Planning in Sydney and the work of George Clarke

Abstract

TOWN PLANNING IN THE CITY OF SYDNEY This chapter provides a brief history of town planning in the City of Sydney as background for the City of Sydney Strategic Plan 1971 prepared by George Clarke and Urban Systems Corporation (USC). This work was important because it was a primary consideration in the choice of consultants for the City of Adelaide Planning Study. In this chapter, I also reflect on my own role in Sydney, particularly in relation to the Woolloomooloo Action Plan. The history of the City of Sydney in terms of governance and the relationship between the Government of New South Wales (the State (NSW)) and the Council of the City of Sydney (SCC) is relevant to this book about Adelaide, and this chapter will later discuss the lessons learned. The State (NSW) created the city in November 1842 and established the structure of the SCC and its boundaries. In 1853, the State (NSW) dismissed the elected SCC and placed the city under the control of unelected Commissioners because it was concerned that the SCC was not providing basic services. Conflict and power have been the dominant themes in the planning of Sydney. The struggle for governance between the State (NSW) and the SCC demonstrates the connection between social and spatial outcomes and the city's political economy. A conservative State government dismissed the Laborcontrolled SCC in 1927 and the reasons given were that the SCC was open to bribery and corruption and was administering the city badly. The three appointed Commissioners reduced expenditure and improved efficiency by reducing the workforce and simplifying the administrative structure. The State (NSW) passed the Sydney Corporation (Amendment) Act 1929 (NSW), which gave the vote to nonresident property owners and changed the ward boundaries, which ensured the Labor party did not win the 1930 election.