ABSTRACT

The long prelude of planning advocacy and experimentation through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries produced most of the building blocks underpinning the more institutionalized model of planning that followed. Initiatives were driven by professional bodies, community organizations like town planning associations, and progressive politicians looking beyond predominantly small-scale and project-focused endeavours towards wider statutory and strategic reforms at the metropolitan level. In 1922 Sydney Regional Plan Convention was formed as adaptation of the organization that instigated the Regional Plan for New York. In 1942 the Australian Government established the Department of Post-War Reconstruction that in turn sponsored the Commonwealth Housing Commission to enquire into projected housing needs across the country. The book The Australian Metropolis charted an evolution of planning theory and practice to the late 1990s against an evolving backdrop of metropolitan growth and change. Retrospective of metropolitan planning to the end of twentieth century suggests several overarching phases reflecting cycles of planning fashion refracted through local conditions.