b'Visions for Green SquareReflections on the CompetitionShould this mismatch between objective and resolution concern us given that a city is, in the eyes of most, a very different thing from a work of art? A painting of course, has no practical use, whereas a city is used by many, so the design of cities could in some ways be regarded as a more noble endeavour, and many would consider that aesthetics is a secondary consideration, but can a city also be considered a work of art? The great Australian artist Lloyd Rees thought so. He said that a city is the greatest work of art possible. With all the trouble and Chris Elliott strife, and frankly the visual chaos that besets our modern cities we may wonder whether his eyesight was beginning to fail him when he made the statement. But, when the light is failing such as in times of rain, or fog or indeed smoke even the most unsightly city can be transformed into a strangely beautiful apparition. Monet knew this and painted many beautiful sunsets affected by the famous pea-soup London fog.When I was young decided that we ought to strive to make our cities not only useful but also beautiful. I pondered the problem of how to achieve this. It seemed to me that if a city was viewed as a work of art then it would be a collective artwork, one that would rely on the goodwill of many players. Each new element added to the city be like a new brushstroke on a painting and only after a considerable period of time could the work attain a sense of coherence and become recognised as a city and as a beautiful city. If so, each brushstroke would need to be considered very carefully. Is this too idealistic a notion?Plenty of beautiful ancient cities in Europe convince me that the answer is yes a city could be both beautiful and useful, but I still wondered whether it was possible that a modern city could achieve this high standard. The thinking at the timewhen I was studying architecture was that it was not. The most we could hope for was functionality. The examples of modern city design that we know of consist usually of a grandiose masterstroke conceived at a single point in time consider Chandigarh and Brasilia for example. Such cities were likely to be modern, functional, sterile and lifeless. They are impressive and deserve our respect but my colleagues and I always considered that such cities were unlikely to be the cities that one can fall in love with.83P3-20200301-SYDNEY STUDIO.indd 48 2020/3/8 11:23:13'