Peter Egan might well be opining on the minutiae of Sydney Town planning from afar in Adelaide, but on the subject of the urgent need to update the look and feel of this CBD, he is spot on (“Public squares needed, Letters, 12/2). Showcasing the vitality and unique identity of any metropolis, the value of having picturesque town squares cannot be understated. Over the past 10 years, the emergence of Parramatta Square, a monument of towering edifices and the heartbeat of the commercial West stands as the penultimate landscape transformation. Once a morass of darkened streets, cheap shopfronts and an unashamed canvas for the graffiti-artists, new Parramatta Square now seems centuries apart from this nightmare of the past. Peter Egan is right to call out the shortsighted throng in Sydney opposing development. Perhaps their advocacy might backfire, resulting in Parramatta extending its urban supremacy, returning as the dominant CBD that once ruled Terra Australis for it first 50 years of existence. Alan Sexton, Parramatta 13Feb2026
Public squares needed
A CBD of the size of Sydney’s needs a number of public squares. The Town Hall Square across from the Town Hall is much needed. It will drive investment in the neighbourhood (“City square plan slammed”, DT, 11/2). No doubt council will include a number of underground levels below the square for retailers such as incumbent Woolworths. The project must include access improvements to the railway station and an updating of the very tired Town Hall precinct. The 1970s brutalist-style Town Hall House (office block) and associated pebble-crete Sydney Square have aged poorly in their relationship to the 19th century sandstone Town Hall and St Andrew’s Cathedral. The ground level around the Town Hall and cathedral must be restored and the Town Hall separated from the smothering office block. Peter Egan, Adelaide 12Feb2026