Temporary dwellings as informal suburban development in the global North and the case of Sydney 1945–1960^*

* An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Planning History Society Conference held in Yokohama, Japan in July 2018 and published in the conference proceedings.

ABSTRACT

Occupation of non-compliant temporary dwellings as an informal stage in the achievement of permanent, primarily owner-built suburban housing is a global phenomenon although, until recently, much of the urban planning literature conveyed the notion that this type of informal urbanism existed only in the global south. Yet a number of studies reveal that comparable informal urbanism existed in the global North throughout the twentieth century, in the form of makeshift housing on purchased land surrounding cities and towns in France, Canada, England, Greece, Portugal and Spain, however, these dwellings did not necessarily lead to housing security for their occupants. References to temporary dwellings in the Australian literature indicated that urban informality existed at an appreciable scale on the fringes of towns and cities in Australia following the Second World War. This article highlights the distinctive Australian story. It surveys the international examples and compares them with the phenomenon as it played out in the outer suburbs of metropolitan Sydney. The article concludes by suggesting that a unique conjunction of circumstances, namely wartime legislation, the availability of affordable land, unprecedented household financial security, and communal subsidization of services enabled many low-income Sydney households to successfully transition from temporary dwellings to conventional home-ownership.

KEYWORDS:

• Informal urbanism
• temporary dwellings
• Sydney
• makeshift housing
• post-war housing shortage

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Rob Freestone and the reviewers for their useful comments. Images courtesy of Library and Archives Canada; The Hlm in Expos – Musee-Hlm.fr; West Sussex County Council, UK; Aristidis Romanos, Athens, Greece; Tiago Castela, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal; and Taras Kociuba, Hornsby, NSW, Australia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Nicola Pullan is an historian, research assistant and Post-doctoral Research Writing Fellow in the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales. Her doctoral research focussed on the construction and occupation of temporary dwellings on the suburban fringe of Sydney between 1945 and 1960.

ORCID

Nicola Pullan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0769-7889

Notes

* An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Planning History Society Conference held in Yokohama, Japan in July 2018 and published in the conference proceedings.

1 Harris, “Modes of Informal Urban Development,” 1.

2 Ibid., 6.

3 Harris, Unplanned Suburbs; Bastié, La Croissance; Hardy and Ward, Arcadia; Romanos, “Illegal Settlements”; Castela, “Liberal Space”; Vorms, Batisseurs de Banlieue.

4 Boyd, Australia's Home; Kelly, “Portrait of a New Community”; Spearritt, Sydney Since the Twenties. Also: Archer, Building a Nation; Allport, “Castles of Security”; Apperly, Irving, and Reynolds, Pictorial Guide; Holland, Emoh Ruo; Cuffley, Australian Houses; Greig, Stuff Dreams Are Made Of.

5 Pullan, “Roof over Their Heads”; Pullan, “Lot of Hardship”; Pullan, “Tram Cars, Tents, ‘Igloos’ and Garages”; Pullan, “Alternative Solution.”

6 Mabin, “Grounding Southern City Theory,” quotation 22, 23; Smith, “Underdevelopment of Development Literature,” 264, 280.

7 Watson, “Seeing from the South,” 2260–1, quotation 2262.

8 Leontidou, Mediterranean City; Benevolo, Ultimo Capitulo; Busquets, Urbanizacion Marginal; Castells, City; Vineta, Urbanizacion Marginal; Nicolaides, “Where the Working Man is Welcomed”; Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier; Gowans, Comfortable House; Harris, “Imprint of the Owner-Builder.”

9 Hardy and Ward, Arcadia, 47.

10 Harris, Unplanned Suburbs, 270, 2–3, 158.

11 Ibid., 236–7.

12 Harris, “Impact of Building Controls,” 19, 288.

13 Harris, Unplanned Suburbs, 19.

14 Etienne, “Jean Bastié,” 942–3.

15 Bastié, Croissance, 264.

16 Ibid., 308; Faure, “Annie Fourcaut,” 237.

17 Bastié, Croissance, 311, 340.

18 Hardy and Ward, “Makeshift Landscapes,” 13.

19 Hardy and Ward, Arcadia, vii, 7, 11; Knapton, “Basildon's Special Problems,” 509.

20 Hardy and Ward, Arcadia, 12.

21 Ibid., 47, 128–9.

22 Romanos, “Illegal Settlements,” 137.

23 Ibid., 138–9, 145.

24 Castela, Liberal Space, 1, 164; Vorms, Batisseurs.

25 Hardy and Ward, Arcadia, 11, 33; Harris, Unplanned Suburbs, 268.

26 Harris, Unplanned Suburbs, 254; Hardy and Ward, Arcadia, 277–80; Bastié, Croissance, 322.

27 Harris, Unplanned Suburbs, 20.

28 Castela, Liberal Space, 152; Vorms, “Madrid annees 1950,” 56–7.

29 Romanos, “Illegal Settlements,” 138

30 Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Yearbook 1962–63, 22; Australian Labor Party, Five Critical Years, 100; Hogan, Almost Like Home, 3; Ministry of Post-war Reconstruction, Commonwealth Housing Commission Final Report, 185; Boyd, Australia's Home, 117–9.

31 Allport, “Unrealised Promise,” 57.

32 Patryn, Recording 16.

33 Boyd, Australia's Home, 115.

34 Abercrombie, “Metropolitan Planning,” 33.

35 Warringah Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, File No. 2531,” 4.

36 Wagstaff, Interview 1; Kociuba, Recording 1.

37 Twomey, Constitution, 229.

38 Government of NSW, “Commonwealth Powers Bill. Act No. 33, 1942”; Government of NSW, “Commonwealth Powers Act. Act No. 18, 1943.”

39 Macintyre, Australia's Boldest Experiment, 125–6.

40 Local Government Act 1919 (NSW), Part XL, r. Building, ss.310, 316, 318, Ordinances to 31st August 1945.

41 Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, No. 1/43, File No. 144,” 3.

42 Warringah Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, File No. 2531,” 4.

43 Kirby, Recording 1.

44 Twomey, The Constitution of New South Wales, 807.

45 Ordinances to 3rd August 1951, 63.

46 Warringah Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting,” 2; Champion and Champion, Forest History, 72; Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, No. 9/51, File No. 1406,” 6.

47 Brett, “Menzies Era, 1950–66,” 122.

48 Brett, “Menzies Era, 1950–66,” 124; Committee on Australian Universities, Report, 13.

49 Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Yearbook for 1957, No. 55, 227, 231.

50 Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Yearbook No. 53, 1950–51, 594; Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Yearbook for 1957, No. 55, 485.

51 Macintyre, Australia's Boldest Experiment, 340; McDonnell, Interview 1; Pullan, “Alternative Solution”.

52 Cumberland County Council, Planning Scheme, 72.

53 Ibid., 72.

54 ‘Houses, Land, Businesses for sale’; ‘Big 1950 turnover in real estate’.

55 Broomham, First Light, 72.

56 Cumberland County Council, Planning Scheme, 187; Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting No. 46/53, File Number. 2044.”

57 Aird, Water Supply, 238.

58 Ibid., 247; Wilkenfeld and Spearritt, Electrifying Sydney, 36.

59 Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting No. 46/53, File Number. 2044.”

60 Hornsby Shire Council, Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, No. 22/53, File No. 2005”; Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, No. 23/53, File Number. 2015”; Hornsby Shire Council, “Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, No. 22/50, File No. 1263.”

61 Wagstaff, Interview 1; Kociuba, Recording 1.

62 Romanos, “Kipoupolis,” 20.

Additional information

Funding

This research was made possible by an Australian Postgraduate Award, UNSW Faculty Scholarship, and Faculty Research Writing Fellowship.