A key question is how much change should Civic undergo, if any, to ensure it is liveable and viable for decades to come.

And while we're doing some soul searching, it's timely to cast an eye a little further north to City Hill and the seemingly endless series of proposals to radically reshape it.

Like every capital city, numerous ventures are being proposed. Some float, some don't. The section 63 car park on the west side of London Circuit sold for $92 million in 2008 - but it's still a car park.

However, the controversial redevelopment of the ageing ABC flats will go ahead, but at a lower height than previously proposed. This approval brings the ACT government a step closer to redeveloping the Cooyong Street precinct in Civic. The government wants to demolish the Allawah, Bega and Currong public housing units, now occupied by about 550 tenants, to make way for a mixed-use residential and commercial development that could hold more than 2000 residents.

Just last weekend came news that plans have been lodged for a $170 million office development next to Veterans Park in the city. This long-awaited Northbourne Square project would almost double the height of buildings now on the central-city block.

The Canberra Raiders are proposing an $80 million redevelopment in Braddon of the now-closed Braddon Club for a mixed residential-commercial project consisting of 160 apartments, shops, restaurants and offices.

As well, the latest version of the City Plan is close to being finalised. More than 15,000 people who had their say when the draft was released late last year made it clear they wanted the centre of Canberra to be less about traffic and cars and more about walkable connections across it and to Lake Burley Griffin.

The draft envisaged City Hill as the heart of a tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly Civic. North-south traffic could be diverted off Northbourne Avenue and around the city centre using Barry Drive and Cooyong Street, under a proposal to transform City Hill into a ''functioning park'', with Vernon Circle reconfigured as an urban street.

''One of the strongest calls from the community is for [City Hill] to have a stronger identity, a recognisable core or heart that people can relate to, gather in and celebrate,'' the draft plan says.

What we do know is the beloved Sydney and Melbourne buildings will be staying. There is no appetite, or money, to knock them down. They need some TLC, for sure, but there is plenty of life left - Loading Zone in Odgers Lane shows what can be done with a little imagination.

The twin buildings do not qualify as public buildings, being occupied mostly by small businesses, but are the best-known structures in central Canberra - one reason for that being the city lacks a town hall or prominent public library.

But, in many years to come, workers in Civic might find more changes within the two buildings, while the heritage trees and original facades will remain unaffected.

And visitors to Canberra in the not-too-distant future might not realise the two buildings had car parks opposite them for many years. Perhaps one of the former car parks will house a five-star hotel, and the other a public building, both contributing to the hustle and bustle of an energetic city.

With all of the buildings no longer cut off at the same level, future visitors might not perceive the Civic skyline as boring. And the City to the Lake concept might even be a reality by then.

On the flip side, maybe none of this will eventuate and Civic will stagnate while the relentless rise of the outer city centres continues.

But not if Manny Notaras has anything to do with it. The well-known property owner is chairman of Canberra CBD Ltd, which is charged with spending the levy collected from commercial properties in Civic. Hence the flower baskets, the graffiti-removal campaign, and the ice-skating rink.

''But we're not just about circuses and bells and whistles, we're about policy, we advocate the government on different issues,'' Notaras says.

He spoke to Forum at Tosolini's, in the heart of Civic next to the damaged section of the Sydney Building. Its traders are slowly getting back on their feet after the devastating fire that started in a restaurant and destroyed a dance studio on the first floor.

Architect Jack Kershaw believes it is time to reconsider the future of the Sydney and Melbourne buildings. He suggests they are not doing justice to their plum sites and believes the colonnaded structures, based on design principles put forward by John Sulman, are a pastiche of architectural styles.

Not surprisingly, Kershaw, a regular letter writer to The Canberra Times, sparked debate with this view.

''I think if you ask anybody [about the buildings], they'll say, 'Oh yes, they're quite good, they're OK' - but nobody will rave about the architecture,'' he says.

''Had Walter Burley Griffin been permitted to do something there, I believe we would have had a much better result. He was designing fantastic buildings in Melbourne at the same time as these buildings were being put up, and when the dreadful Albert Hall was foisted upon us as well. I think we should have another good look at the history of what went on and decide whether those two sites in Civic warrant better buildings.''

How would this process begin?

''They should be compulsorily purchased, because that's the only way they're going to get into the hands of one party,'' Kershaw says. ''If you tried to get co-operation from the existing owners, they would all hold out or wouldn't co-operate.''

In 1953, a fire extensively damaged the Melbourne Building, and in 2002, a blaze at Mooseheads Pub badly damaged the Sydney Building. The Canberra Property Owners Association called for a radical redesign of both buildings, including enclosing them with large glass pyramid-shaped roofs and reopening the upper balconies, but that proposal did not proceed.

Canberra architect Roger Pegrum oversaw the restoration of the western half of the Melbourne Building. It was rebuilt with concrete floors instead of timber and a sprinkler system was installed.

He describes the two buildings as ''lovely'' and has a lot to say about improving Civic, including the construction of significant buildings.

The draft City Plan has a hotel slated in what is now the car park opposite the Melbourne Building and a city exposition building in the car park opposite the Sydney Building, with development on the northern slopes of City Hill. Also featured are new buildings for the Supreme Court and Legislative Assembly, and the Australia Forum convention centre.

Pierre Huetter, director of Aleseva Consulting, argued in this newspaper last week that for the town centres, the only way is up. ''Urban progressives in this town should be calling on developers to justify why they are not building higher in town centres,'' he said.

Pegrum says the height limit in Civic for buildings of 617 metres above sea level is a problem.

''It is very, very boring, all the buildings are the same height,'' he says. ''Part of the character of a city will come from a range of building types, and they can't be all the same height - it's beyond belief they're all the same height. There's all sorts of things you can do … it doesn't have to be Manhattan, but it could be a little more interesting.

''The critics of Canberra criticise it for its hollowness and its reliance on geometry. We have to be careful to respect that but not be dominated by it, so I think there needs to be a bit of character building. The draft plan talks about creating different character in different areas, but if all the buildings are the same height and they're all glass, where's the character and what's the difference?

''There's a need for some guts to say, 'I'd like this to be a really, really good building', as distinct from the concrete banknote approach to a building, which is that it's an investment.''

Pegrum believes the car parks opposite the Sydney and Melbourne buildings could be developed as prime focal points. ''One could be a hotel - if you think of the Plaza in New York, which is a grand old lady sitting there opposite a park, it's always busy, it's always got people arriving … so it could be a hotel.''

Pegrum likes NewActon's rule-breaking. ''It's got artworks dripping down the sides of buildings. Theoretically that shouldn't be allowed, but it gives a life to the buildings. Maybe some buildings need a fluorescent facade, maybe some buildings need solidity, and others need some transparency.''

Canberra CBD Ltd chief executive Jane Easthope is a big fan of the Sydney and Melbourne buildings.

''They're iconic … we've got to keep them,'' she says. ''Let's start activating the laneways and getting better economics out of the buildings, and somehow improve the condition of them.''

Notaras agrees.

''There's no danger the Sydney and Melbourne buildings will be pulled down - our primary concern is that the buildings get restored back to what they were,'' he says. ''If, in the future, we could do something with the courtyards, we would support that, but we would not want to see the facades [changed]. You may put a building in the middle, but that's a long way down the track.''

Canberra CBD Ltd is proposing a statutory authority for Civic.

''Its single task is to transform the city across the three major elements - its commercial viability, cultural significance and liveability,'' Notaras says. ''There is a better way of administering the city than just relying on arms of government and partnerships between the government and the private sector.''

Notaras is concerned about growth in Civic, with the public service facing further cuts. ''We've got vacancies on the ground floors throughout the city that have been there for years - five and six years. That's a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed.''