Downtown Parramatta has been transformed massively, and deliberately, in the past decade.
The city is pivotal to government plans to reshape Western Sydney, to create a metropolitan centre with a pile of jobs, rich entertainment, top-shelf civic amenity, and high-density residential development. It is an expensive project and one that deserves scrutiny from a stance on the crumbling civic forecourt of another city, Newcastle, 150 kilometres to the north. Has the Parramatta project clawed resources away from Newcastle, the state's 'second city'? Are there development lessons for Newcastle on offer?
