The Americanization of Australian Planning & Canberra

The Americanization of planning refers to the influence that American planning has had on planning exercises and solutions around the world, especially in western countries. In Australia, the impact of American planning is remarkably significant because of the similarities between the two countries (Freestone, 2004, p. 187). The Americanization of Australian planning has been profound after WWII (Freestone, 2004, p. 198), but the first influences of Americanization can be found in early 20^th century when American planner Walter B. Griffin won the design competition of Canberra (Freestone, 2004, p. 191).

One of the key features of American planning after WWII was the creation of urban sprawl. Planners at the time did not perceive it as a bad thing. For instance, the Real Estate Research Corporation (1974) defined the word ‘sprawl’ simply as ‘low-density development’. Sprawl was mainly caused by a variety of governmental structures that favored low-density zoning and the growing automobile ownership that enabled households to move to areas farther from cities (Birch, 2009, p. 317). This in turn caused remarkable challenges for transportation systems. The solution for these transportation problems in 1960s and 1970s was to construct more freeways (Freestone, 2004, p. 201).

The increased use of freeways in the States also influenced the planning of Canberra in the late 1960s. In 1966 American consultants’ study on Canberra’s transportation led to the general concept of ‘Y-plan’ (illustrated below) which favored the use of freeways and created sprawl in Australia’s capital (Freestone, 2004, p. 203).

Today, the Y-plan is perceived as problematic in terms of sustainability and public transportation. Indeed, the substantial use of cars has harmful effects on climate. Furthermore, as mentioned above, it causes sprawl which in turn causes social and economic isolation. Commuting is also very difficult: it is estimated that the peak-hour commute from Gungahlin to Civic takes more than 50 minutes. One solution introduced in The Canberra Times is the construction of light rail which would not only change the way people commute but change the way the land is used.(The Canberra Times, 16 October 2014)

References

Birch, E 2009, The Urban and Regional Planning Reader, Routledge, New York.

Freestone, R 2004, ’The Americanization of Australian Planning’, Journal of Planning History, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 187-214.

Real Estate Research Corporation 1974, The Cost of Sprawl: A Detailed Cost Analysis, US Government Printing Office, Washington.

 

The Canberra Times 2014, Light rail key to Canberra's future prosperity, 16 October 2014, viewed 1 November 2014, http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/light-rail-key-to-canberras-future-prosperity-20141015-116eoi.html