An Important Update From Elizabeth Farrelly

Hi everyone,

Sad news, in a way – an end, but also a beginning. The board of The Better Cities Initiative has voted to wind the organisation up from 30th June. Why? Not because we weren’t doing good things. And certainly not because there's no energy in the community for better, fairer, more intelligent — and honest — city-making.

It’s the same old reason, really. We ran out of money. Turns out it’s actually quite tricky to fly the plane while you’re not only building it but finding the cash to do that. Who would have thought?

From the book 'Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life’ by David Sim

I want to thank everyone who has supported us by donating, volunteering, attending our public forums or just following along over the last couple of years. I also want to thank our board, our team, our donors, our champions and our social media supporters. It’s been quite a ride!

Some of our Better Cities team will be setting up a new organisation to pursue deliberative democracy at a federal level.

I, meanwhile, will continue the good fight for better cities - better product, better process. The time is so ripe for a major planning rebellion!

I’ll be writing regularly for ArchitectureAu and The Saturday Paper. I’ll be hosting The Sydneyist every Thursday on Eastside @89.7FM (listen live digitally or stream later) and I’ll be publishing my new substack, MAKE ME A CITY. Please subscribe! Would love to see you there.

Best wishes – see you on the other side!

Elizabeth