Castle Hill: Drab Sydney Suburbia, Transformed (Sydney Suburb Planning Series)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มี.ค. 2022
- In this video, I'll be looking at the north-western Sydney suburb of Castle Hill, the suburb that transformed itself from a drab, uninspired and badly traffiked piece of Sydney suburbia, into the beautiful, pedestrian and public transport accessible hub of The Hills that it is today.
Visit Ozroads (www.ozroads.com.au/) for more fascinating information about road infrastructure around Sydney and Australia.
Visit the following link to access the 2008 document on Castle Hill CBD's transformation as mentioned in the video: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.c...
Music Credit: Positive & Upbeat by Mixaund | mixaund.bandcamp.com
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Interesting video! I grew up in the hills area and spent a lot of time at Castle Towers as a teenager in the 90s. Amazing to see the transformation of Castle Hill and what it looks like today. I'm now living in Denmark, where cycling is integrated into urban planning. Cycling here is a safe, sustainable and healthy form of transport. It's a shame that Australia has not embraced bike culture in the same way as it could really help improve urban mobility. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I do think planning around bikes is improving, although it does have further to go. The government does have an ambitious bike network planned for the city; fingers crossed it goes ahead!
I probably saw you at Timezone hahah
Lol bikes
@@smoothjiminal4509 Johnny Rockets!
No, we can't encourage cycling here, that would be dangerous to pedestrians! We need to make cities WALKABLE as a goal! It's illegal to ride on the footpath in NSW.
The metro station has certainly benefited Castle Hill massively, giving it a rail link to the rest of Sydney for the first time. Great and informative video mate.
Love city planning content from someone who is a Hills local!!!
I remember moving to Sydney just as castle towers was being built. Castle mall was quite popular. The original plan was to connect castle towers to castle malls, which would make it the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere at the time.
someone who lives in south sydney and works in castle hill now with the metro now open it makes getting to work so easy
I was the first trolley boy at Coles Castle Towers (store No:794X) when it opened. I was all of 16yo. I was astounded when I went through that area about 5 years ago.
Living in castle hill rn and studying geography in y11 rn at the high school. Great to see that u have done a video on this great suburb
Hang out in old castle hill was exactly what we did as teenagers, it was the place for people all over Sydney to come and hang out. Which was always intriguing to me. (We would congregate around moon pies & misfits, a skater store next to the piazza). 2005-2009 castle towers was a stomping ground for many memories of my youth spent here.
Castle Towers is one of my clients and they have plans to become the biggest AAA shopping centre in AUS in the next few years :')
LolL...Look out Parramatta !
How will that work? Its already big enough lol
The hills council recently purchased the castle mall shopping centre. Bold and forward thinking. Keep up the good work. New subscriber.
Yes there has been alot of improvement to Castle Hill, however there are still traffic issues especially at the back side of Castle Towers near the library. Unfortunately it suffers the same issue alot of suburbs do - the roads and buildings were planned out and built many years ago when the population was much smaller. Then you get an increase in housing and population but the roads remain the same and can't adequately handle the density of traffic. Have you been to Rouse Hill Town Centre? It feels much less congested with traffic and was well designed to be able to handle future growth. I like the outdoor areas of the shops too. It would have been nice to make that section of Old Northern rd at CH an outdoor pedestrian area. Hopefully one day more work will be done.
This is actually a nicely put together video!!! :)
these videos are gems, man. well done
Nice video! I grew up here in the 70s and recall the changing malls, and other areas, through the 80s and 90s.
Another great video!
Thanks mate👍
Castle Hill has been a major hub for me for many years, and it’s been magnificent the transformation the little town has become! Keep up the great work!
It really has transformed haha, being someone who grew up in the area it's been crazy seeing how much it changed.
Ask any long term castle hill resident, the suburb and hills in general has been destroyed by development and incoming riff raff
I find it interesting when travelling into Castle Hill from Showground road my navigator tells me to turn right onto Old Northern road and left onto the Eastern Ring road, rather than left on the Western ring road down past the library and police station, which is much shorter. Best to avoid the western ring road at school pick up and drop off times as hundreds of parents park in Castle Towers and cross at the pedestrian crossing.
You obviously haven't been to Liverpool, Blacktown and several other places in western Sydney if you haven't seen a bus interchange as large as Castle Hill. Castle Hills bus interchange is actually quite small compared to these other bus interchanges. If you want to talk about ring roads in Sydney then Liverpool has this and they can often become a barrier when trying to access a cbd. Liverpool unlike anywhere else in Sydney has the benefit of having a hoddle grid layout like Melbourne. In fact Liverpool had a hoddle grid layout before Melbourne even existed.
Recently I caught the metro to Castle Hill and I was very impressed by the convenience, notably it's linked walkway to the nearby shopping center. It is now in my top 10 Sydney train stations ❤
Wow huge change. I like looking at older shots on Google street view.
Maybe when you're done with Sydney, you can come and do Melbourne.
Maybe I will!
or brisbane
I lived near Castle Hill for a few eventful months back in 2006..and yes old northern road was a nightmare back then.
I feel they should have closed Old Northern as you said, it's just a drab, generic concrete city centre now. They removed so much greenery (inc old tram paraphernalia) and installed concrete and skyscrapers.
Gone are the beautiful old trees. Yuck!
Totally agree with the rerouting upgrades, well overdue. Same goes for the Showground Rd upgrade.
As a side note to what you said about a park between castle towers and the mall, I like the small through road as it allows me to get dropped off by Ubers and taxis right in the middle of the centres.
I heard from a hills district resident that the crime rate has increased in castle hill since increased train/metro services into the suburb have brought all the rough riff raff in.
Where the metro station is now is where the terminus of The old Rogan's Hill branch line was until it was closed in January 1932. Immortalised by The AHRS book The Apricot Mail the line used to branch of at Westmead through Model Farms and Baulkham Hills to Rogan's Hill today's Castle Hill Metro station. Originally built as a Tramway route in 1902 it was converted to a heavy rail route in 1923. Sadly due to The Great Depression coupled with increase in car ownership and fruit fly infestation which somewhat decimated the line's original purpose to convey fresh produce the line closed on The 31st of January 1932 but it wasn't until June 1934 that the rails were lifted. Towards the end CPH Railmotors worked the line.
Ah, Castle Hill - I do admit it's become a lot better over the years, and I never thought it would happen. Why? Because 16 years of bad Labor government promised a train line and never bothered to even draw plans, and meanwhile the northwest and southwest grew exponentially. Then one day the Metro came, against all hope, and suddenly it was easy to catch a bus to Castle Hill Metro or drive to Hills Showground Metro and make it to the CBD. Along with that the ring roads, genius. We had to suffer a lot through decades of no train (even though a successful tram line used to exist, then an unsuccessful train line, then the rails were dug up!!!) - but finally we have the Metro. I still forget sometimes the Metro is there, still being so used to seeing Castle Hill as a train black hole.
The existence of Old Northern Road is a bit of a compromise, now that you mention it. A number of shop fronts there are better now, but still there are several vacated premises, and some of these are in Castle Mall and Castle Towers too. The Towers have always been something of a troubled child with renovations and so on inside and out disrupting its life, but since the Metro and the completion of renovations the place does finally look the part - it just needs some shops to fill those spaces inside. No doubt the place has some costs to recoup still.
The place is still changing a lot. New apartments are coming near Hills Showground and nearby, and Samuel Gilbert school off Showground Road got a huge upgrade to become a Hogwarts tin shed castle. The place still lacks a train to Parramatta, but it continues to be a place between more country-like suburbs Dural, Glenhaven and Kellyville, and other developed places like Rouse Hill and Baulkham Hills. Overall, you could do a lot worse than Castle Hill, it is finally emerging from the growing pains that so many other Sydney suburbs still have.
I think Dee Why would be a great place for you to review next. It’s gone through somewhat similar changes as castle hill
It would be interesting to imagine what could have happened if the original railway to Castle (and Rogans) Hill hadn't been ripped up.
That's a future video I've already started work on! Expect that in the coming months
@@BuildingBeautifully awesome!! Any plans to look at Camden and Kurrajong lines too? 😬
I agree with you...they have improved the Castle Hill CBD enormously.
way more pedestrian friendly than even inner city suburbs like newtown
I agree. King St needs a massive makeover.
Yes king st and enmore road etc, need to bring back trams! Just look at old sydney tram map... that shit shouldn't be an arterial road, it should preferably have a light rail through it and wider footpaths. Cars are unsustainable now and in the future, it'll become more and more packed. We need to shift more towards walk ability and public transport. Bring back all the trams in sydney, they made a big mistake.
Also more tram only and prioritization of public transport, and pedestrians.
Knock down the triangle part which is the corner or enmore and newtown, make a newtown square, hosting markets live music etc. That would be the dream
Nice vid
Excellent video! I hope production budgets increase in future (incl a better framed camera with better lighting)
I think alongside going with what the suburb does well, you should also mention what it does bad i.e why does CH deserve a 4/5 instead of a 5/5 for traffic flow?
Thank you! Watch some of my newer content for better lighting!
Also, yes, I'll keep that in mind for future ratings in my videos :))
When he attains 10,000 subscribers then he can upgrade equipment. I’m fine with the quality but I’m not too fussed. It’s great seeing anyone having a go at delivering content online. 👍
Just came across your channel and had to comment as we rented a unit within 10min walking distance of Castle Towers for a few years and grew up frequenting the area. Overall I rate the upgrade a 3/5 - a pass mark because the situation is significantly improved, but could have done better.
I agree what's been done with the area is a great example for other local councils, but (as has been mentioned) there are still some significant issues that remain. The intersections on the western side (Showground Rd/Pennant St, Showground Rd/Old Northern Rd) are still problematic, and the southern half of Pennant St is frequently choked by the number of cars trying to get into the carparks. The traffic getting in and out of the shopping centre in December is notoriously bad in general to the point that it has made the news on at least one occasion when people had to spend more than an hour just to escape a carpark.
You are rightly disappointed that the through road remains. All the roads within the ring road area except for bus/taxi/k&d next to the station should have been deleted entirely. It's convenient for Uber Eats drivers who need to get to the Piazza food court, but I can count the number of times I've seen one of the parking spots on Old Northern Rd available free on one hand, and trying to walk along that stretch of road next to a car with a loud exhaust stuck in the traffic between the pedestrian crossings is extremely unpleasant. Thanks for the video!
As a local from 1975 to 1990, its a nightmare now. It was once a nice friendly area full of families.
You obviously have your own agenda. I disagree with it totally.
It's nothing like the town I grew up in. I 👎
It’s still friendly
You just don’t know people there any more
That’s what happens when you move away from a place
@@gdawwg1125 No doubt people are still friendly but as a Hills resident from birth until 2003, the place and atmosphere are unrecognisable now. It has entirely lost any quaintness, calmness and charm, which have all been replaced by development, towers and a lack of what actually makes an area tolerable to be in: public spaces for interaction and person-to-person activity beyond retail. Just creating dwellings and having a giant shopping centre doesn’t make a community. Small parks where local kids and parents can congregate are needed. Short distances so people can walk without needing to drive are needed. Small businesses like corner shops and newsagents, integrated amongst dwellings to foster a sense of close community are needed. Having tower blocks and Castle Towers is like trying to make a cake by just tipping the ingredients into a bowl and sticking a candle in it, without mixing or baking it.
@@andrewkemp1882 blame governments and greedy developer’s who want to exploit what was good about it.They should have never allowed the latest high rises.
@@gdawwg1125 it's not the people. Of course they're different. It's the town itself.
@@andrewkemp1882 I agree, it has lost all community charm, just wack a couple of towers in! Who the heck demolishes the few reminants of an old tram station and a beautiful park to fill it with concrete? Where are they going to hold the Orange County (?) Festival now? On tarmac?
You can't deny that the loop road is good for everyone though.
Thanks for the video. Well researched and nice digging!
23/25 is a bit generous though lol
I remember the 610 coming in 2007 and before that it took two buses from rouse hill to get to towers. One to Baulkham hills & then another from the Stockland mall to towers. Then the 610 came along to change the game. The worst I’ve seen happen was them removing the whole rouse bill to city 610 once the metro opened. I don’t live there anymore but I remember a petition signed because it upset a lot of commuters.
Im quite amazed a petition was signed for by commuters so you do not live there anymore wow did you say something against hillsong?
607x went the way of the dodo too, disgraceful
@@nolesy34 hahahahaha I have openly said a lot about Hillsong and the “high profile” (at least for the hills district social/business & political scene) cultist attendees.
@@nolesy34 yeah I’ve left Sydney completely. Went to the northern beaches first but that was another logistical and economic nightmare. I’m 3 hours away near the coast. Best decision I made.
@@shanebarker3131 and the 617 or at least it changed to go to Bella vista or norwest apparently you change to the metro there. Should’ve left it. I was up there a month ago and caught the metro and trying to find my way with the buses was confusing. But less confusing than it used to be. Thumbs up I guess
GOOD VID
Great channel bro. BUT .. did a bee sting your bottom lip? Just curious 😮
Can you do a video on Hornsby Town Centre about the future plans they released last year on your thoughts.
I love every one of your Videos. Have to many to namea favourite. I was wondering if you planned oncoming up the Coast. I would love you to look into The Entrance in its past and what its like today. Any chance of an answer? We have beautiful places up here on the Coast which we would love to show you🎉😊………
I used to live on the upper north central coast for 4-5 years and visited lots there since I was a child from Sydney. Some parts of the Coast are indeed a great place to visit. I now live in Newcastle and glad I got out of the coast. .
Other parts have got worse. One for instance is Terrigal, UGH to be avoided. What I find funny about city people making a 'Sea Change' to escape city life is that they just bring a piece of the city with them without knowing and bingo. They created what they where trying to escape. A mini rat race and I am not talking about retirees.
I also grew up in the hills and have watched the changes, my family owned a lot of land prior to the developments. I live in regional NSW and every single time I visit home I see new things. The metro should’ve been
ready by 2007 (when rouse hill town center was opened). There was no infrastructure to account for the roads and buses. The metro is from what I hear, underused and impractical white elephant. The older version was what I grew up knowing and loving, as a teenager lol. It’s not the same hills I knew and loved. It’s a smart city of the future.
Woo yeah CASO!
What did you study for learning about this? Are you studying urban design or? I’m interested in pursuing this subject.
Urban planning
I concur. I was also hoping the road to be pedestrian only. You guess once the parramatta light rail is opened, you’ll do a similar vide?
The reason it didn’t go pedestrian only is that it might get quiet at night and attract crime.
This is what happened in parts of Parramatta Mall near the old HMV sandstone building on Church Street.
They reopened it to cars before the light rail went through to make it more safe.
@@fittipaldi7326 aww come on thats a bad pitch (bad excuse) to not have a mall... just a patrol car parked at night would have solved it
Annnyway its sad because in parts of Europe town squares keep a community kicking with people chatting away till early hours of the morning
@@nolesy34 From AFR article in 2007.
"Opening up the mall, making it a shared space for pedestrians and motorists, attracting the right retail mix and beautifying the streetscape will make a huge difference to the area for residents, workers and businesses."
Local traders hope that the flow of motor traffic will rid Church Street of vagrants and drug users, and reinvigorate retail trade.
"I think it's going to be better," one clothing retailer said. "A lot of people wouldn't come in when they saw the homeless people lying around."
@@fittipaldi7326 it worked until it didnt work i guess 🤷♂️
Blacktown council had a pedestrian mall and crime went way up. They reverted the mall back to a light traffic flow, the shops returned, police could patrol in cars. Much better today.
Wow, how Castle Hill has changed since I lived near Carlingford up until 1990! It was boring and had chronic travel congestion along what was Pennant Hills Road. I simply don't recognise the place now.
Interesting
Hey there, props to you for the work you're doing with these videos. It takes a lot of effort to put these things together so well done. I first saw your video on the Carlingford line trains which was interesting.
I guess each to their own in terms of aesthetics, but I would hardly call the new Castle Hill 'beautiful'. It's definitely way more connected and has some great features, but it's still quite a poorly planned mess which does not encourage people to use the space effectively. The transport planning has neglected areas beyond Castle Towers to justify the use of the metro. There is still more to be done in this area regarding walkability and vibrancy as the area is fairly dead, including the shopping centre. The density of developments being installed nearby in my opinion are a misstep, and represents poor planning more broadly by the NSW government. Medium density development should have been planned progressively from the centre outwards in a more deliberate manner, rather than installing giant towers all around it. Traffic congestion is still a major issue, and since the replacing of the memorial park there is basically no useful green space within walking distance of the high density residential development. Whilst it may not seem great to have main roads going through a town centre, this was pretty common practice for a long time. Converting this area to look more as it does now should have been done long ago, but successful periods of poor planning prevented it. However, I would argue that the area has lost some of it's character with the older buildings missing on the main street you would typically see in places like the inner west. Functionally, the area has improved, but it leaves much to be desired. I will add that the old bus bay area is also now virtually useless with few reasons for anyone to venture past there. Just my thoughts on the matter! Keep up the good work though!
Just as a tidbit, there used to be train station in Castle Hill which connected to Westmead, I believe it was dismantled around the 60s. What great foresight those planners had back then!
@@punk_taco thats correct and this is why Baulkham hills has a 'station' street
@@nolesy34 yes! I ask people do you know why that street is called station street and people are so blown away.
@@punk_taco haha right!
Street names are weird sometimes... of course but lady game drive.... i see no playstation i see no basketball arena... i see no ladies
I see girls.....
🎶 Here there and everywhere
Short skirts long hair
Love it when they walk yeah
"The transport planning has neglected areas beyond Castle Towers to justify the use of the metro."
Spot on, public transport has actually worsened for those not within walking distance or a 5 minute bus ride of the metro station.
"There is still more to be done in this area regarding walkability and vibrancy as the area is fairly dead, including the shopping centre." No we don't want walkability to everywhere, we want convenience.
The urban planning community has got to be the most prolific user of the 'vibrant' word, and I am still yet to understand what is meant by this. I reckon it is plenty 'vibrant' already, the metro seems to have attracted eshays and other 'colourful' characters as a point to congregate, just like many other 'vibrant' areas with a similar context where I have also encountered these lively communities of upstanding citizens.
Put your hands up
Put your hands up
Put your hands up for the hills
A lovely c̶i̶t̶y outlying part of a city or town or a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city.
🎶doo doo doo doo
where can i find the historical imagery
would’ve been good to get some perspective on whether Castle hill has catered to cycling, doesn’t look too good from the images you shared.
Cycling often feels like the forgotten mode of transport in Sydney suburbia which is a shame since cycling can have so many benefits to a city, the environment and peoples health. Can I recommend you include a rating for a suburbs cycling infrastructure as well as its pedestrian-friendliness? Hit me up if you need any tips on how to gauge or rate cycling infrastructure.
Good vid nonetheless 👍
The Hills District is way too hilly and undulating for cycling to take off
Cycling conflicts with pedestrianism as bikes are forced to take footpaths to evade the danger of cars, and forcing everyone to walk is the end goal to many ideologically minded people therefore it is naturally neglected.
holy shit i live here
I hope one day in the future that Australian Cities are 30% rainforest/greenspace, the rest being beautifully designed high rises, mid rise & bike paths, and only a tiny bit of single family homes.
There’s still wallabies occasionally at the Showground and several bushland reserves are 2km from the shopping centre.
Did u go to Baulko or girra
Neither ☺️
Pedestrian bridges would solve some of these issues in suburbs that don't want to compromise losing their main arteries
Another once beautiful suburb screwed over and ruined by developers, never go to Castle Hill now where once we would go once a week or fortnight, traffic a nightmare crowded and noisy..ugh!
Where did the war memorial go ?
Let’s have a reality check here people don’t get rid of there cars because there near public transport most units have two cars per unit 100 units = nearly 200 more cars clogging the once surburban roads I’ve lived here since 1970s from Castle hill to Parramatta can take 40 minutes in the afternoon to travel 12km Public transport is over flowing we are full to the brim out this way
> Castle mall
> Major shopping centre
I prefer the old castle hill, especially the bus bay. How are the next generation of hills kids going to get into drugs with all these pedestrains walking around? We used to have the hedges infront of the david jones door where we would hang out for hours 'waiting for our bus'. Also, they removed the war memorial that i lost my virginity in, and the old skate shop is now a wine bar or something.
Castle hill is dead as far as I'm concerned.
What a hilarious and shitty take! Hope you're trolling lol
Glad to hear your 'passage into manhood' tale im sure the ministers relevant to urban planning will factor it into their election promise infrastructure plan
@@juif4642 absolutely not a troll
Argh yes those alleged beautiful apartments that are riddled with major defects, which has resulted in the head builder having his licence cancelled and multiple fines in place, yet has scattered back to Lebanon to escape questioning.. makes you wonder how a council in such a thriving middle class suburban area of Sydney could allow a shonky builder be given the contact in the first place. $$$$$$$$
I have lived here since 1991 and the place has turned into a traffic disaster and this doesn't take into account the 5 missive apartment blocks that are not yet occupied. This all part of the great Australian immigration Ponzi scheme. Increase immigration to fund the past immigration and build housing with basically no infrastructure. The Metro has been coming for more than 20 years. To drive to the city from Castle Hill and any further North West you either have to use the M2 (toll) ,Epping railway bridge or go North to the Comenarra Pkway. Great Planning! Keep up the Ponzi scheme without Hospital, Schools and infrastructure. My comment is what a lota ....
3:34 I am an RSL.. Please insert income 😵💫
Where did the glue sniffers go.
I wouold consider sutherland and north shore the ideal of suburbia. Not casto.
The place is nice but the metro and towers is infested with kids carrying knives
Used to hate castle hill due to its poor design, but it’s improved so much eliminating my hate hahaha
Honestly the main street between castle towers and castle mall is still kinda ugly and there is still a fair bit of traffic that passes through the 5 way intersection. The bus interchange though is exactly what the suburb needs as even with the metro you have to take a bus to get anywhere in western sydney or paramatta.
Incremental steps.....
Having grown up in Castle Hill from 1975 to the late 90s it definitely needed updating but it lost its character and what made it different. I take great offense to your comment that before there was a metro station it was just a war memorial. You need to learn more about the Australian culture. Funny you didn't show the traffic chaos of people trying to enter Castle Towers. It's a sh#t show. Having known more about castle hills history than you will ever know it is just another commercial hub and has lost what made it different to other suburbs.
What happened to all the junkys.
I like the info presented in your videos but think that you're pushing your own narrative way too strongly
It's his channel, so only natural his views would come thru
Soul wise it's still a suburban hinterland,it follows the culture, doesn't create, it merely cinsumes
I wish they'd redo Blacktown CBD. It is so stupidly designed and parking sucks arse. It's so outdated it's not even remotely funny anymore.
Blacktown would be like Parramatta once Parramatta's city vision is achieved
Bro... Your promoting Smart CITIES? Shame on you😮
700 sqm land without a house sold 2 million in castle hill