Public Sydney: Drawing the City

What makes a city beautiful, functional, memorable?

Public Sydney reveals the city through its most powerful public spaces. Presenting more than 100 key sites in plan, section and elevation, it uncovers the layered history, harbour-shaped geography and design intelligence that give Sydney its distinct urban character.

Meticulous drawings are paired with historical and contemporary images in incisive essays to trace how Sydney's public realm has been shaped over time - and why its shared spaces remain central to Sydney's identity, vitality and everyday life.

Representing over two decades of effort, research and recording, this new and thoroughly revised edition contains new maps, images and essays to offer fresh insights. Public Sydney shines a light on the past, present and future of the city. For designers, planners, policymakers, historians and anyone fascinated by the life of cities, it is an indispensable resource and a landmark study of urban public space.

About the Author

Peter Thalis is a Professor of Practice in Architecture at UNSW and lectures across Australia. He formerly served as a Councillor of the City of Sydney from 2016-21, advocating for public transport, cycleways and pedestrian amenity, as well as public and affordable housing within the LGA. In 2024 he was awarded the Institute of Architects' Gold Medal and he was a co-recipient (with Peter John Cantrill) of the AIA President's award in 2009. Philip was elevated to a Life Fellow of the Institute in 2019.

Peter John Cantrill is an urban designer at the City of Sydney, where he has worked for over ten years. In 2024, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Urban Design Association's highest recognition. He is a respected leader within the broad community of practitioners he works with in the design of the public Sydney, and a mentor to younger professionals. He studied architecture at the University of Sydney and IAUV, Venice, and for many years was director of a leading architecture and urban design practice. He is dedicated to making public places that improve people's lives and that they will love.

Philip Thalis and Peter John Cantrill
Published November 2026
Hardback
240 pages 
390mm x 260mm
ISBN 9781760765415