A fusion of a engineering, architecture and landscape to make the most of previously-unutilised space around infrastructure has been the common thread among this year's best urban design projects, as the private sector increasingly embraces the public realm.

"We don't have the luxury anymore of an Australian city to just simply design another object in the urban landscape," said Malcolm Snow, jury chair of this year's Australian Urban Design Awards and chief executive of Canberra's City Renewal Authority.