ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the new possibilities that emerged for Australia’s cities and their heritage places in the 1980s–90s. Architects and planners recognised conservation as a salient factor in design and policy, and expressed a renewed interest in the history, legacy, and context of the urban environment. The new conservation strategy of adaptive reuse facilitated the physical and functional transition of obsolete buildings for contemporary uses. Revitalisation initiatives for de-industrialising areas found increasing value in historic buildings and structures, particularly when these could facilitate tourism, hospitality, offices, or housing. Heritage planning controls in older residential suburbs sought to retain historical character and physical forms. These same suburbs were impacted by gentrification and diminishing social diversity. In city centres, the growth in commercial urban development meant new skyscrapers adjoined historic buildings. Meanwhile, the derogatory moniker of the ‘heritage mafia’ encompassed frustrations held towards conservation by some politicians, architects, and planners.
