Sydney’s Food Landscapes

The story of Sydney’s metropolitan food landscapes is one of dramatic transformations of First Nations land amidst jostles for power and wealth. This book unearths Sydney's lost commercial agriculture since colonisation in 1788 to assess its fragile food futures. Richly illustrated, 270 images are encapsulated within 110 figures, including an array of original metropolitan-scale mappings. Discussion traverses the city’s diverse cultural influences, from Indigenous land management to British pastoralism, Chinese cultivation of Sydney’s “backyard vegetable garden” and southern European farming spawning billion-dollar empires. The region has further been shaped by a vast array of cultural and ideological factors and material practices, with relevance to planning, policy, ethics, geography, heritage, art, design and technology. This book is the first to bring Sydney’s disparate post-colonial food histories together in one volume to explore the dynamics and tensions between urban growth and food production. The relevance of Sydney’s food landscapes therefore extends far wider than the city itself, with implications for countless regions worldwide in a time of increasing climate and resource precarity.2026 AILA NSW: Research, Policy & Communications: Excellence Award2026 Landscape Australia Awards: Shortlisted: Research, Policy & Communications2026 Australian Urban Design Awards: Shortlisted: Research and Advocacy