ancient cities

102 Canberra, Australia
Singerman, D. and P. Amar, eds. 2006. Cairo
Cosmopolitan. Cairo, Egypt: American University in
Cairo Press.
Ca l C u t t a, in d i a
See Kolkata (Calcutta), India
Ca n b E r r a, au s t r a l i a
Canberra is Australia’s only inland capital city
and the seat of its national government. The city
celebrates its centenary in 2013. It is one of the
major planned cities of the twentieth century and
represents an exceptional open air museum of
modernist planning, architecture, and landscape
architecture ideas. It is the product less of one
plan than of many plans, which have shaped its
physical growth through distinctive phases of
development. Canberra has grown from scratch to
a planned suburban city of 330,000 with a diversified
economy, major cultural institutions, and a
high quality of life. While Canberra is still a place
apart to many average Australians, the reality is
an increasing convergence with other Australian
cities in economic, social, and planning terms.
Site of the Australian
National Government
The federation of the six former British colonies in
1901 demanded a seat of government. To reconcile
the ambitions of the two largest cities, Sydney
and Melbourne, a compromise was written into
the Australian Constitution providing for a commonwealth
territory, not less than 100 square
miles (258 square kilometers) but at least 100
miles (160 kilometers) from Sydney. In the interim,
Melbourne would provide a temporary home for
the new federal government. In 1908 the site of
Canberra was chosen, and three years later the
government reoccupied an area of nearly 2,400
square kilometers in southern New South Wales to
be retained in public ownership. The leasehold
administration of the Australian Capital Territory
has facilitated overall control of city planning and
development. Derived from a local Aboriginal
word meaning “meeting place,” the new city’s
name was made official on March 12, 1913—now
celebrated as Canberra Day.
The Griffins’ Winning Design
The Congress of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors,
and Members of Allied Professions, held during
the commonwealth celebrations in May 1901, was
the first major opportunity for professionals to
discuss design issues. The idea of an international
city design competition emerged as the ideal way
to attract the best plan in the world. The competition,
announced by the commonwealth government
in April 1911, was nonetheless dogged by
controversy. A total of 137 plans submitted for
judging by early 1912 provided a kaleidoscopic
overview of best-practice global planning cultures
on the eve of World War I. The winning entry was
Design No. 29 by Walter Burley Griffin and
Marion Mahony Griffin. Both were former protégés
of Frank Lloyd Wright, based in Chicago.
The brilliantly presented axial-polycentric
design of the Griffins mixed City Beautiful and
Garden City influences with more exotic eastern
and ancient inspirations in a highly original landscape
composition for a low-rise streetcar city of
75,000 organized around central ornamental
waters. Unlike fortified ancient cities, the hilltops
were largely kept free of development. After winning
the competition, Walter Griffin was invited to
Australia, but the government substituted a plan
concocted from various competition entries before
sanity prevailed and Griffin returned in 1914 as
Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction.
He endured an unhappy tenure, with progress
stymied by the financial stringencies of World
War I and the opposition of public servants. A
major government inquiry exonerated Griffin, but
he left the project in 1921 and spent the rest of his
time in Australia in private practice as an architect
and town planner.
City Planning Post-Griffin
After Griffin’s departure, the Federal Capital Advisory
Committee consolidated his start but retreated to a
cost-saving strategy of “utilitarian development and
economy.” Canberra was reconceptualized through