NSW’s Favourite Urban Place 2026
Town Square Nominations
Town Squares (clockwise from top left): Darling Square, Haymarket; The Concourse, Chatswood; Parramatta Square, Parramatta; Sydney Square, Town Hall; The Forum, St Leonards.
Thank you to everyone who nominated their favourite town squares. Nominations are now closed.
For this year’s NSW’s Favourite Urban Place, we’re inviting you to nominate your favourite town square anywhere in NSW.
The typical Town Square is an area of public land predominantly bordered by shops, cafés, libraries, town halls, churches or other civic buildings at ground level and primarily paved. It is designed as an urban landmark with social significance that may be reinforced with memorials, public art and the like, although these are not essential. It is different from a pedestrian street (a former road now mainly used for walking and lined with shops) and from a park (primarily a green open space).
Why Town Squares?
Town squares are some of the most memorable and well-loved spaces in our cities and towns. Many urban renewal and greenfield projects seek to create a new town square promising activated, social places.
So what makes a good town square?
Are there spatial characteristics that help make some places more successful than others? What role does context and scale play?
What type of town squares are most popular in NSW given our climate and social life?
Does that challenge or confirm design assumptions drawn from international precedents?
If you would like to tell us what makes a Town Square, contribute to the conversation on our socials:
What do we mean by a Town Square?
A town square is an open public space framed by surrounding buildings or streets, designed as a place for people to gather and spend time together. These spaces are often located at the centre of a town or neighbourhood and may be associated with a civic building, church, library or town hall. They can host markets, festivals, outdoor dining, community events, or provide a place to relax and meet others.
Town squares come in many forms, from grand civic plazas in busy city centres to neighbourhood squares that anchor local communities. What they share is a sense of place: somewhere people return to again and again because it feels special.
What is NSW’s Favourite Urban Place?
To celebrate our great urban places across the state, the UDA runs the annual NSW’s Favourite Urban Place poll, inviting everyone to vote for the places they love. The winner gets a fabulous trophy, presented to the Mayor, not to mention well-deserved bragging rights!
This year, we’re shining a spotlight on town squares. From lively civic plazas to neighbourhood squares, these shared spaces bring people together and help shape the identity of our towns and cities.
What happens next?
The UDA will use your suggestions to create a shortlist of town squares. We aim to achieve a fair balance across NSW, including both metropolitan and regional locations, and avoid too many entries from a single local council area.
You can vote for your favourite squares on the shortlist in October, and the winner will be revealed in November!