Our vision and purpose

Councils, state agencies, community groups, heritage experts and individuals have helped shaped the 50-Year Vision for Greater Sydney’s Open Space and Parklands (PDF 3.2 MB). This long-term aspiration sets out a bold vision for Greater Sydney to be:

• a living and breathing city with a protected, celebrated and embraced natural environment
• a city of community-focused parks and open spaces that are connected through the Greater Sydney green and blue grids
• a place that reflects the value and stories of the past, nurtures the present and sets the stage for stories yet to be told, including rich First Nations stories
• a city within its landscape, where open spaces and parklands are accessible, meaningful, sustainable and part of everyday life
• as much a parkland city as it is a harbour and river city, where people can easily access diverse, high-quality parklands
• a place where people are custodians and wholeheartedly embrace and care for open space and parklands.

Our purpose is caring for parklands and connecting communities.

We are protecting and sustainably activating and growing Greater Sydney’s parklands and we promote the community’s engagement with these parklands.

We do this to enable people to connect spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially and culturally to Country through the parklands. We want to champion safe and inclusive spaces and places that enhance the community’s health and wellbeing. We believe connecting people and parklands will foster a society that protects our land, water and cultural heritage for future generations.

We are a guardian of the parks where people grow and learn about themselves, others and the world around them.

We aim to preserve the parklands and inspire the next generation to activate, grow and develop the parklands in a sustainable way. Together, we can create environments where people pause, breathe, relax and connect.