Sydney’s Cultural Ribbon
Client: City of Sydney
Location: Sydney, NSW
Year: 2016
Transforming concepts into concrete
Brief
The City of Sydney Council identified a ‘cultural ribbon’ as a key project idea and deliverable of their Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategy. Sketched out during consultation, the concept was to link the cultural venues and environments along Sydney’s foreshore that weaves a narrative of a natural, beautiful and cultural Sydney. The concept was so appealing that it was appropriated and re-interpreted by many other organisations, government bodies and businesses in order to make arguments about their own significance in Sydney’s landscape. After living with this idea as a concept for several years, the City of Sydney sought to refine and materialise the Cultural Ribbon to determine its true role within Sydney’s urban fabric.
Approach
Left Bank Co. worked closely with the City Design team to further develop the Cultural Ribbon concept spatially, organisationally and culturally. Our core role was to facilitate several briefings and workshops with a selection of City of Sydney teams, gathering insights from each perspective to build a cohesive concept for the Cultural Ribbon. The result of these facilitation and research sessions resulted in a clear vision for the Cultural Ribbon and pathway for the City of Sydney to progress with its realisation alongside the many stakeholders and landowners, setting out the objectives and actions for delivery.
Impact
The city’s work to articulate and define their vision for the cultural ribbon was an important step to enable the city to reclaim its original concept and ambition. It has laid the groundwork for other stakeholders to now proceed with tangible plans in line with this vision.