A look back on some of the things that changed the face of Canberra this decade

When the unmistakable blue and yellow behemoth of a building finally appeared on Canberra's horizon, it was much more than just a widening of options for Scandinavian-style flat-pack home furnishings.

It was a coming of age for the capital. In a decade that saw branches of Zara, Apple, H&M, Jamie's Italian and Messina spring up, the local retail and restaurant sector finally began looking outwards. No longer did we have to travel elsewhere to do our shopping; the Ikea store was billed as both a tourist destination, and a magnet to "stop the leakage" of retail dollars out to Sydney.

Ikea really sealed the deal in terms of legitimising the city; four years on, and we barely blink when a big new store finally makes it way here.

When Australia finally said 'I do' to gay marriage in 2017, Canberra had more reason celebrate than other states. It was the end of a long, winding and sometimes ill-considered journey.

The ACT had long been ahead of the curve when it came to gay rights. Not only do we have the first openly gay chief minister in the country, but we were the first jurisdiction to legally recognise same-sex couples in 1994. We were second, after WA, to allow joint adoption by same-sex couples in 2003, and the first and only to allow civil unions.

We tried, unsuccessfully, to legalise same-sex marriage in 2006 and 2013, so when momentum finally gathered at the federal level to allow the entire country to vote, the final answer for Canberra seemed like a foregone conclusion.

The ACT had the highest Yes vote in the country, - of course we did! - and the aforementioned gay Chief Minister Andrew Barr commissioned a rainbow roundabout in Braddon (he also married his long-time partner a year later). We also celebrated the anniversary of the vote this year - not a thing in other states.

A monumental cock-up with a deceptively silly name, Mr Fluffy was no joke for the ACT government this decade. Named for the company that blew fibrous, loose-fill asbestos into hundreds of Canberra homes in the 1960s and 70s, the Mr Fluffy debacle still lingers, and the ACT has been dealing with the fallout since 2013.

Canberrans had every reason to think that a Commonwealth audit and subsequent clean-up in the late 1980s and early 90s had eliminated all traces of the hazardous fluff. But dangerous fibres still lurked behind the walls, under the floors and even, horrifyingly, in soft household furnishings of more than 1000 houses.

While the owners of these houses suddenly found themselves confronted by a metaphorical dark monster in their own homes, the government got practical, and launched a far-from-perfect buyback scheme, using a $1 billion loan - and demolished most of them. It has been an expensive and traumatic journey, and one that's not over yet, especially as there is yet to be a formal inquiry into the debacle.

Canberra celebrated an important birthday this decade, and received a highly unusual gift to mark the occasion - a giant, inflatable whale-like beast with a beak and 10 pendulous breasts.

Unveiled in 2013 to mark Canberra's Centenary, the Skywhale was a specially commissioned artwork by prodigal Canberra daughter Patricia Piccinini, and reactions, upon its unveiling, were mixed to say the least. A lot was said about the cost, and lack of warning, as the beast was unleashed on an unsuspecting world - world being the operative word.

The Skywhale made headlines all over the place. But as the years have gone on, Canberra has proudly adopted the Skywhale as a kind of motif for all kinds of things. And the city will be downright celebrating once Piccinini unveils her second stage of the beast next week - a "father figure" with at least six babies under his, er, flipper? to keep her company in the blue skies of her hometown.

A commentator pointed out recently that Walter Burley Griffin, the original architect of Canberra, is often unfairly maligned for how the city turned out, as much of what he proposed was never adopted.

Until this decade, light rail was one of these things. Griffin had included a tram line in his original plan, but despite Northbourne Avenue being constructed with a suggestive median strip down the centre, no tram eventuated.

Talk finally surfaced in the 1990s about a route to Gungahlin, and, numerous feasibility studies and reports later, a deal was finally struck between ACT Labor and the Greens following the 2012 territory election.

Seven years down the track, and the shiny red "Light Rail Vehicles", as the government insists we call them (they're trams) are trundling merrily between Civic and Gungahlin all day long, looking for all the world like they belong here.

A Phase II route to the south is already on the cards, if only the government could figure out a way to get it across Griffin's darned lake...

Talk about a transformation. For any Canberran who was a teenager here before the 2000s, the very fact of modern-day Braddon is mind-blowing, given that it was once a couple of scrappy streets filled with car yards and petrol stations just off the city centre.

But a sprinkling of high-class eateries and a coffee roasting house that opened at the start of the decade has transformed Braddon, in the past 10 years, into one of the city's most hip and happening precincts. It's also sparked an entire movement of locally brewed beer, spirits and coffee all over town - a town which will never be the same again, in the best possible way. Car yards? Just barely.

Canberra is now well and truly on the map when it comes to restaurants (Pilot appears in Australia's top 20), coffee (Ona's owner Sasa Sestic won the 2015 World Barista Championship), beer (BentSpoke and Capital Brewery are regularly featured in beer festivals around the country) and even its own gin.

This decade saw a whole new town spring up in Canberra - Molonglo. It's the 19th district in a city that originally had just 18 districts. But in the wake of the 2003 bushfires that wiped out the pine forests north of Weston Creek, the land was slated for development. And not just any development - it was all about urban density from the get-go.

While the last new town, Gungahlin, was characterised by big new houses on disproportionately small blocks - signalling the end of the quarter-acre block dream - Molonglo, which so far comprises the suburbs of Wright and Coombs (and will one day have 13 suburbs and 50,000 inhabitants), is all about apartments.

In fact, looking around, so are large swathes of the rest of the city. Rezoning laws introduced in the early 20-teens have meant that apartments have popped up everywhere, from tree-lined suburban streets in Dickson and Narrabundah, to major thoroughfares like Northbourne Avenue and Flemington Road. Gone are the days when Canberra was described as empty and "too spacious".

Now, densification is all the rage, and it's all about cramming as many people into one street as possible. But are we doing it right? Time will tell, but as the decade comes to a close, there's been much soul-searching about the wisdom of quantity over quality, and a growing realisation that there's a void opening up between what's considered family-friendly (a house in the burbs) and the kid-free city-livin dream (a two bedroom apartment).

For the past 10 years, the Australian War Memorial has dominated the national debate around funding for cultural institutions, and has consistently pushed the boundaries of what a museum can and should be.

Helmed for most of the decade by the charismatic former federal minister - and war history buff - Brendan Nelson, the memorial has campaigned ruthlessly for funding, starting from the announcement back in the 2010 that the solemn daily rendition of the Last Post in front of the Hall of Memory would be sponsored by ACT telecommunications company TransAct.

Controversial at the time, it all seems so quaint now that questions are being asked as to why the memorial accepts donations from some of the world's biggest weapons manufacturers.

The underlying narrative, at least from Nelson's point of view, is that, for a start, nothing will ever make up for the blood shed by the Diggers fighting overseas wars to ensure our freedom.

And secondly, every other institution should be every bit as ruthless. With a cool $500 million in the bag for the next round of development at the towering institution, they must be doing something right, even if it's just ensuring that no one will ever forget what it's there for.

Exhibition games? Forget it. Canberra's sporting landscape changed forever in the past decade thanks to world-class events and a bonanza of international content. The Prime Minister's XI was still the jewel in the capital's cricketing crown in 2010.

But by 2013 the city hosted its first one-day international involving Australia and since then there's been a historic Test and Twenty20 fixtures. It gave Canberra sports fans a taste of top-level action and changed the way they view less-important matches, affecting crowds and setting the bar high for 2020 and beyond.

There's a thirst for major events, not just sideshow mid-week hit and giggles. Putting lights at Manuka Oval was symbolic. It change the skyline of a leafy suburb, and opened the door for prime-time AFL and cricket's top contests.

Canberra also announced itself on the world stage for individual athletes. Nick Kyrgios shocked the tennis world when he beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, and while it's not always good news, he's one of the most talked about athletes in the world.

Michael Matthews won the Tour de France green jersey, Patty Mills won an NBA championship, Caroline Buchanan won multiple world titles and Kelsey-Lee Barber is the javelin world champion.

Throw in a rollercoaster of controversy and grand final heartbreak for both the Canberra Raiders and ACT Brumbies, titles for the Capitals, the Cavalry and Canberra United and it's been an impressive 10 years.

The one thing missing? A new stadium in Civic, which has been talked about since 2009 but we still haven't settled on an option.