The history and contemporary practice of land-use planning and place-making by Indigenous Australians is poorly understood by academics, students and practitioners in the field of urban and regional planning in Australia. This is despite recent high-profile events which have increased the profile of Indigenous peoples’ rights, such as the recognition of native title by the...

In December 1974, when the Monarto Development Commission’s Town Planning Division asked this question, the new town of Monarto – arguably Australia’s last such project to date – had less than a year left as a serious proposition. Monarto was to be South Australia’s second such development after Elizabeth, and it was hoped its creators...

Australia is a suburban society. It has been since Europeans came. Unlike many other urban societies at the time, there was no existing hard infrastructure to provide the essential needs of human urban life - clean water, food, shelter and waste management. These had to be met by individual residents in the emerging cities and...

Protecting the landscape values of urban open spaces in the face of significant change to the surrounding urban structure highlights a particular tension between two apparently conflicting goals for more sustainable development. On one hand the compact city agenda seeks to increase the density of cities and on the other, large tracts of urban open...

Campaigns to preserve the legacy of the past in Australian cities have been particularly focused on the protection of natural landscapes and public open space. From threats to Perth’s Kings Park and Sydney’s headlands to current proposals such as Barangaroo and the Perth waterfront, heritage activists have viewed the protection and restoration of “natural” vistas...