Join the Book Club 17:30 Wednesday 27 April as they review Killing Sydney by Elizabeth Farrelly.

About the Book

For Elizabeth Farrelly, Sydney was love at first sight.

But in 2012, looking on aghast at the scale of the development firestorm poised above the city, she made a silent vow: I will do what I can to protect you. In this book, she calls on us to wake up and do the same.

As an architectural graduate, academic, city councillor and writer, Farrelly has considered what makes cities tick for more than thirty years. Now she believes her home faces destruction. Relentless motorway construction, tree-lopping, park-shaving, heritage demolition, the Powerhouse relocation, the mistreatment of public lands at Barangaroo and Darling Harbour and of public assets everywhere. Epidemic resi-towers in every pocket of the metropolis … the list of ill-considered development feels endless.

Killing Sydney is part-lovesong, part-warning; a parable for all our cities and how we shape them for the future. It lays down a gauntlet for the enrichment and protection of a green, beautiful, affordable, sustainable, heritage-grounded and accessible city.

Little by little, our politics are being debased and our environment degraded. The tipping point is close. Can the cities we love survive?

About the Author

Dr Elizabeth Farrelly trained in architecture and philosophy, practiced in Auckland, London and Bristol, holds a PhD in urbanism from the University of Sydney, and is an Associate Professor (Practice) at the University of NSW Graduate School of Urbanism. She was born in Dunedin, New Zealand but has made Sydney her home since the late 1980s. She is the author of several books, including Three Houses – a monograph on renowned architect Glenn Murcutt – is a Walkley-shortlisted journalist, critic and essayist, served as a Councillor for the City of Sydney from 1991 to 1995, and her portrait by Mirra Whale was a finalist in the 2015 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

About the Book Club

“The Club has revived the Book Club which will no longer be confined to sporting books, but be selected from a wide variety of current and vintage fiction and non-fiction works – chosen by the Members. We already have a strong nucleus of participants and our online sessions should appeal to all of you who read for pleasure. It will only take an hour or so of your time for an online meeting once a month and by joining early you will have the opportunity of being involved in the choice of books for the next few months. Highly recommended for all Members.” David Castle

To learn more about the Book Club or RSVP to the next meeting please contact events@tattersallsclub.org