Urban planning in Australia has a significant role to play in ensuring the future sustainability of Australian cities. Australia is one of the most highly urbanised societies in the world. Continued population growth in Australian cities is placing increasing pressure on infrastructure, such as public transport and roadways, energy, air and water systems within the urban environment.
Urban planning is undertaken at all levels of Government in Australia. However, the Federal Government is playing an increasing part in setting policy as part of an overall response to developing climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The local government has also been engaging with the community to make decisions on urban planning designs that help to promote social cohesion. Over the past few decades Australians have developed a respect for urban heritage places and community groups have fought hard to stop developers from destroying them.
History Urban planning in Australia has evolved since early British colonial settlement, and has been heavily influenced by contemporary planning movements in Britain, the United States of America and western Europe.Freestone 2007 p. 67 However, over the past century, distinctly Australian responses and solutions to Australian urban issues have developed.
British Colonial period (1788–1901)
Early planning The first examples of town planning in Australia occurred during the early phases of the Colonial era, where critical decisions locked in "path dependency" for the future form of cities.Troy 1995 p. 15 Typically this involved colonial Governors undertaking surveying for land grants and subdivisions, and making executive decisions on the location and construction of roads, rail transport, water supply and other basic infrastructure to support early penal and military settlements. The surveyors general were the chief public servants responsible for subdividing the territory. Primacy was given to the functional and practical needs of Colonial administration, as opposed to more lofty civic or aesthetic ideals.Freestone 2007 p.68
British colonisation policy was based on the establishment of planned orderly towns based on the grid model, which was similar across cities. This was based on the Grand Model first proposed for the Irish and American colonies by Anthony Ashley Cooper and John Locke. This was itself based on the Greek and Roman traditions of urban planning. Another influence was the plan for Freetown by Granville Sharp. Economic and administrative needs caused a settlement pattern based on primate locations separated from each other by large distances in the form of capital cities, which dominated their respective territories. As port cities, they provided connections to Britain and international markets. Early towns included Sydney, Parramatta, Hobart, Port Macquarie, Brisbane, and Albany.
In 1829, Governor Ralph Darling adopted Sharp's principles and had Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell plan towns in the colony. The towns were to be identical with 66 feet (20.1 metres) wide streets, equal allotments, and a balance of private and public land. The equal lot sizes could be seen as a democratic expression. Surveyor Robert Hoddle made the Melbourne plan in 1837. Based on British survey technique, the surveyors would plan a town within a larger Township Reserve meant for parklands and future growth, with larger plans setting aside sites for a courthouse, a prison, churches, schools, and larger suburban allotments.
Major cities and urban growth Sydney itself was less clearly planned due to the shape of Port Jackson and the disorganisation of the early years. The other capital cities were founded in the early 19th century, with Hobart in 1804, Brisbane in 1825, Perth in 1829, and Adelaide as well as Melbourne in 1837. Adelaide was planned by Colonel William Light, a Colonial Surveyor and the Surveyor-General for the colony of South Australia, and although the plan was not entirely realised, it is widely regarded as an achievement of colonial era civic design and as having an influence on the Garden city movement.Bunker 1997 p. 244
Rapid colonial expansion in the 19th century, matched by economic growth, resulted in Australia becoming one of the most highly urbanised nations in the world. The gold rushes and the migration they attracted were key contributors to this effect. However, the simple colonial plans of the cities were inadequate to handle the growth. The suburbs surrounding inner-cities were often crowded and poorly serviced terrace housing subdivided by private developers. The states were also reluctant to provide basic infrastructure such as water and sewerage systems. In 1856, Sydney had a worse proportion of childhood deaths than the cholera-infected London did in 1845. However, the establishment of tram and train lines allowed for broader settlement. For example, by 1861, 40% of Sydney's residents lived in suburbs.Steele & Gleeson, 2010 p. 305 In the 1870s, the City of Sydney began slum clearance. Towards the end of the century, it and Melbourne were growing steadily, with the latter reaching the status of the 22nd largest city in the world in 1890. The two cities were comparable to other major cities of the British Empire, such as Singapore, Mumbai, and Hong Kong, becoming centres of economic activity. This boom resulted in both cities building universities, museums, stock exchanges, churches, and public parks.
Early 20th century
City Beautiful and the Garden City Australia's rapid urbanization meant urban planning became an increasingly important issue, with the early decades of the century characterised by political, civic and academic discussion around the coordinated planning and administration of rapidly growing metropolitan regions. Early town planners focused on the orderly planning of cities, closely following international contemporary town planning and urban reform movements (especially from the UK), where urban planning aimed to improve urban health, efficiency and aesthetics.Toon & Falk 2003 p. 4 Critiques of existing urban design began to emerge, with John Sulman and others critiquing the grid pattern. City improvement also made an impact, with Melbourne for example having begun street tree planting in the 1880s. Outside the inner-city, model suburbs also became fashionable, one example being Annandale. Furthermore, railways allowed residential-only suburbs with gardens to be developed.
Both European and North American cities provided models for the Australian City Beautiful movement. A combination of elements about 1900 also influenced the movement:
It was thought that Australia, being a country that was relatively newly settled by Europeans, had wasted an opportunity to design cities comprehensively and aesthetically.Freestone R (2000) From city improvement to the city beautiful; chapter 2. In: Hamnett S and Freestone R (eds) The Australian Metropolis: A Planning History. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Australian cities were seen as lacking beauty and civic pride. The lack of architectural features, and extensive street advertising, were also concerns. This was attributed to “materialism, apathy, short-sightedness, political interference and indifference”.Freestone R (2007) Designing Australia’s cities. UNSW Press, Kensington, pp. 45–79. Utopian city plans were another influence on the Australian City Beautiful movement. A better Brisbane, for example, was described by Louis Esson and illustrated by Lloyd Rees with a Parisian influence.
The concern with civic improvement was expressed in many ways, with citizen groups forming in Australian cities to advocate healthier, more beautiful cities.Bonyhardy 2000 p. 21 In Sydney, this desire to improve planning found its expression through a Royal Commission into the improvement of Sydney and its suburbs, which commenced in 1908, focusing on transportation, slum clearance, the future growth of Sydney, and aesthetics.Freestone and Ashton 2008 The Garden City movement, founded by Ebenezer Howard in the UK, was also influential and was adopted as a design strategy in several areas of Australian cities (such as in Daceyville in south eastern Sydney).
Walter Burley Griffin incorporated City Beautiful principles for his design for Canberra. Griffin was influenced by Washington “with grand axes and vistas and a strong central focal point”Stelter GA (2000) Rethinking the significance of the City Beautiful idea. In; Freestone R, Urban planning in a changing world: The twentieth century experience. Taylor & Francis, pp. 98–117. with specialised centres and, being a landscape architect, used the landscape to complement this layout.Banks JCG, Bracks CL (2003) Canberra’s urban forest: evolution and planning for future landscapes. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 1(3), 151-160. John Sulman, however, was Australia's "leading proponent" of the City Beautiful movement and, in 1921, wrote the book An Introduction to Australian City Planning. Both the City Beautiful and the Garden City philosophies were represented by Sulman’s “geometric or contour controlled” designs of the circulatory road systems in Canberra. The widths of pavements were also reduced and vegetated areas were increased, such as planted road verges.Ward A (2000) Assessment of Garden City planning principles in the ACT. Environment ACT, Heritage Unit, Canberra. Available at http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/13177/gardencity.pdf (verified 18 May 2009).
Urban reform movement During this era there were two main approaches to urban reform: a movement towards the creation of a legal framework for town planning, and efforts towards creating large metropolitan governments, known as the "greater city movement".Minnery, John (July 14, 2004). 'The wonderful possibilities of the future’: Political and administrative influences on urban planning in Greater Brisbane. International Planning History Conference Barcelona. Height regulations were passed by New South Wales in 1912 and Melbourne in 1916. The efforts of those advocating for legislative changes led to the establishment of town planning commissions in Sydney (1922), Melbourne (1923) and Perth (1928), and the enactment of the first planning legislation in Australia. These commissions were important developments in the history of Australian town planning, but were ultimately ineffective in achieving town planning objectives.
The greater city movements of Australia led to the creation of a greater Brisbane (1925), with smaller and more limited successes in Newcastle (1938) and Perth (1914–1917). However, elsewhere the movement was entirely unsuccessful, and following World War II, progress towards metropolitan planning was achieved through the creation of statutory planning agencies under the direction of the state governments. Today, the idea of a single metropolitan municipal government coordinating development and infrastructure is seen as a largely discredited model of urban and regional planning.
Post World War II period (1945+)
Australian cities and urban centres, particularly capital cities, experienced significant growth after World War II, which was largely driven by a combination of rapid economic expansion, high birth rates and unparalleled levels of immigration, particularly from western Europe and, from the 1970s, south east Asia. Furthermore, increasing ownership of the motor car, combined with cheap fuel, resulted in an explosion in the urban form of many Australian urban centres.Owen 2010 p. 143 Many cities were rapidly transformed from modest, medium density centres, supported by public transport, to a suburban, car dominated city with large, residential dormitory suburbs. As a consequence, population and land use become increasingly dispersed. For example, in 1840 40% of Sydney's residents lived in suburbs, while by the 1960s this figure had risen to over 70%.Steele & Gleeson 2010 p. 305
Metropolitan planning