Ivanhoe Housing Estate opens Australian’s eyes to how we perceive each other and help to break down social barriers of classism and elitism that we may hold against each other. 
As communities integrate and Australia becomes one of the most multicultural countries globally, we must progress in our thinking and feelings towards each other to which density can provide that close kinship. 
The proposal has been massively influenced by community engagement and have opened up to existing residents and locals to participate in the discussion. Having social or privately owned apartments not perceivable by the public domain encourages social equality and a deconstruction of stigmatic and biased views once shared between community.

 
The architecture and urban planning industry can progress forward and benefit from a sense of personal accountability and understanding on the issues that face us in Australia. 
The outcome of these projects can no longer be just a building, but a living entity that impacts social life, so instead of thinking about providing shelter, we need to think about providing a higher quality of life.

 

 

 

 
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Nick Dante

Architecture as a tool for social change

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78258/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
In 2007 US creative cities “guru” Richard Florida was flown up to Noosa to tell the local city council how they, too, could become a creative city.
Noosa was one of a long line of cities across the globe queuing up to pay big bucks to the US-based academic-entrepreneur. “Being creative” had become an almost universal aspiration. Who would not want to be a creative city?
And so Creative [insert name of city here] signs sprang up in the most unlikely places, along with stock shots of creative young things hunched over laptops in cafes.
Ten years later, different gurus are being flown around and the signs have been replaced by Smart [insert name of city here]. The stock shots are much the same, but now the young things are being innovative, disruptive and above all “smart”. That’s the trouble with fast policy: here today, gone tomorrow.
Below the surface more tectonic shifts can be felt. In its first outing in the mid-1990s the “creative city”, associated with thinkers such as Charles Landry, was an energising vision of a new role for cultural creativity in our cities.
Now expanded in democratic fashion beyond the world of “high art” to embrace popular, everyday creativity, culture would be a key resource for the 21st-century city.
Culture could re-activate the decayed industrial zones of the inner city, breathing new life into the dead infrastructures of factories and power stations, dockyards and tram depots, schools, barracks and banks. Culture could renew stale urban identities, catalyse new aspirations and stamp a different global brand on long-dormant cities.
And with the creative industries – culture plus all things design and digital – all that was needed were some creative people and a bit of entrepreneurial flair. Then we would have one of the industries of the future.
Creativity broke cities away from the old bureaucratic top-down planning silos of the industrial city and let them approach the future holistically. Culture would be what cities do best, earning a living and enjoying it at the same time.
By the time Florida had left Noosa the discontent was growing. Big investments in photogenic CBD developments seemed more intended for the creative class than local citizens, generating massive real estate profits while the suburbs languished unloved.
Creative industries turned out not to be so inclusive after all. They failed to soak up all those unemployed dirty industry workers and were reliant on educated workers willing to work their way up on low pay and high debt.
The turn of the smart city
Since the global financial crisis the energising vision has been around social justice, citizenship and the right to the city, with a return of community and activist-focused arts activities. Creatives are now less Californian start-ups and more counter-cultural “post-capitalists”.
Enter the Smart City, creativity without all those messy cultural bits. The tech start-ups were just as cool, the fab labs and hacker spaces just as disruptive, but now slotted onto a very different agenda.
This too promised a re-invention of the city, not now a cultural re-imagining but a complete re-tooling of the social and governmental infrastructure of the city. Courtesy of some very big global tech companies, a new digital infrastructure could be rolled out, applying sensors, data-capture devices and large-scale computing power to urban life.
Smart cities are data cities, promising efficient management of transport and utilities, security, and customised commerce. If the early Creative City embraced the messiness of city life, viewing it not as chaos but creative fecundity, the Smart City give us a clean utopian picture of the perfectly transparent city.
It’s messy on the surface, but with a big data back-room providing bespoke information for almost any aspect of urban living your care to ask for. What’s not to like?
A corporate taming of creativity
That the brains of the Smart City – as envisioned by its corporate promoters – are increasingly embedded in its walls rather than its inhabitants reveals much about the trajectory of the digital economy so closely tied to Florida’s conception of the Creative City and its industries.
Internet scholar Jonathan Zittrain has described the rise of “app” culture as a betrayal of the creative potential unleashed by the mainstreaming of the internet. If the open internet was messy and chaotic, Zittrain argues that it was correspondingly “generative”, promoting experimentation and creativity.
 
The app increasingly represents the corporate-driven pacification of the internet. AAP
By contrast, the “app” represents the pacification and domestication of the internet: its transformation from a productive medium to an infrastructure for consumption and marketing. Apps sort our music and photos for us, tell us where to eat, how to get there, and what to watch afterwards. The price of the newfound convenience that renders smart phones so addictive is a shift in the balance of control away from the end user.
For Zittrain, the “applified” world is, “one of sterile appliances tethered to a network of control” – which is not a bad description of the corporate blueprint for the Smart City.
As urbanist Adam Greenfield has observed, the corporate world has taken the lead in both envisioning and promoting its version of the “informated” city. It looks suspiciously like the commercial internet projected out into physical space.
The promise is one of efficiency, convenience and security: smart streets that adjust traffic flow in real time, walls that change images to suit our tastes (which have become indistinguishable from market preferences), even floors that cushion us when we fall.
For all the talk of disruption, the paradoxical promise of the smart city is one of data-driven efficiency and predictability. The promotional materials feature the same smart young things, freed up from the impositions of daily life (traffic, shopping, routine decision-making, even driving), to do … what?
Whose city is it?
There are surely possibilities here, but the version of smart city as automated city looks inhuman. It promises to serve people by rendering them increasingly efficient, perhaps to the point of their own redundancy.
To subject the future of the city to the corporate imaginary is to concede too much to the galloping privatisation of our cultural and informational infrastructure.
What if the right to the city were also a right to participate in shaping its information infrastructures and their implementation? Can we envision an alternative to centralised corporate control of the city’s data? And how might public priorities be redefined in ways that distinguish them from the private imperatives of the ruling tech giants?
These are the guiding questions for our June 15 symposium in Melbourne, which explores the possibility of another kind of urban culture beyond the tightly controlled formats of the Smart City/Creative City.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justin-oconnor-11847" target="_blank"></a>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justin-oconnor-11847" target="_blank">Justin O'Connor </a>is professor of Communications and Cultural Economy, Monash University.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justin-oconnor-11847" target="_blank"></a>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-andrejevic-21617" target="_blank">Mark Andrejevic </a>Guest Lecturer, Monash University; Professor and Chair, Department of Media Studies, Pomona College.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justin-oconnor-11847" target="_blank"></a>
Both are authors for The Conversation.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justin-oconnor-11847" target="_blank"> </a>
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