The winners of the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards were announced at a presentation in Canberra on Monday 18 March. The awards recognize contemporary Australian urban design of the highest quality and aim to encourage innovation in the built environment across cities, towns and communities. They are co-convened by the Australian Institute of Architects, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA).
“This year’s awards have demonstrated that good urban design is not a superficial and optional layer to how we build cities, but a fundamental and unifying way to create places that connect us to each other and begin to address climate and biodiversity crises,” said Katherine Sundermann, Convenor of Juries.
“The role of government in leading innovation is evident in the award-winning streetscape and riverside transformations led by the City of Melbourne and City of Sydney. Here, public land is rediscovered for human and ecological benefit. A renewed focus on developing an evidence base for good urban design is highlighted in quantifying quality, marrying algorithmic assessment with crowd-sourced public intelligence to define the most important elements of public space, alongside commended projects that provide targeted tools to lift the quality of ‘missing middle’ housing and transport projects,” Sundermann said.
Also announced at the awards ceremony was a new body, the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Urban Design. The group is led by the three professional institutes and aims to create a multipartisan forum for collaboration among parliamentarians and relevant stakeholders, raise awareness of the importance of good urban design, engage with stakeholders to ensure a holistic approach to urban development and communicate the critical role of good urban design in shaping the nation’s identity.
It consists of three co-chairs: Elizabeth Watson Brown, Member for Ryan (Australian Greens), Graham Perrett, Member for Moreton (ALP), and Cameron Caldwell, Member for Fadden (Liberal), as well as Tania Lawrence, Member for Hasluck (ALP), Bridget McKenzie, Senator for Victoria (National) David Pocock, Senator for ACT (Independent), David Shoebridge, Senator for NSW (Greens )Libby Coker, Member for Corangamite (ALP), and Jerome Laxale, Member for Bennelong (ALP).
“Urban resilience, de-carbonisation, accessibility and social equity are fundamental to a sustainable, survivable future for all of us and the professions, the community and the parliament can share agency in designing this future together,” said Member for Ryan and retired architect, Elizabeth Watson-Brown.
“I am very proud to be co-chairing this important group as a relatively new MP after a 40-year career as an architect and an urbanist. Of particular personal and professional interest to me has always been the design and shaping of our cities where over 85% of Australians live and where most carbon pollution and much social dislocation is produced.”
The winners of the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards are:
Built projects – City and Regional Scale
Award
George Street, Sydney – City of Sydney
Commendation
Walyalup Civic Centre – KHA
Built projects – Local and Neighbourhood Scale
Award
Transforming Southbank Boulevard – City of Melbourne with TCL and Mike Hewson
Commendations
Er Pavilion – Vittino Ashe in collaboration with Brendan Moore, Melissa Cameron and Syrinx
Lilydale and Mooroolbark Stations – BKK Architects and Kyriacou Architects and Jacobs and Aspect Studios
Leadership, Advocacy and Research – City and Regional Scale
Award
The Greenline Project – City of Melbourne with Aspect Studios x TCL
Commendations
Macquarie Park Innovation Precinct - Stage 1 – AJC Architects and Tract Consultants
Value Assessment System for Place (VASP) – Transport for NSW Urban Design (Public Transport and Precincts)
Leadership, Advocacy and Research – Local and Neighbourhood Scale
Award
Quantifying quality – SJB and University of Technology Sydney
Commendations
Height of building and FSR alignment study – Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects, Olsson Architecture Urban Projects, and City of Sydney Strategic Planning
Gurner Avenue Austral – E8urban
The Australian Urban Design Awards are co-convened by the Planning Institute of Australia, the Australian Institute of Architects and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, and supported by principal partner Bondor Metecno.
