Marrickville Town Square

27/03/2026

A wonderful little article on how our 'third spaces' become avenues for sharing, creating, building community and... battling the far right.

Examining the explosion of such community focussed public spaces in Paris, this talks about all the great things that come out of local, communal spaces where people can meet and carry out their lives.

Beautiful inspiration. We can have this too!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Drop into any of the French capital’s ‘third places’ and you’ll find food, culture, community – and an antidote to the disaffection extremists feed on, says Paris-based writer Alexander Hurst

23/03/2026

This is just FANTASTIC news! Paris has been working incredibly hard to convert their streets from car-sewers to beautiful, functional places... for people. And while there is some pushback at the moment about similar moves here (from the usual, tired old voices) - this so thoroughly demonstrates that once these kinds of changes are made - people love them. They are HUGELY popular.

And y'know what? I suspect our local politicians are slowly waking up to this.

A resounding win - and strong signal - in . Emmanuel Gregôire has been elected mayor, defeating Rachida Dati (53% -38%) and continuing left-wing leadership in one of the world’s most influential cities.

A signal that the transformation of our cities is not a passing trend, but a lasting direction. Because this victory doesn’t stand alone. It builds directly on the bold, often controversial, and ultimately transformative legacy of Anne Hidalgo.

For over a decade, Hidalgo reimagined Paris:
🚲 From car-dominated streets to cycling infrastructure
🌿 From grey corridors to green, livable public spaces
🚶‍♀️ From transit routes to places for people

She proved that reclaiming streets is not just possible — it’s powerful. And now, Paris has chosen continuity. Not just of leadership, but of vision.

For anyone working in urban transformation, mobility, or city-making this moment matters. Because it reinforces a simple but profound idea: When you change the streets, you change the city. And when you change the city, you change how people live.

Paris is staying the course. Who follows next?

(Emmanuel Grégoire on his way to Hôtel de Ville after his resounding victory.)

16/03/2026

This is an important moment. Council are planning something SUPER progressive. Not requiring new apartments to provide carparking - which will drop the price of new apartments by up to $100k!!!

For places right on top of the new Metro and 3 bus routes this makes SO much sense BUT... there's lots of pushback from people obsessed with carparking. Our mates over at Yimby have a really easy to fill out little form happening - much easier than those awful council surveys - so head on over and add your voice to support the new proposed parking strategy.

We CAN build a better suburb! With cheaper housing. For all of us!

Here's the link: https://supporthousingcode.good.do/parking/strategy/

09/03/2026

Auto-captioning can be hilarious. HANDS UP WHO WANTS MARRICKVILLE TROUT SQUARE? ;)

02/03/2026

COUNCIL HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE!!!

So you still have a chance to help us secure the funding to get the square built!

And check out this AMAZING comment some-one added. We could not have said it better ourselves!

19/02/2026

Hey folks - people are dropping pins on the map THICK AND FAST now!

This is awesome!

But... we're getting too crammed up! Which makes it look like there are less pins than there really are! Eeeeeek!

So if you haven't done yours yet - can you drop yours in THIS area. Spread 'em out a bit!

Thanks everyone!

And the link to the survey to do this is here:

https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/building-our-community

And instructions here: https://marrickville-town-square.mailchimpsites.com/survey-guide

15/02/2026

It's so lovely seeing what people are saying about Marrickville Town Square in the latest Council Survey.

And contributions here determine what council spend $500m dollars on! So THIS is the way we get the square funded.

So add your voice! Follow the link below and drop a pin using the map page on the Calvert St carpark and... tell 'em what you want!

https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/building-our-community

You can also drop pins anywhere else in the innerwest and suggest things like bike paths, pedestrianisation and traffic calming measures. This is an INCREDIBLY powerful moment to reshape our suburb!

01/02/2026

This is a FANTASTIC video showing the benefits of London's moves to redesign areas to be Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Which they have been doing for decades now! Such amazing outcomes when you start de-centreing cars travelling THROUGH a suburb and instead prioritising public transport, bikes, pedestrians and local traffic.

Of particular note is how smart designs like this do NOT prevent people from driving when they have to, do NOT prevent access for utility and emergency vehcicles, do NO prevent access for commercial vehciles servicing local shops etc...

We can still have ALL of that - while making our neighbourhoods, quieter, safer, better for people with mobility issues, more inviting, less polluted and just far nicer to live in.

After a half dozen films, Streetfilms' presents its final look at London's impressive Low Traffic Neighborhoods! Hear from residents, advocates & elected lea...

31/01/2026

It is awesome to see submissions to the council budgeting survey trickle in. This survey will determine council budgeting priorities for the medium future - so if we get enough people - we will get Marrickville Town Square built. This is therefore a SUPER IMPORTANT moment of the campaign.

Can you spend a few minutes filling out the survey and dropping a pin on the Calvert st site to tell 'em ya want a big fat public space here? And have look at what other people are saying about MTS. You can also assingn points to 'Upgrades to Town Centres' in the prioritise infrastructure page.

Here's the link: https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/building-our-community