Placemaking
What is placemaking?
Placemaking is all about creating lively neighbourhoods and inviting public spaces where people want to live, work and play.
The placemaking program strives to create a sense of community and belonging as these places evolve. Placemaking uses both temporary and more permanent anchors to encourage people’s connections to place and people. Temporary placemaking allows community ideas to be trialled and tested to inform the permanent elements that come together to sustain well-loved, positive and enduring places.
The program includes art, food, play, performances and community events, which bring energy to the streets, create new community connections and build the story of our Sydney Metro Northwest Places.
Over the coming years, we will work with local communities to use the ideas and inspiration of the people who live and work locally now and those who may be the communities of the future, to create activities in our Bella Vista Pocket Park and other Sydney Metro Northwest locations.
How to get involved
Landcom is creating new places and events as part of the Sydney Metro Northwest Places Program to contribute to building new communities as these places develop over time. Our approach is about involving people to help us create places that are safe, vibrant and welcoming, and that reflect community and cultural values and aspirations.
We invite you to get in touch with us if you have suggestions or requests for community partnership initiatives, or would like to enquire about using our Bella Vista Pocket Park for regular or one off community group activities once opened.
You can contact the Placemaking team at sydneymetronorthwest@landcom.nsw.gov.au or 1800 712 292.
To receive regular updates on the Sydney Metro Northwest Places program, sign up for email updates below.
Bella Vista Pocket Park
The temporary Bella Vista Pocket Park provides a space to rest in the shade, catch up on your messages, and meet up with your friends and family. The park features the immersive painted mural by Muralisto. Read more about the artwork here and watch the making of the artwork in this short video.
Tallawong Pocket Park
We said farewell to our temporary Tallawong Pocket Park next to Tallawong Station in late August 2021. Thank you to all the people who participated in an activity at our pocket park or simply enjoyed relaxing in the space.
Guiding documents and requirements
We have developed a series of documents to guide our placemaking program, to ensure a consistent approach is followed by Landcom, Sydney Metro and our development partners. These documents can be downloaded below.
Sydney Metro Northwest Places Placemaking Framework
The purpose of the Framework is to:
- establish a shared understanding of placemaking
- outline the guiding principles that underpin our approach
- support our development partners to commit to great place outcomes
- build community capacity to support resilient and sustainable placemaking.
Sydney Metro Northwest Places Public Art Guidelines
The Guidelines provide information about the approach to develop, produce, install and manage temporary and permanent art within the public domain, private developments and connections across the program. They have been informed by Landcom’s Public Art Guidelines and will guide a consistent approach to delivering the public art program.
Sydney Metro Northwest Places Requirements for Content Displayed on Fencing, Hoarding and Billboards
The Requirements seek to promote the display of well-designed content and public art on fencing, hoarding and billboards. They aim to:
- provide standards in relation to the information, design and maintenance of content displayed on fencing, hoarding and billboards
- create vibrant and visually interesting streetscapes and minimise adverse visual impacts from construction sites
- support the Sydney Metro Northwest Places placemaking objectives
- outline developer responsibilities and Landcom content approval processes
- ensure compliance with government regulations including responsibilities under the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Celebrating placemaking
Since May 2019, Sydney Metro Northwest Places has been creating lively neighbourhoods and inviting public spaces where people want to live, work and play. Each year of placemaking brings new milestones in strengthening community connections.
Working alongside local councils, community groups and organisations, our local program has been filled with art, food, movement and events, celebrating creativity and diversity across the area.
From the opening of the Tallawong Pocket Park to our current regular programming activities at Bella Vista Pocket Park, the community has been invited to a variety of activities, bringing these spaces alive and for new connections to be made.
Signature events such as Taste of Diversity, Light Up Bella Vista, Movie Nights at Bella Vista Pocket Park and the Messina + Music Pop-Up have drawn the wider Northwest Sydney community to our local area, creating memorable celebrations of culture, entertainment, and connection.
To find out more about what we’ve been up to, visit the ‘Past events’ page.
Want to stay up-to-date with our activities and events? Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, or subscribe to our Sydney Metro Northwest Places newsletter.