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COMMENT<br />
WWW.WSBA.COM.AU<br />
Time right for BRAND SYDNEY<br />
The striking simplicity of city flags that the people embrace – the flags of Chicago, Tokyo and Amsterdam<br />
By Jonathon Flegg<br />
IDENTITY<br />
WITH the Greater Sydney Commission<br />
(GSC) now in place, have we<br />
reached the moment to invent a new<br />
brand for Sydney that represents all<br />
of our city’s citizens?<br />
The GSC, Sydney’s first body that coordinates<br />
planning across the whole city, states<br />
that Sydney is a “city of ambition and we need<br />
to match this ambition with boldness.”<br />
In the spirit of our iconic Opera House<br />
and Harbour Bridge, a new city brand for<br />
Sydney, created and adopted by the people,<br />
could be exactly what we need to rekindle<br />
both our city’s boldness and ambition for a<br />
new generation.<br />
The forces of globalisation and receding<br />
national economic borders have meant that<br />
international competition is increasingly between<br />
great cities rather than great nations.<br />
The time has come for all areas of Sydney<br />
to claim their status as part of a global city, not<br />
just the suburbs around the dazzling harbour<br />
and beaches.<br />
One of the great tragedies of the global<br />
trend towards urbanisation and densification<br />
is that whilst people are living physically closer<br />
than ever before their feeling of social disconnection<br />
is similarly on the increase.<br />
Democratically designing Sydney’s city<br />
brand would be an endeavour that goes beyond<br />
the symbolic in addressing this disconnect.<br />
On one level it would heighten a sense<br />
of belonging and public ownership, and on<br />
another it would stoke more active civic participation<br />
and social capital amongst Sydneysiders.<br />
Innovative city branding also speaks to our<br />
global audience, including all potential investors,<br />
start-up entrepreneurs, skilled workers<br />
and discerning tourists.<br />
The emotional connection individuals<br />
build with a brand designed by its citizens, if<br />
done well, can speak volumes about how attractive<br />
our patch is to others.<br />
International design expert Roman Mars<br />
makes the case for why a well-designed city<br />
flag could be the ultimate piece of branding<br />
for an international city and the most potent<br />
symbol of its transformation:<br />
“As we move more and more into cities, the<br />
city flag will become not just a symbol of that city<br />
as a place, but also it could become a symbol of<br />
how that city considers design itself. Especially<br />
today as the populace is becoming more designaware<br />
and I think design-awareness is at an alltime<br />
high. A well-designed flag can be seen as an<br />
indicator of how a city considers all of its design<br />
systems: its public transit, its parks, its signage.”<br />
Many of the great metropolises of the<br />
world, such as Chicago, Amsterdam and Tokyo,<br />
are represented by great and surprisingly<br />
simple flags. Designed, sustained and adapted<br />
by the people, a city flag is an unquestionably<br />
democratic exercise.<br />
As such, these flags have become much<br />
more than a symbol of a city’s administration.<br />
They represent the people as an organic, living<br />
whole.<br />
A flag is a visual representation of a city’s<br />
positive values, civic pride, social cohesiveness<br />
and overall attractiveness and can play a key<br />
role in an overall citizen brand.<br />
Cities are the engines of growth in the 21 st<br />
century, recently reflected in Australia with<br />
the establishment of a national Cities Agenda,<br />
something we haven’t had since the 1970s.<br />
Central to driving this growth is the<br />
concept of ‘place making’ – rethinking the<br />
traditionally rigid urban environment so that<br />
our city’s systems can truly operate as a living<br />
ecosystem.<br />
Great design and putting the citizens first,<br />
whether when thinking about a new citizen<br />
brand or an urban rejuvenation program, lie at<br />
the heart of each exercise.<br />
Jonathon Flegg is Associate Director at Deloitte Access<br />
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26 WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS SEPTEMBER 2016
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