Shaping Melbourne's Future?
Town Planning, the State and Civil Society

This study examines the effects of town planning on the shape and structure of the Melbourne metropolitan area since 1945.

John Brian McLoughlin (Author)

9780521439749, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 January 1993

280 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.5 cm, 0.45 kg

Land use planning policy receives much public attention: we are constantly reading about the funding for infrastructure, the revitalisation of commercial centres, the rapid rate of urban decay, gentrification of the inner cities, and the problem of the expanding urban fringe. This study examines the effects of town planning on the shape and structure of the Melbourne metropolitan area since the Second World War. It shows that Melbourne's planners have seldom achieved what they set out to do and describes the technocratic character of town planning in Victoria. Shaping Melbourne's Future? relates town planning and urban developments to the social and economic base which defines them, touching on the broader themes of history, sociology, geography and politics.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Melbourne in the early 1990s
2. Approach to the study
Part II. The Evolution of Melbourne and its Planning: 3. An historical perspective
4. The early days: depression, war and recovery
5. The 'Long Boom' and the 1954 planning scheme
6. Transition and turbulence in the 'Whitlam years'
7. The recession bites
8. Strategies for coping or recovery
9. Urban change and planning, 1929–1990
Part III. Structure and Agency in the Social Construction of Melbourne: 10. A socio-political perspective
11. The activities of capital
12. Communities, households and social movements: a countervailing force?
13. The political parties, the state and the bureaucracies
14. The built-environment professionals
15. The legal and statutory framework
16. Frameworks of power
Part IV. Space, Plans, Controls and Outcomes: 17. A geographical perspective
18. The macro level: strategic planning intentions and outcomes for Melbourne as a whole
19. The meso level: intentions and outcomes in two segments of the region
20. The micro level: intentions and outcomes in localities
21. Land-use planning and the social construction of built form
Part V. Conclusions and Summary: 22. Conclusions
23. Summary
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Urban & municipal planning [RPC]