New Green Square Parks for growing community

The City of Sydney is designing and building dozens of new parks and open spaces in one of Sydney’s fastest growing areas to take the total number of Green Square parks to more than 40.

The parks and recreational spaces are spread across the 278 hectare Green Square area, which will be home to around 61,000 people by 2030.

With 10,000 more Green Square apartments being made available over the next four years, the City is designing diverse public outdoor areas to cater for the whole community.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said providing quality open spaces at Green Square was a major challenge for all governments because of the cost of land.

“We’re providing parks for passive recreation, for adult fitness, for toddlers, teens and everyone in-between,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Big or small, we’re putting a lot of effort into each park’s design to make sure they work for the community.

“More people living in apartments means fewer people with their own yards, so it’s important we meet Green Square’s future population growth with plenty of quality open space.”

Guiding principles for designing Green Square parks include:

• Encouraging older residents to relax close to children by putting seats near play facilities;
• Providing multipurpose spaces for young people to sit together, play music and keep fit;
• Designing places where children aged 5-11 can have adventures, ride scooters and skateboards;
• Providing diverse activities for young adults including outdoor games, climbing walls and basketball courts;
• Providing walking paths, gardens and passive recreation spaces for older residents; and
• Providing spaces where carers can sit and socialise with each other.

Green Square is on the border of Moore Park which, with nearby Centennial Park, covers more than 300 hectares and provides large open spaces for diverse recreational activities including walking, running and horse and bike riding.

Green Square’s location on former industrial land 4-5 kilometres from the city centre means land prices are high and existing parks are few. With land so expensive, many of the 40 Green Square parks and open spaces are relatively small so the City has designed them carefully to suit specific community needs.

Larger Green Square parks including Alexandria, Nuffield, Beaconsfield, Gunyama and Waterloo Oval are designed for active sports, including ball sports.

Ten smaller parks including Sweetacres, Wulaba, Tote and Mary O’Brien Reserve are designed to suit toddlers, while seven parks including Nuffield, Garraway and Beaconsfield have attractions that make them suitable places for teenagers to play. Other parks like The Rope Walk, The Drying Green and Mulgu will cater for more passive recreation.

Many of the new parks and open spaces are on land provided by developers building apartments under agreements negotiated by the City.

To help retain links with the area’s rich history, the City has named many parks after important industries, local figures and local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Woolwash Park gets its name from the wool washing industry that flourished in the area in the 19th century because of the plentiful supply of freshwater from local swamps that existed at the time. The Drying Green in the Green Square town centre makes reference to the areas in the town centre where wool would be spread out to dry in the sun.

Sweetacres Park commemorates the company that was once based in Green Square and produced the lollies preferred by generations of moviegoers, including Minties, Fantales and Jaffas.

Parks with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names include Garraway Park, Dyuralya Park, Gadigal Avenue Park and Gunyama Park – the latter of which is sited next to the new Green Square aquatic centre where work is due to start in early 2017.

Source: News Release, City of Sydney, 29 February, 2016

http://www.sydneymedia.com.au/new-green-square-parks-for-growing-community/