Cars in their hundreds chug along Broadway in the Sydney CBD and the skyscrapers create a grey canopy above strolling pedestrians. You don't have to stray far off the main road to find yourself in the heart of the inner city suburb of Chippendale.
It's not the early 20th-century façade on the terrace housing which first catches your eye but the public footpath crowded in greenery. On closer inspection, it becomes clear the street is scattered with dozens of planter boxes. They range from simple ferns to entire vegetable gardens, all tended to by the local residents.
While the practice of growing plants on nature strips is against the use of public space in most council areas, the residents of Chippendale actively promote the use of the streets to grow gardens that serve up 'food for everyone'. When I met the pioneer of the movement, Michael Mobbs, in his off-the-grid home, he was excited for the community to get involved and learn from each other as they shared the skills and knowledge of sustainable gardening.
The 'Sustainable Chippendale Plan', which is entirely based on public land, has no legal force behind it. In 2015, the council exhibited the plan but decided against taking it up as a council project. So what makes it socially acceptable for these residents to use public space for their social project?
There are a few ways an individual or a group can interact with public spaces. The first is to sit in or walk through a place while crunching on a delicious apple. The second is to inhabit the space, deciding to grow an apple tree and sharing this experience with others (like the residents in Chippendale). The third would be to grow the tree and then pick the apples behind your neighbours' backs, selling them to Woolworths for profit.
The latter is how Australians feel about the NSW state government auctioning off the sails of the Sydney Opera House to the highest bidder without consulting its neighbours — the Australian people.
Unlike the espalier fruit trees in Chippendale, the commodification of public space is not 'food for everyone'. When the government accepts a financial contract to modify a place enjoyed by the public, it alters the social contract and therefore the behaviour allowed to occur within it. Space is no longer defined by the possibility of what it can be for the public, but instead, by what it isn't.
"Public space