ABSTRACT
The quest to protect and create urban or neighbourhood ‘character’ has become
a key issue for residential development and for our theoretical understandings of
place. In the front gardens of older suburbs signs appear saying ‘We Oppose
Inappropriate Development’ as residents become mobilized to defend the special
character of their neighbourhood. Meanwhile the creation of character is a key
marketing strategy for developers of new residential areas under slogans like
‘come to your senses’ and ‘creating special places’. What does it mean to say
that a place has character? How is such character protected by planning codes or
created through legal covenants? This chapter explores four case studies in Mel-
bourne.1 Two of these cases are older neighbourhoods where an established
character was seen as under threat; the other two are new suburbs where the
creation of character and place identity was a key design strategy. Interviews with
residents show that the experience and discourse of character encompasses a
broad range of understandings of place identity and embodies important contra-
dictions. While character is often defended as a pre-existing state of affairs, it is
also constructed in debates over new development. The character of new devel-
opments is often designed in architectural styles that signify an instant tradition.
