Coronavirus: ‘Revive the Sydney CBD or face a death spiral’

A new rescue plan to revive the Sydney CBD is urgently calling for short- and long-term ideas to bring the city to life again.

‘Great to see people coming back into the city,’ says Bruna Daudt de Oliveira, assistant venue manager at Jimmy’s Falafel in the Sydney CBD. Picture: Britta Campion

Sydney’s rooftops and courtyards should be transformed into ­socially distanced live performance spaces and museums and galleries funded to open late into the night in a bid to revive the CBD, a rescue plan says.

Think tank Committee for Sydney welcomed news that NSW was preparing to lift cap­acity from one person per 4sq m to two at indoor venues, but in a ­revival plan for the CBD it warned the city could “death spiral” ­unless short and long-term ­solutions were implemented.

Museum of Contemporary Art director Liz Ann Macgregor said she would open the cultural institution later into the night to help kick-start travel to one of the most “important precincts in the CBD”, The Rocks.

“With more funding and support from government or philanthropy, we would love to be operating into the evenings,” Ms Macgregor  said.

“But you also have to offer ­people packages … we should be having a conversation with other businesses in The Rocks to see how we can together generate excitement about getting people back into the CBD.”

Alongside an expansion of “outdoor culture” and longer opening hours for cultural institutions, the Committee for Sydney said the government should work with the Sydney Festival to “re-imagine public space”.

Sydney Festival artistic director Wesley Enoch said arts and cultural institutions shaped the “flow” of cities and would play a key part in the COVID-19 ­recovery.

“I think the … CBD has had rough trot over the last five years,” Mr Enoch said.

“When you see the impact of lockout laws, the light rail being built, which in themselves were not necessarily evil things but they have had an effect on the city that is already a little depressed.

“Add to that the pandemic … there is a desperate need to invite people back into the city.”

Hospitality entrepreneur and owner of the Merivale Group ­Justin Hemmes said “Sydney needs its CBD back open for ­business … the government has done an excellent job in flattening the curve but as JobKeeper starts winding down, the hospi­tality and retail industries need restrictions relaxed to maintain viability and, importantly, to boost employment especially as we head into the warmer months.

“A vibrant night-life is crucial to our city’s future and will be a driving force in our road to recovery after COVID. “Sydney was making fantastic progress in the reinvigoration of the CBD before the pandemic hit, so it is important we don’t lose momentum.”

Assistant manager Bruna Daudt de Oliveira at Jimmy’s Falafel in George Street, one of Mr Hemmes’s 70 Sydney-based businesses, said it was “great to see people coming back into the city”.

“You can really feel the change in energy and the streets are starting to buzz again,” she said.

The Committee for Sydney will announce the Commission on the Future of the CBD to tackle “momentous challenges” caused by the global pandemic.