Commonwealth Urban Policy in Australia: the case of inner urban regeneration in Sydney, 1973–75

Abstract

Urban regeneration has intermittently been identified within Commonwealth policy circles as central to the functioning of Australian cities since the 1940s. This paper adds to existing knowledge by exploring the role of the Commonwealth Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) in the 1970s in facilitating a series of urban regeneration projects in Sydney. Drawing upon ministerial correspondence and minutes recently out of confidential embargo, the genesis of a holistic urban regeneration agenda is explored. The paper traces the approaches to Commonwealth intervention at a time marked by disillusionment with the comprehensive redevelopment paradigm. It explores the relationships and tensions apparent between and within different levels of government in establishing a Commonwealth presence, focusing on three inner city neighbourhoods: Waterloo, Glebe and Woolloomooloo. The significance of the interventions is considered to lie primarily in the pioneering of an all-of-government approach to urban governance.

Keywords:

• Urban renewal
• DURD
• Sydney
• Commonwealth Urban Policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Peggy James (UNSW) and Carolyn Thompson (Macquarie) for their research assistance. Special thanks go to Pat Troy, Ray Bunker and Henry Wardlaw for their comments on this paper. The insights of the anonymous referees were also valuable in shaping this paper. This research was supported by a UNSW Faculty of the built Environment Research Grant. An earlier version of this paper was delivered to the 2009 State of Australian Cities Conference.

Notes

1. These archival materials are part of the Patrick Troy papers presently held by the City Futures Research Centre, UNSW ‘Minute Lansdown to Executive 10 October 1973’, Box Q17/4A.

2. ‘Minute on States Division Operations’, 22 February 1974, Box Q17/1B.

3. ‘Draft for ISRAG Conference 27 October 1973’, Box Q17/4A.

4. ‘Letter Bourke to Owens, 9 January 1974’, Box Q17/9A.

5. ‘Letter Bourke to Lansdown 10 January 1974’, Box Q17/9A.

6. ‘Current Projects in Progress in Mr Wardlaw's Team’, 14 December 1973, Box Q17/9A.

7. ‘Letter Bourke to Lansdown 10 January 1974’, Box Q17/9A, and ‘Minute re Proposed NSW Housing Commission Project at Waterloo 22 January 1974’, Box Q17/1B.

8. ‘Minute re Proposed NSW Housing Commission Project at Waterloo 22 January 1974’, Box Q17/1B.

9. ‘Minute re NSW Housing Commission Proposals Waterloo Sydney’, 11 June 1974, Box Q17/11A

10. ‘Minute re Projects Branch Activities’, n.d. (c. January 1975), Box Q17/17B.

11. ‘Draft Minutes of Budget and Finance Committee Meeting 31 October 1975’, Box Q17/16B.

12. ‘Draft: The Church of England Lands Glebe: A Report to the Department of Urban and Regional Development, by Jackson, Teece Chesterman and Willis, July 1973’, Box Q17/10B.

13. ‘Letter Reiher to Lansdown 31 January 1974’, Box Q17/1B.

14. Troy to James, pers. comm., 24 February 2009.

15. ‘Proposed Redraft of Chapter IV Administering the Estate’, n.d., Box Q17/10B.

16. ‘Minute re Public Accounts Committee Examination of AG Report for 1974–75’, 7 October 1975, Box Q17/17B.

17. ‘Minutes of Executive Meeting 16 July 1974’, Box Q17/16A.

18. Protected under the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975.

19. ‘Minute from Wardlaw to Lansdown’, n.d. (c. September 1973), Box 17/4A.

20. Troy to Tice, pers. comm., 16 April 2010.

21. ‘Minute re Green Bans to Lansdown from Stein’, 17 December 1973.

22. ‘Minute re Australian Government Participation in the Preparation of the Woolloomooloo Action Plan 22 January 1974’, Box Q17/1B and ‘Minute on Woolloomooloo 22 July 1974’, Box Q17/16A.

23. ‘Minute re Projects Branch Activities’, n.d. (c. January 1975), Box Q17/17B.

24. ‘Minute re Woolloomooloo Agreement and Future Action’, 7 July 1975, Box Q17/17B.

25. ‘Minutes of Executive Meeting 28 August 1973’, Box Q17/4A.

26. ‘Minute re. Woolloomooloo Redevelopment—Progress Report 15 September 1975’, Box Q17/11B.

27. ‘Minutes of Cabinet Submissions and Legislation Committee Meeting 19 November 1974’, Box Q17/11A.