Canberra: then, now, when?

Posted on 4 July, 2019

Canberra–like every other Australian city–faces a “huge challenge” to control urban sprawl, upgrade unsustainable building stock and reduce its dependence on cars.

But the secret is to create new places at the human scale, says architectural legend Ken Maher AO.

Ken was my special guest at a Salon Canberra event recently, and the audience sat on the edges of their seats as he explored Canberra’s design failures of the past and possibilities for the future.

Salon Canberra.When Ken speaks about design people listen: he was awarded an Order of Australia last year for three decades of distinguished service to architecture. He sits on countless boards and has won some of Australia’s highest design accolades.

Ken is “very fond” of Canberra. He lived in the nation’s capital as a work experience architecture student, set up a branch of his practice here in the 1980s and is now on the board of the City Renewal Authority.

Salon Canberra.

Established in 2017 to shape the growth of Canberra’s heart, the City Renewal Authority is responsible for some 420 hectares of land. The area has a current population of 13,500 people, but this is projected to grow to 30,000 by 2021 and some 50,000 by 2046.

And yet, as Ken points out, 40 per cent of this is road reserves and parking, and less than 10 per cent is public open space. The challenge to recreate our city for future generations is immense.

The Griffin vision was “unique, inspired and amazingly ahead of its time in western culture for recognising the need to celebrate nature and respect the land,” Ken says. The idea of an “amphitheatre defined by surrounding mountains” was a “masterstroke”.

But the story of how the Griffins’ vision was threatened through various eras – from the Garden City movement to the Y-Plan of the 1950s – is well worn.

Despite some very good planning initiatives, the Griffins’ urbane vision has morphed into a “place of isolated ‘satellite towns’ with poor-quality centres, dislocated low suburban density and connected only by expressways”.

L-R: Alastair MacCallum, Philip Leeson, Liz Lang, Ken Maher AO, Shannon Battisson.

“Concerns over Canberra’s character have been long-standing, from Robin Boyd’s despair at the ‘Disneyland’ architecture of the embassies to the current concerns of the Lake Burley Griffin guardians in the press.”

“The current problem is that in the national consciousness, Canberra is not celebrated for its unique characteristic, but rather derided as a ‘city without a soul’, or more recently dismissed as the ‘Canberra bubble’. The tragedy is Canberra is notable in popular culture for commuting politicians, or freeways and roundabouts, rather than for the power of its urban landscape vision.”

The famous comment from Danish urbanist Jan Gehl once said visiting Canberra felt like “I’ve been invited to a party where they’ve not invited enough guests.” In response, Ken says our “monumental urban structure” must be “given counterpoint through more intimate and human scale elements”.

How do we create these ‘human scale elements’?

The remedy to this two-fold: density and good design.

He points to research undertaken in 2003 by the National Capital Authority, which found the Griffins’ previously “forgotten or dismissed” drawings from 1921 proposed “walkable streets, retail activation, tram networks, mid-rise apartments to street frontages, and carefully-shaped central spaces”. It was a “horizontal city,” Ken says.

L-R: Rob Tyson, Shannon Battisson, Adam Howarth at Salon Canberra.

Ken champions “not a literal return to Griffin but a reinterpretation of the spirit and energy of its legacy, befitting to our national capital”.

Our city must adapt and evolve to meet the challenges of our century and the ambitions of our current citizens.

Walter Burley Griffin recognised the organic and evolutionary nature of cities, observing in 1914: “in the light of the ever-increasing rate of social progress during the past 100 years of the modern city, manifestly it will not suffice to accept the already established requirements as the conditions for centuries to come”.

The CRA currently has a host of exciting projects underway with reflect this philosophy. Among them is to create a “high amenity boulevard” on Northbourne Avenue by “lifting the design quality of future development” and by “transforming the public realm”.

It is also investigating how to stimulate renewal and investment in the Sydney and Melbourne buildings (and not a moment too soon!). And a plan to create a vibrant arts and cultural district around Civic Square and the Canberra Theatre is evolving.

L-R: Ben Fuller, Michael Liu at Salon Canberra.

The Griffins’ original plan for a “plaisance” at West Basin – a pleasure ground laid out with shady tree-lined walkways – is also being explored. This would connect the city centre with the Lake, in much the same way Sydney’s Darling Harbour and Brisbane’s South Bank have recoupled their cities to the water.

Transforming Canberra from a car city to one with “a more equitable and sustainable transport and movement network” is also part of the CRA’s ambitious agenda.

What else does the future hold? High-speed rail links from Sydney and Melbourne right into the heart of Civic? A trackless tram network? Increased density and diverse housing types in the middle ring? Ailing satellite towns transformed into “cosmopolitan centres”? A new public forum surrounded by a new Legislative Assembly building “sunken into a forested yet traversable City Hill?” These are just some of the ideas Ken proposes for the “Canberra for tomorrow”.

Salon Canberra.

“Canberra has great potential – through its relatively intimate size, its well-educated community, its strong food and arts culture, and the incredible legacy of the Griffins’ vision – to be a great city. The foundations are strong, the limitations can be transcended, and the transformation is limited only by the motivation of its communities and governments.”

Photography: Rohan Thomson