Urban Beach Life

The beaches are as much icons of Sydney as the famous Opera House. Barbara Schaffer from the NSW Government Architect's Office compares them to Piazzas. They form part of the urban culture and are an interlocked with the urban fabric. They are a central meeting point and are used in multiple ways: locals running greet mums and dads with prams, sip coffee in a local bar, families picnic and swim, after work surfers in stinger suits appear in the afternoons with their boards and hit the waves, people walk home after work, or to school, weekend walkers disappear on the horizon and reappear hours later on their way back home. The beach promenades extend the grid of urban streets and the commercial activies of the high street. The beaches are also home to a rich flora and fauna, permanent and transitional.

When the sea level rises will the beaches disappear? None of the people we have interviewed to date could point us to plans for their preservation. Will we need to create a new kind of beach? For sure: Sydney would not be Sydney without these unique "Piazzas".