Abstract
Canberra was conceived and planned as a city not like any other for the first 75 years of its conception from the Griffin plan of 1912 with planning guidelines specifically modelled to maintain it as the city in the landscape. Since self-government in 1988, planning has been governed increasingly by the global orthodox canon of increasing urban densification, urban consolidation and high-rise buildings without regard for the significance of the context and setting of the city. Two outcomes are low priority of heritage considerations leading to loss of heritage precincts and downplaying of the historic landscape ethos leading to loss of landscape space and trees and blocking views of the surrounding hills that are quintessential to the setting and ambience of the city. This chapter critically examines how planning action and governance for Canberra need to refocus on the essential elements of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach as rapid change and transformation of the city occur.
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- 1.
Chairman, Federal Capital Advisory Committee 1921–1924.
- 2.
As summarised from a series of articles titled Research Guides available online on the National Archives of Australia website. The reference to the central piece, Long journey towards self-government, on the subject of self-governance is in the further reading section.
- 3.
The lease hold system in Canberra is a constitutional provision. Section 125 of the Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act provided for the seat of government to be within territory belonging to the Commonwealth. Section 9 of the Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910 provided: ‘No Crown land in the Territory shall be disposed of for any estate of freehold’. The City Leases Ordinance 1921 empowered the Minister to grant leases of land within the city area for periods not exceeding 99 years. The basic provisions were:
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(a)
An annual rent of 5% of the unimproved value of the land.
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(b)
The value of the land to be reappraised after 20 years (later amended to 5 years).
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(c)
The construction of a building, in accordance with the lease, was to be commenced within 1 year and completed within 2 years of the granting of the lease.
The fact that the lease hold system is used by the government to its advantage to generate revenue is a forgone conclusion and can be inferred from the way that the government releases land and makes it available to the public. Further details on such discussions can be found at the following online sources:
A detailed list of articles and documents on the same can be found at https://www.archives.act.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0010/.../Leasehold_system.rtf
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(a)
- 4.
- 5.
‘Revitalisation’ is commonly used by planners and developers to justify change without explaining what is meant and why is it needed.
- 6.
Frank Loyd Wright as quoted in Ladies Home Journal which can be accessed at https://worldhistoryproject.org/1901/2/wright-published-in-ladies-home-journal
- 7.
As evident and inferred from the publically accessible documents available on the ACT Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate website.
- 8.
Plan of Canberra The Federal Capital of the Commonwealth of Australia, May 1927, complied and published by the FCC from the first premiated design by Walter Burley Griffin.
- 9.
Grocon is a national level property developer, and GWS Giants is an Australian Rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL).
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Taylor, K., Saxena, M.S. (2019). City as Evolving Process: Case for the Historic Urban Landscape Approach for Canberra. In: Pereira Roders, A., Bandarin, F. (eds) Reshaping Urban Conservation. Creativity, Heritage and the City, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8887-2_10
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