Six Radburn housing experiments in Australia 1961 - 1983: with particular reference to the Canberra experience

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)This work investigates six examples in the mainstream of Radburn planning in Australia. Four of them - North Pinjarra, Cartwright, Curtin and Charnwood - are developments which have been inspired by Radburn, New Jersey; their main planning objectives were taken directly from that prototype and their physical plans appear to emulate the original. Two others which are examined briefly - South Hedland and Crestwood - are experiments with "the Radburn Idea" in new forms. The author's five year involvement as project architect responsible for plan implementation and estate management of North Pinjarra, a Radburn based scheme fraught with difficulties of translation from the idea to reality, stimulated a deeper interest in the history of the Radburn concept, the evolution of Radburn in Australia, and in particular the problems generated by the implementation of the Idea in other Australian experiments. The North Pinjarra development is described and its main problems are identified. In light of his experience the author takes a deeper look at "the Radburn Idea" and Radburn New Jersey, and goes on to investigate the Australian pioneer scheme of Cartwright in New South Wales. The Canberra suburb of Curtin, another pioneer development, and its large progeny Charnwood are both examined in detail as these have a continuous history of development which spans the period of Australian Radburn's ascendancy, decline, loss of integrity, and eventual abandonment as a formula for suburban development. All were inspired by the perceived success of the New Jersey prototype and be Clarence Stein's writing. This study establishes a history of Radburn schemes in Australia and attempts to determine why the application of "the Radburn Idea" to suburban planning was not the universal answer that was expected