Professor Andy Marks highlights unique spirit driving Parramatta’s transformation into Sydney’s second CBD
Professor Andy Marks, Executive Director of the Centre for Western Sydney within Western Sydney University, reflects on the unique spirit driving Parramatta’s transformation into Sydney’s second CBD.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Mostafa Rachwani, Ellie Busby and Anthony Segaert, Professor Marks said that unlike other parts of Sydney, where residents have often taken a NIMBY approach to new buildings, Parramatta’s residents see it differently. It’s a core aspect of western Sydney’s aspirational culture, he said.
He pointed to the fact that western Sydney accounts for 10 per cent of Australia’s population, but has not received “anywhere near 10 per cent of the country’s resources”.
“It comes down to feeling neglected for so long,” he said. “There is a receptiveness to change and improvement you don’t see elsewhere.”
That receptiveness has also included an embrace of greater housing density that Marks said would “send hearts in Manly or Ku-ring-gai aflutter”, but meant there weren’t “tumbleweeds floating through the city on weekends or at night”.
For many across the west, Parramatta is fast becoming a city centre that rivals Sydney’s traditional hubs.
Read the full story via SMH (opens in a new window).
ENDS
28 April 2025
Photo credit: Sally Tsoutas
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