Hassell senior associate Scott Davies explains how a Country-led and landscape-led approach has informed the design choices made while preparing the urban design, landscape and public realm framework for the new city of Aerotropolis in Western Sydney, Australia.

As project lead on the Western Sydney Aerotropolis project, Davies is focussed on implementing Hassell’s vision for the newly announced precinct plan that will completely transform a highly degraded catchment in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River using world-leading environment design, urban planning and designing for Country principles.

Davies worked with the Western Sydney Planning Partnership in collaboration with Hill Thalis and Studio Hollenstein to prepare the framework for the Aerotropolis, identifying landscape and waterscape as the key components that shaped the new precinct.

Indigenous Cultural Design and Research practice Djinjama undertook a Reading of Country and yarns with key Knowledge Holders to inform spatial recommendations for Design with Country, which has underpinned the approach across the Aerotropolis.

The Aerotropolis project has brought Wianamatta, the longest freshwater stream in Greater Sydney, back into the conversation. The Wianamatta-South Creek catchment, where the stream joins the Hawkesbury River, is also the most degraded in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system.

The Aerotropolis precinct is part of the Cumberland Plain, which has been used by the local First Nations people as a place for living, a place for hunting and as a meeting place, says Davies.

Elaborating on the importance of the surrounding waterscape to the local Aboriginal people, he said, “The Wianamatta water system is significant for women. It is a woman’s place within local Indigenous culture, and that was a key focus for us to be respectful of landscape and to use that as a way to shape the structure of the precinct.”

Exemplifying the broader shift to landscape-led urbanism, the design of the Aerotropolis is guided by this waterscape, which with its thousands of ephemeral tributaries, is integral to the landscape.

Following significant mapping and analysis of the topography, and identifying the existing water courses and water features, the design team has created an open space network that knits in this waterscape, which has become the framing element for the urban neighbourhoods within the Aerotropolis.

“We were able to position the city centre within a frame of a cultural landscape effectively, with the Wianamatta and Thompsons Creeks immediately adjacent,” says Davies. In addition to a range of linear parklands with a very clear water function, the precinct has elements such as public transport, street networks, active transport connections, and various land uses including schools and town centres embedded within that framework. It’s a really primary way of experiencing Wianamatta on a day-to-day basis, he adds.

Working with Sydney Water, they have successfully integrated the stormwater system into this network, accommodating stormwater basins within the public realm. The system is designed to slow down stormwater transference, allowing the water to permeate into the soil system without eroding it. All the streets and public realm within the Aerotropolis are designed to allow water to be retained within the landscape, utilising a range of water sensitive urban design techniques.

Flood management was an important consideration in the design of the precinct, even though the Aerotropolis’ location makes it less susceptible to direct flooding. Using basic mapping to understand flood flow paths, the design team could effectively contain urban development in those areas. Slowing down water flow and allowing it to permeate into its existing setting helps minimise any potential impact further upstream of the Wianamatta catchment.

Davies says being open to input throughout the design process was a critical part of the success factor, as well as having strong principles to guide the decision-making process. About applying key learnings from the development to future projects, he believes taking a systems-based approach to master planning and urban planning allows a more resilient and sustainable urban framework to be developed over time.

So could urban design help prevent the flooding patterns in Sydney, or at least mitigate their impact? Davies believes it will be difficult within existing urban settings or settlement patterns. “From a First Principles perspective, you don't develop in the floodplain for a start, which is certainly the approach that's now taken across Sydney.”

“But if we take a Country-led and a landscape-led approach to that design question, we can work with the community and government to explore and test different ideas about making communities more resilient and more adaptable to climate change and to flooding risk over time.”

This article is a synopsis of Talking Architecture & Design Episode 119 where Hassell senior associate Scott Davies shares his views on landscape-led urbanism, and developing the urban design, landscape and public realm framework for the Aerotropolis.

Image: Supplied

Architecture & Design Team

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