Sydney is on the brink of a political change, the rumblings of which are audible among the mutterings of underground architecture groups, the recent winner of the National Future Leader Award from the Property Council of Australia and Rider Levett Bucknall, has said.

The state has been “lagging behind” for years and delivering a “very beige” built environment not helped by particularly “caustic and negative” planning process, Adam Haddow told Architecture & Design. 

However, the state has now reached a “cliff face”, both politically and culturally, and it is on the brink of an “inevitable” transformation, Haddow said.

“We’ve ground to a bit of a halt and now we need to re-imagine ourselves. As a state, politically, we’ve become stale. And I think that filters down into every-day society. So I think there is going to be a political renaissance and I think that will be followed, or in some ways be led, by an architectural renaissance.”

The next government will be “stupid” not to engage in a spirited debate about design and the built fabric, Haddow said. 

“The issues that are facing the state and the broader city of Sydney are so challenging that a new government needs to engage discussion about density, liveability and community. If they don’t they will be going 20 steps backward,” he said.

There is already an undercurrent of “guerilla” activity in Sydney, with architects and designers creating things that are causing lively and spirited debate the like of which the city hasn’t experienced for 10 years, Haddow said. 

Little things, such as the international Pecha Kucha event, the next Australian leg of which is held in Melbourne on 14 July, provide a forum for creative ideas that is generating excitement within the industry.