Crown Street Mall has been permanently closed to traffic since October 1986.
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Ironically, given today's debates, the pedestrian strip was designed to help Wollongong deal with the retail downturn caused by large suburban malls and Sydney developments.
The council first started to develop architectural concepts for the mall in the early '80s and experimented with several trial closures during that time.
Eventually, the famous flamingo-pink steel arches (or birdcage) - which was loved and derided almost in equal measure - was picked for the design.
Lots of changes took place in the coming decades, with the opening of more shops in the Wollongong Central and Gateway buildings.
But, by the mid-2000s, the mall had hit a low point. It was 20 years old and looked dated, while residents complained about hoodlums and drug users hanging around.
Talk around town turned to a revamp and the possible return of traffic.
In December 2006, the council was presented with six refurbishment options, five of which controversially involved the partial or full reopening of the mall, despite community surveys suggesting up to 80 per cent of residents did not support this.
The council's preferred option was to reopen Crown Street to one-way traffic only at night.
But the 2008 corruption scandal and subsequent sacking of the council thwarted any final decision, and the administrators sent the mall plans back to the drawing board.
Three options were presented in October 2008, the most radical of which involved reopening the mall to traffic between Church and Kembla streets. The administrators' final decision - to keep the entire mall solely for pedestrians - was announced in April 2009, and detailed design plans were released in 2010.
But these were panned by big retailers and business groups, so the council restarted the process once again, presenting slightly revised concept designs in 2011.
The revamped plans, worth about $14 million, were mostly in line with the final redesign, despite a proposal for a children's playground and water fountain failing to get up.
After years of construction, the new mall opened in late 2014, after costing about $22.5 million.
Since then, it's been plagued with numerous controversies including trees which just would not grow (or which kept being felled by bugs, drought and high winds) and a divisive public art project: the palm tree up a pole.
There have been good things too - a thriving market scene, an increase in small bars and night-time venues, and in 2015, the mall was awarded one of the state's most prestigious public architecture prizes which praised its flexible and forward-thinking design.
Only six years in to the new design, the council is unlikely to look at changing the way to mall operates in the near future - after all, it took almost 30 years before the birdcage was replaced.
But, with the global retail downturn only accelerating, it is looking at new ways to revitalise Wollongong's once vibrant centre.
On the cards in the near future is (hopefully) an influx of office workers from two high rise towers, as well as more office space encouraged around Burelli and Market Streets, which will inject more people into the area during the day.
With plans for high-rise apartment blocks being lodged each month despite difficult economic conditions, the council is also looking at ways to further disincentivise cars in the CBD (to allow pedestrians and perhaps even cyclists to better use the space).
And - post-COVID - it's hoped that the return of music, arts and other public events will bring people out of their homes and into the public space once again.
Campaigns like this latest one to reopen the mall, and the usual never-ending call for free parking in the city are sure to come and go.
But with headwinds like the continued rise of online shopping, the pandemic-induced recession (which will have a ripple effect for years to come) and the challenge of getting the city prepared for the ongoing effects of climate change, solving the problem of where our city will end up in the future certainly has no simple answer.