Australia’s best urban design projects have been unveiled.

The 2025 winners of the Australian Urban Design Awards have been announced.

The awards are hosted by the Australian Institute of Architects in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects and the Planning Institute of Australia.

They highlight successful efforts in building and sustaining Australia’s urban communities.

All up, twelve winners were selected across four categories.

Three winners were announced in the Built Outcomes category.

One winning project is the Rozelle Parklands by Transport for NSW Urban Design.

Offering almost ten hectares of green space and providing around 14 kilometres of riding and walking paths, the Parklands offer one of the largest open and multi-purpose sporting and recreation areas in the inner-city part of Sydney.

They were constructed as part of the Rozelle Interchange Project. In turn, this was constructed as part of WestConnex – a 33-kilometre continuous motorway network which links Sydney’s west and southwest to the city, airport and port.

Being mostly constructed underground, WestConnex has enabled urban renewal above ground.

Key parkland features include:

  • outdoor meeting places such as a Corroboree circle and Yarning circle
  • a discovery bush trail
  • a nature play and children’s play area
  • barbeque facilities
  • outdoor exercise stations and bush trails
  • 14 kilometres of walking and bike riding paths which offer connections to Victoria Road, Annandale, Anzac Bridge and the suburbs of Drummoyne, Russell Lea, and Chiswick – and ultimate connections to The Bays Precinct and the CD.
  • two sporting fields
  • more than 3,000 planted trees as well as gardens and wetlands
  • a series of bridges which cross the City West Link motorway and which avoid a ‘dead edge’ condition along the southern park edge and ensure that the park is part of a broader connective tissue.

A landmark artistic feature of the park is an ambitious sculpture of twisted steel, zinc panels and green plants which adorn a trio of enormous chimney stacks at the Interchange.

(Rozelle Parklands: Photograph by Karen Faulkner)

Another winner was the Central Park Public Domain project.

Designed by Turf Design Studio in collaboration with Jeppe Aagaard Andersen of Copenhagen, this project began in 2007 and has taken place in stages over eighteen years. The final stage was completed only recently.

It involved the transformation of the previous 5.8-hectare Carton United Brewery site that into a cohesive and vibrant high density urban neighbourhood which involves an expanded network of interconnected streets, parks laneways and plazas.

At the heart of the public realm is Chippendale Green – a series of lawn terraces which are enveloped by an informal mix of native and exotic trees.

Within this, a standout feature is Halo – a wind powered kinetic sculpture which involves a ring that turns and tilts atop a mast in response to the wind.

According to the jury, Central Park is now a highly successful and integrated piece of new urban fabric in the city which links formerly disparate localities of Chippendale with Broadway, University of Technology Sydney and by extension, Central Sydney.

(Central Park Public Domain. Photograph by Simon Wood)

The third winner was Mary’s Place in the Queensland regional town of Dalby.

Designed by Blight Rayner Architecture in association with Wild Studio, Mary’s Place offers a welcoming and high-quality public square that provides a beating heart for the town on the site of the Commercial Hotel which was destroyed by fire.

It is named after Mary Barry, former Commercial Hotel publican.

A multi-use program provides for community use by day and night whilst the square provides a link between two major parklands.

The winning design placed local memories at the centre. Themes of rebirth and regeneration were sensitively embedded.

(Mary’s Place. Photo by Scott Burrows)

Other category winners

Other category winners included:

  • One winner in the Research & Advisory category: the Centre for Population Health, Western Sydney Local Health District for its publication of the Healthy Higher Density Living for Families and Children guide which provides information about making high density living viable for children.
  • Three winners in the Strategic Design & Policy category: Transport for NSW for its Beyond A to B design policy which redefined the role of transport infrastructure in shaping cities: Tyrell Studio in collaboration with Mott McDonald, Klok Advisory, Bangawarra, Left Bank and The Sydney for their work in preparing the Cockatoo Island Wareamah Masterplan; and Tzannes for its work on the Martin Place Metro Precinct Urban Design Framework.
  • Two winners of the Urban Design Champions category: Chris Thomas, former studio design manager at the City of Sydney (passed away in March last year) and Jeremy McLeod, founder and design director of Breathe Architecture.

Cockatoo Island Wareamah Masterplan. Photography by Tyrrell Studio)

Celebrating Excellence

Katherine Sundermann, Chair of the Steering Committee for the awards, congratulated the winners.

“Urban transformation is a hot topic across Australia, driven by our national housing crisis and associated planning reforms,” Sundermann said.

“As the Steering Committee for the Australian Urban Design Awards, we believe strategic urban design is crucial for not only delivering more homes, but also creating liveable neighbourhoods, while addressing climate and biodiversity crises …

“… This year’s award winners, covering precinct transformation, guidelines for healthy high-density living for families, and transport policy, showcase the impactful role of strategic urban design in consciously improving the quality of our cities and regions.”

 

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