While aldermen and politicians debate how to breathe life into the CBD, local children have taken matters into their own hands.
A new, multi-coloured metropolis sprung up on Darwin's civic lawns overnight.
Made with cardboard cut-outs, tape and many little hands, the replica city is several hundred buildings big and nearly three metres high.
"All I can say is we're surrounded by cardboard right now," organiser Amy Hetherington told ABC Radio Darwin's Conor Byrne.
"If you're scared of paper cuts, it's a dangerous place to be."
The display marks the launch of children's week and is all about getting children involved in colourful fun.
"It's to show everyone that we can come together as a community and build something, and to show young kids that they can get involved in building their city," Ms Hetherington said.
The shrunken city is the result of children's craft workshops over the school holidays — as well as some enthusiastic, older helping hands.
"We've had contributions come in from different businesses, organisations, not-for-profits, charities and families," Ms Hetherington said.
A few scaled down replicas of some of the city's well-known locations made an appearance, including Browns Mart Theatre, Parliament House and a reimagined Royal Darwin Hospital with a secret party room.
A local architecture firm even provided a scale-model version of one of their buildings.
The only thing missing is weather-proofing.
As a blanket of clouds threatened rain and children explored the city with glee, Ms Hetherington said there was no contingency plan if rain began to pour.
"We've been talking to BOM the whole time to make sure it's going to be OK," she said.
She said the event of rainfall might make a mess, but it would also make for some soggy, colourful fun.
