One of six regional centres involved in Evocities, a marketing campaign to move people out of the state’s cities, the goal is to grow Armidale’s population to 40,000 people.

Armidale Regional Council service leader of economic development and marketing Greg Lawrence has recently moved to town himself, two weeks ago.

“I’ve been impressed by the real friendliness of the people, the culture, people who come from the city live in a little bubble – they wouldn’t even know the person next door,” he said.

“I’m just amazed, you give people a smile here and you get a friendly smile back – that doesn’t happen in the city.”

Evocities uses the collective power of Armidale, Tamworth, Dubbo, Bathurst, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Albury to broadcast marketing in the city.

Combined, $300,000 will be used to market regional NSW to capital city residents.

“I think the state government has certainly recognised it’s far more important for regional centres to work together and maximise our dollars,” Mr Lawrence said.

“We couldn’t afford to do this by ourselves, by joining forces we have the most to gain and the most to lose by not being on board with it.

“My philosophy in life is that we are far better off when we work together.”

Armidale will be marketed as a centre for education, with access to better technology with the NBN and a place that is well-connected by highways and an airport.

“Sometimes people look at us and think, ‘that’s just the bush, there’s not much out there’,” Mr Lawrence said.

“There’s that perception, but what people don’t realise is that there’s a lot out here.

“It really has the best of both worlds.”