Creative Bureaucracy Festival Award – Monica Barone

The City of Sydney is living proof that public administration does not just plan – it delivers. Since Monica Barone took the helm of the City of Sydney Council in 2006 under the leadership of Mayor Clover Moore, she has transformed the organisation into one of Australia’s most innovative local authorities. Under her stewardship, George Street has been redesigned as a pedestrian-friendly light-rail corridor and forgotten alleyways have been revitalised into vibrant public spaces. The long-term strategy ‘Sustainable Sydney 2030’ was not left on the shelf, but has been consistently developed and implemented. It acted as a blueprint for other localities beyond its boundaries. 18 of 33 local councils in the Greater Sydney area have now adopted their own resilience plans, 16 have urban forest plans to combat heat, and 23 have set net-zero targets – a domino effect that Barone and her staff helped trigger through her networking. The $13 billion Green Square urban development project is one of the country’s largest urban regeneration schemes – and is being implemented. Monica Barone is responsible for around 2,000 staff and an annual budget of approximately 880 million dollars – and the city demonstrates that scale is no barrier to effective action. Public administrations can be bold, they can shape the future, they can make a real impact. The City of Sydney is living proof of this.