Seminar Eight: The Americanization of Planning

The last seminar reading for Planning Theory brings us to perhaps, in my opinion, the most highly regarded piece of planning writing in Australian Planning theory. This piece, written by Robert Freestone, examines the major external influences on Australian planning during the post war era and....... don't expect any surprises here.  Its seems appropriate for Australian practitioners to travel abroad for inspiration on how to enhance the livability of cities through transport, infrastructure and technology considering Australia was one the youngest nations coming into the 20th century. The rapid rise of the American 'empire' during the 20th century through its wealth, technology, military, as well as its education allowed the flood gates to open for foreign practitioners from Australia and other nations to search for new ideas which could be beneficial back home. This was highly the case for Australia in the planning spectrum. You don't need to look far for for American influence at the start of the 20th century on home soil. Australia's capital city design competition entrants were predominantly Americans, with Chicago landscape architect Walter Burley Griffith winning out the prize.
Although many new ideas from the New World allowed Australia to advance at the beginning of the 20th century, WWII served as a critical 'watershed' in its influence on a global scale, especially in planning. When it comes to questioning whether Australia could have overlooked America's 'way' of planning and retained their sights on a more traditional 'British' approach I believe that there had to be a sense of inevitability at that time because America's fast-growing towns and cities, as well as its vast acceleration in its inventions and technology, during the 20th century served as a base line for other nations who were more aligned to pedestrian-friendly cities as they have 'successfully' managed to integrate the freeways and residential areas in a more pragmatic way. American towns and cities was the answer to the main problems of traffic congestion, suburban infrastructure and inner-city redevelopment. My final verdict on this piece of writing is that Australia had no option. The Pacific Ocean was simply our transmitter to the USA and considering Australia forged a fruitful relationship with the US during the Second World War America's influence was always destined to exacerbate economically, politically, and socially. Australian planning was indeed Americanized.

                        American Planning managed to successfully integrate the automobile in its newly-developed cities.