ABSTRACT
By the late 1960s, a transformational period was beginning for Australia and its cities and for conservation itself. The power of modernist architecture and planning to shape cities, design, and policy was reaching its crescendo, particularly by the time that the economic crisis began in the early 1970s. Widespread progressive social and environmental activism intersected with cities and heritage places indicating that the ‘heroic period of conservation’ had commenced in Australia. Focussed on the 1970s heritage movement, Chapter 5 dissects the relationship between the fledgling field of conservation and the groundswell of heritage activism. The heritage movement was made up of architects and planners; resident groups; civic advocacy bodies; construction unions; politicians; and the National Trusts. It dovetailed with, inner-suburban residential and central-city activism that opposed urban renewal and freeways and that promoted community-led planning. The movement’s most powerful advocacy tool was the ‘green ban’; a stop-work measure placed on sites and areas by constructions unions on behalf of communities.
