In particular, you may be interested in the December newsletter released as part of the announcement on Barangaroo South at http://www.barangaroo.com/newsletters.cfm?menu_id=6

+ the January statement on Barangaroo at http://www.barangaroo.com/media.cfm?menu_id=6

Your wider point is right about “many a public space in Singapore, Italy and Spain (is) lined with commercial activity” and yes they’re often bars and cafes - though I’d add they’re often independently- or locally-owned rather than national franchises, which is a MAJOR difference to King St. Wharf, and absolutely crucial not only in terms of urbanism/structure of feeling etc. but also resilient local economies.

Also different is that a diversity of people often live above them in Spain, Italy etc., or have a diversity of workplaces above them. Again, King St. Wharf (as with much of Sydney’s CBD) simply does not have that diversity of use, of people, of activity.

There are broader definitions of public space etc., to do with activity rather than urban design. To me, it’s not to do with feathered edges etc. but what one can actually do in that space i.e. here’s a decent, if UK-centric analysis of those issues around private/public space: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/15/public-space-private-property-companies

I’m not suggesting that’s happening here on this site(though it no doubt has on many occasions elsewhere in Sydney), and of course this is part of a long and complex series of histories around cities like Paris as you point out (though I’d add you need to have high-quality dictators if you’re going to have a dictator, or someone with power, as you put it!) To me, it shows wider issues about urban governance here - who is responsible for stewardship of the city anyway? With that unresolved, discussion of who is responsible for public space, and what public space is, can’t be either.

Regarding the street that was originally proposed between the park and the city that is no longer present - while I agree with Phillip Thallis that it becomes far more difficult to maintain grip on just exactly where public space starts and stops, for me the issue concerns the urban quality that results from such a situation. I am not aware of any precedent for a successful park/public open space where this is the condition.

Southbank in Melbourne shares these qualities and it is hardly top of my list of places to go when I am down there…

And in Sydney the stretch of public space from Darling Harbour through to King Street Wharf where there is no demarkation between buildings and public space is perhaps the least civic part of the entire CBD. It is like one long strip foodcourt with bar after restaurant after bar following restaurant.

I’ll never understand why the design of this site has been dictated by a former PM with no design experience instead of, say, a council appointed, world-leading architect/urban designer like Jan Gehl, whose design input was written off by Iemma as “just another opinion”.

The current “design” (I use the term loosely) will be a nice addition to Rogers’ folio, but it’s hardly the best outcome for Sydney.

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