Jobs are at the centre of the lives and livelihoods of citizens and, equally jobs are at the centre of the economic health of a city. The economic recovery and future growth of Sydney as a global 24-hour city must be jobs led.
A jobs focused development of a 24-hour economy for Sydney means delivering initiatives that facilitate recovery and stability of employment in the hospitality and tourism sectors, programmes that foster, attract, and retain talent and a planning framework that stimulates investment in infrastructure including a dedicated SEPP for arts and cultural institutions.
A jobs focused development of a 24-hour economy also means enabling and energizing a workforce that can function equally during the day and the night. To put in place policies, programmes and processes to support cross industry employment participation in the night requires an understanding of who currently works at night, the experiences, and barriers to working outside the traditional 8am to 6pm, as well as capitalising on the opportunities to expand the night workforce.
To facilitate efficient use of capital, public and private investment in enabling infrastructure, and service provision, this Paper takes a precinct approach. It examines two Sydney precincts in the central business district that typically have a large number of people working in them both day and night. Through the data collected and analysed this Paper assesses how these precincts are performing as both a place and a time and how well they accommodate and support a 24-hour economy.
Using the six Key Moves outlined in Night Shift: Planning for a 24-hour Sydney, the Paper then provides a blueprint that can be applied to realise the full economic potential of these precincts and for other precincts across Greater Sydney.
Utilising the expertise of Urbis, pre-covid human movement data and activity levels in two key precincts was collected and analysed to provide the underpinning evidence for the way forward.