Being a relatively young nation,
Australia often lends its municipal design to ideals and techniques from
foreign influences. The Victorian style buildings that dot the streets of inner
city Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, the large green botanic gardens, the long
sweeping boulevards, and the striking civic buildings are all but examples of
such influence. Arguably, in the urban planning context, one influence that is
regarded above all others is notably an American one.
The original competition to
design Canberra in 1912 was won by an American; Sir Walter Burley Griffin, and
the successful City Beautiful movement is encapsulated almost perfectly in its
concentric circles and numerous civic buildings. Since its inception, Canberra
has been regarded somewhat of an urban planning playground lending itself to administration
experimentation. The changing face of the Canberra scape gave way to the Y-Plan;
a design based on a group of self-sufficient centres linked by arterial roads.
Such a design was born during an era where the car was booming and allowed for
the average citizen to reside some distance from the city centres, enjoying the
suburban lifestyles that was once confined to the wealthy. However, the
explosion of this new form of personal transport saw an even bigger increase in
infrastructure spending, and following the simultaneous trend within the United
States, saw the focus primarily on roads. Unfortunately, this lack of insight
has resulted in much of the problems that Canberra faces today such as exaggerated
urban sprawl.
In some regards, such design
decision can be forgiven as the intensification of urbanisation since the end
of World War 2 was experienced at unprecedented levels. Globalisation contributed
greatly to this scenario and it was only natural for Australia to utilise the
concepts from the facilitator of such an achievement who heavily promoted the
production of cars.
In some regards, Australia has
started to mould the planning theories for itself. The invigoration of new
urbanism highlights the requirement for denser social centres. America has
provided much influence over the years but as Australia begins to decouple its
reliant on cars, its own design will begin to be noticed.
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