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Perth
CITY PROFILE
Perth D. S. Houghton
Perth, the only major city on the west coast of Australia, is one of the most isolated cities in the world. Founded in 1829, development was slow until the Gold Rush of the 1890s. Thereafter, however, the rate of population growth has quickened so that, today, the city has become a sprawling metropolis of over one million inhabitants. Its physical setting ensures that it will long remain one of the most attractive cities in the world but continued population growth and its dependence upon the private motor vehicle pose a number of problems for metropolitan planners. The author is with the Department of Geography, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
1F.K. Crowley and B.K. de Garis, A Short History of Western Australia, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1969, p 9. 2M. Pitt Morison, 'Settlement and development: the historical context', in M. Pitt Morison and J. White, eds, Western Towns and Buildings, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1979, p 2. 3D.C. Markey, 'Pioneer Perth', in J. Gentilii, ed, Western Landscapes, University of Western Australia Press, Nediands, 1979, pp 346-358.
Western Australia covers 2 527 620 km 2 yet, in 1986, its total population was only 1.4 million. More significantly, 72% of the state's population lived in the Perth metropolitan area and the next largest urban centre had fewer than 25 000 inhabitants. As the only major city on the western seaboard of the continent, Perth is actually closer to Singapore than to Sydney, on Australia's east coast.
Urban origins British settlement in Western Australia dates from 25 December 1826, when a detachment of troops was sent from Sydney to establish a temporary military garrison on King George Sound, some five hundred kilometres south-east of Perth. At that time there were only two other colonies in the whole of Australia. 'New South Wales had been occupied in 1788 as a penal settlement to which unwanted convicts might be sent from Britain; and from 1804 Van Diemen's Land, later renamed Tasmania, was used for the same purpose. There was as yet no Adelaide and no Melbourne. The interior of the continent was largely unexplored and little was known about 'New Holland', as the western third of the Australian continent had come to be called. Dutch, French and English navigators had visited the shores of Western Australia from at least the beginning of the seventeenth century but most of them formed an unfavourable impression of what they saw. The dry sandy soil of the coastal plain seemed unsuitable for agriculture and there seemed little hope of profitable trade with the aborigines'. In 1827, however, the lower reaches
0264-2751/90/020099-08 © 1990 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
of the Swan river were partially explored by Captain James Stirling, a young naval officer who sent back to England poorly founded reports of the area's agricultural potential. A year later the British government decided to annex the whole of Western Australia in a move which appears to have been designed chiefly to forestall French occupation. Stifling was later appointed commander of an expedition to found the first 'free' British colony in Australia and was also charged with the responsibility of selecting a site for a town which was to become the future seat of government in Western Australia. 2 The site chosen on 11 August 1829 was approximately mid way between the coast and the Darling scarp, which forms the eastern boundary of the Swan coastal plain (see Figure 1). It was close to the more fertile soils of the Swan valley around Guildford and was safe from sea-borne attack because a bar at the mouth of the Swan prevented sea going vessels from entering the estuary. A short distance upstream numerous islands and sandbanks impeded navigation even by small craft. The physical characteristics of the site itself - a ridge of higher ground o v e r l o o k i n g a shallow l a g o o n favoured a linear form of development. A main street, later known as St George's Terrace, was laid out just below the crest of the ridge and other streets were then surveyed parallel to it. 3 As a result, modern street blocks in the city's central area are elongated, in sharp contrast to the regular grid pattern found in Melbourne and many North American cities.
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CITY PROFILE
Coastal sand plain
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F i g u r e 1. T h e location of early settlement on the S w a n coastal plain.
4B.J. Shaw, 'Evolution of Fremantle', in ibid, pp 329-343. SG. Seddon and D. Ravine, A City and its Setting: Images of Perth, Western Australia, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantie, 1986.
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The choice of the site also had other implications for the course of urban development in Western Australia. Stirling's decision to locate the centre of administration some 18 km upstream from the mouth of the Swan immediately necessitated the establishment of separate port facilities on the coast. The development of Fremantle was brought about because the mouth of the river was obstructed by a bar of hard rock and passengers and goods had to be transferred from ocean going vessels to river craft before continuing to Perth. As a result, the functions of Perth and Fremantle have always been clearly differentiated. The difference in status between the two is even reflected in the naming of the settlements. Whereas Perth was named after the Scottish city associated with Sir George Murray, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Fremantle was named after the captain of the ship sent to claim Western Australia for the British crown, HMS
Challenger. 4 Figure 2 illustrates the Victorian character of the port today. Population growth The growth of urban population has closely paralleled the economic fortunes of Western Australia. During the first sixty years of settlement little economic development occurred and, for a time, Fremantle grew almost as rapidly as Perth. In 1881 residential development in Perth did not extend beyond the limits of the present city centre. However, the opening of the railway line from Fremantle to Guildford in the early 1880s encouraged residential development elsewhere and also brought about a sharp decline in the importance of the river, which had hitherto been the main means of communication. By 1891, however, the population of the Perth-Fremantle area was still only about 20 000. In contrast, Sydney then had some 400 000 inhabitants, while Melbourne's population was closer to 500 000. 5 However, the dis-
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CITY PROFILE
Figure 2. Late 19th century architecture in Fremantle has been zealously preserved by the council. Table 1. Population growth, 1911-86. Year 1911 1921 1933 1947 1954 1966 1976 1986
Population of Perth Statistical Division 116 200 170 200 230 300 303 000 395 000 559 300 805 500 1 050 300
% of WA population 41.2 51.2 52.3 60.3 61.7 65.9 70.4 72.0
Source: Western Australia Year Books Government Printer, Perth
6A. Kerr, 'Mining developments in Australia's North-West', in o p cit, Ref 3, pp 291308.
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1990
covery of significant quantities of gold particularly severe, and, over a period near Kalgoorlie in the early 1890s not of several years, the state suffered a only transformed the economic for- net loss of population as a result of tunes of Western Australia but also migration. More recently, Western Australia had a lasting impact on the development of Perth. Western Australia's has witnessed another period of renon-aboriginal population increased m a r k a b l e economic growth based sevenfold in the space of twenty years largely on the discovery and exploitaand many important changes occurred tion of new mineral resources in the north-west of the state. 6 Since 1947 in Fremantle and Perth. U n d e r the supervision of C.Y. the annual rate of population growth O'Connor, the state's chief engineer, in the Perth metropolitan area has the bar at the mouth of the Swan was averaged 3.2%. This compares with a removed and a new deep water hat- national rate of population growth of bout dredged inside the mouth of the 1.9% and is significantly higher than river. Thereafter, Fremantle quickly that experienced in most other major eclipsed A l b a n y on King G e o r g e cities of Australia, with the notable Sound as the main port of call in exception of Canberra, the national Western Australia. By the turn of the capital. Between 1954 and 1976 the century, Perth itself was provided with population of Perth more than doubpiped water, sewerage and gas and an led to reach 805 200 and, by 1986, a electric t r a m w a y system was also further 244 500 residents had been under construction. The commercial added to the city's population. heart of the city was almost completeMuch of Perth's post-war populaly rebuilt as old buildings lining St tion growth has been the direct result George's Terrace were demolished to of international immigration. In 1986 make way for 'modern' office build- one-third of the city's total population ings. was foreign born, a higher proportion The gradual decline in gold mining than for any other city in Australia. activity in the early decades of the Over half of all foreign born residents twentieth century was more than were from the UK or New Zealand offset by agricultural expansion and but the population also contains signithe population of the metropolitan ficant numbers of immigrants from area continued to increase. Between non-English speaking countries such 1911 and 1933, for example, the as Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. As a population of the Perth Statistical Di- result of changes to Australia's imvision more than doubled (see Table migration policy a significant propor1). However, the effects of the De- tion of recent arrivals have also come pression on Western Australia were from south-east Asia.
101
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Table 2. Population densities in Australia's major urban areas, 1981. Major urban area
Sydney Melbourne Brisbane
Persons per
km 2
3 160 2 537 2 186 Adelaide 2 178 Perth 1 702 Canberra 1 995 Source: Perth:A SocialAtlas, Atlasof Population and Housing, 1981 Census, Vol 6, Division of National Mapping and AustralianBureauof Statistics, Canberra, 1984.
7State Planning Commission, Plan for the Future of the Perth Metropolitan Area; Report of the Review Group to the State Planning Commission of Western Australia, Perth, November 1987. SOp cit, Ref 5, p 59.
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The modern metropolis" Despite its 19th-century origins, Perth is essentially the product of the postwar era. Up until World War II, urban development was largely confined to the northern side of the river, where separate nodes of development along the railway gradually coalesced. Since then, however, the scale of urban development has changed dramatically, as is shown in Figure 3. By 1981 the residential area of the city covered an estimated 475 km 2, more than half the area of Sydney with 2.8 million inhabitants. Perth today differs from most other Australian cities in a number of respects, quite apart from its geographic isolation. First, except for some small areas of wetland now used for market gardening, the coastal plain on which the city stands is of such limited agricultural value that many suburbs are built on land which had never previously been cleared of natural vegetation. Second, the two-storey terrace housing which is such a characteristic feature of the inner residential areas of Sydney and Melbourne is conspicuously absent. The single detached dwelling surrounded by a generous amount of private land has always predominated in Perth and can be traced back to the earliest building regulations in the colony. Conse-
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quently, even by Australian standards, the overall density of population is extremely low (see Table 2). Perth can also claim to have the highest level of car ownership of any maior city in Australia, with nearly one privately registered motor vehicle for every two inhabitants. In 1986 only 10.5'7o of households were without a private motor vehicle, while 47% had two or more. According to a recent survey7, approximately 78% of work related trips and 73% of shopping trips in the metropolitan area are made by private car. In contrast, public transport accounts for only 8% of work related trips and 6% of shopping trips in Perth. Unlike many North American cities, however, Perth currently has less than 35 km of freeways. Because of Western Australia's relatively small population and its geographical isolation, Perth has never been a major centre of manufacturing. In 1986 only 13% of the total metropolitan workforce were employed in manufacturing. To the casual observer, the city seems to lack a solid economic base. Mining and other economic activities in Western Australia have always been somewhat remote from Perth. Yet it is largely this lack of industry which makes the city so attractive. ~ The only heavy industries in the
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CITY PROFILE
9p.W;G. Newman, 'The impact of the America's Cup on Fremantle - an insider's view', in G.J. Syme et al, eds, The Planning and Evaluation of Hallmark Events, Gower, Aldershot, 1989, pp 46-58. 1°O. Yftachel and D. Hedgecock, 'The planning of Perth's changing form - invention or convention?', Australian Planner, Vol 27, 1989, pp 6-11. 11M.J. Webb, 'Urban expansion, town improvement and the beginning of town planning in metropolitan Perth, 1899-1914', in op cit, Ref 3, pp 359-382.
metropolitan area are situated at Kwinana, some 20 km south of Fremantle, where British Petroleum established an oil refinery in the early 1950s. Since then other refineries have been established to process bauxite and nickel, together with a power station and grain terminal. Fremantle itself remains an important retail node but the port is no longer a major centre of employment. However, it has become a major exporter of live sheep to the countries of the Middle East and the i n n e r h a r b o u r has r e c e n t l y been dredged to a depth of 13 m. The urban impact of resource development in Western Australia is seen most clearly in Perth's central area. Over the last quarter of a century, the late 19th-century architecture of St George's Terrace has been successively replaced by a new wave of office redevelopment, symbolized by glass and concrete office towers. At the same time, further infilling of the river shallows to accommodate a freeway interchange has resulted in the city centre now being completely cut off from the river by car parks, roads and rather barren areas of public open space (see Figure 4). In contrast, Fremantle has retained much of its original character. In 1981 the old port city had the highest level of unemployment in the metropolitan area and bore the physical hallmarks of stagnation and decline. Fremantle's fortune changed dramatically, how-
ever, after the victory of a Perth based yachting syndicate headed by Alan Bond in an America's Cup challenge off Newport, Rhode Island, in 1983. Four years later Fremantle found itself the focus of international media attention as the site of the latest America's Cup challenge. A total of around AS100 million in state and federal government expenditure was used to renew and expand local infrastructure, build new marina facilities, upgrade the foreshore and develop community facilities. Private investment in new and renovated hotels, housing, and commercial enterprises was probably even greater. 9 Although the America's Cup is no longer in the keeping of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, the impact of the 1987 challenge on Fremantle has been profound. But despite the scale of redevelopment, much of the fabric of the late 19th-century city has been preserved (see Figure 2) and Fremantle has now become an important destination for tourists and local visitors alike.
Metropolitan planning Metropolitan planning policy in Perth has closely followed national and international trends. 1° Originally, the development of planning in Western Australia owed much to the foresight and energies of W.E. Bold, Town Clerk of the City of Perth during the period 1900-1914.11 However, the first Town Planning and Development
Figure 4. The Perth central business district from the northwest. CITIES May 1990
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CITY PROFILE
12G. Stephenson and A.J. Hepburn, Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle, Western Australia, W A Government Printer, Perth, 1955. ~J. Georgiou, 'The metropolitan region' in op cit, Ref 2, p 261. 140p cit, Ref 7, p 9.
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Act in Western Australia was not proclaimed until 1928 and the combined effects of the Depression and World War I! served to minimize its impact. In 1952, however, the government of Western Australia commissioned Professor Gordon Stephenson of the University of Liverpool to undertake a comprehensive planning study of the Perth region. One of the most important recommendations in his report, 12 published in 1955, was a proposal to create a permanent planning authority responsible for preparing a development plan for the whole of the metropolitan area. In 1959 the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority (MRPA) was duly established and, four years later, a statutory planning scheme was introduced. This was based largely on the recommendations of the Stephenson Report and was essentially a master plan of future land-use in the metropolitan area within which each of the 26 local authorities in Perth was obliged to prepare a more detailed local planning scheme. Given Perth's rapid rate of population growth, the need for a broader planning strategy soon became apparent. In 1971, the MRPA published the Corridor Plan for Perth which recommended that future urban development should be channelled along major transport routes, 'thus forming corridors to the north-west, east, south-east and south-west of the urban core' (see Figure 5). 13 It also recommended the establishment of subregional centres in each of the corridors to act as 'counter-magnets' to the city centre. The corridors themselves were seen not as continuous urban development but as a series of largely self-sufficient communities separated by rural land. Following considerable controversy, the concept of corridor development was finally approved by the state government in April 1973. In 1985, the functions of the MRPA were transferred to a new planning body, the State Planning Commission, which is under more direct ministerial control. Following similar moves in other Australian cities, the Western Australian government also
announced its intention to carry out a major review of planning strategy in Perth in the light of changing economic circumstances. This identified the main deficiencies in existing planning policy in Perth as stemming primarily from the fact that, over the previous twelve years, most designated subregional centres in Perth had simply failed to attract significant development. It also predicted that, by the year 2001, Perth's population would be about 1.3 million and that, by 2021, it would be somewhere in the region of 1.7 million. Given recent trends in household size, the review concluded that an additional 171 000 dwellings would be required in the metropolitan area by 2001 and a further 194 000 by 2021. Under current zoning policies, however, sufficient land was available for residential development to meet Perth's housing needs for only a further 10-11 years. The preferred strategy adopted by the report retains the basic elements of the Corridor Plan but gives greater emphasis to consolidation and infill within established areas and replaces corridor growth in the more peripheral parts of the region by (developing) '~reas of land closer and more accessible to employment opportunities and facilities within the existing urban a r e a , 14
However, it was estimated that only 50 000-63 000 new dwellings were likely to be located within the existing urban area. The remainder would be in the form of single family dwellings located adjacent to existing urban development. A second set of recommendations concerns the location of employment opportunities. These centre on reducing the need for workers living in outer residential areas to travel long distances to work, and on eventually stabilizing the city central area workforce at about 100 000. To meet these objectives, the report advocates policies designed to encourage employment growth in outer and middle distance suburbs. In particular, it proposes that two new subregional growth centres be established in middle distance suburbs, one some ten
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CITY PROFILE I
Urban d e v e l o p m e n t ~ 1970 Major road ~ connections I
Future urban development Boundaries of urban corridors
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Figure 5. The Corridor Plan for Perth.
sj. Mant, Planning Procedures for Perth's Central Area: A Report to the Minister for Planning, Perth, June 1988.
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kilometres north-west of the city centre and the other in the south-east corridor. These and other recommendations of the report have yet to be adopted by the State Planning Commission but it seems unlikely that they will be rejected out of hand. At the same time, a separate review of planning procedures affecting the Perth central area is has been critical of the local
Perth City Council planning scheme and has recommended the establishment of a separate Planning Commission to oversee the future development of the central city area.
Conclusion To most visitors, Perth is a vast sprawling suburb blessed with a pleasant Mediterranean climate and
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CITY PROFILE an attractive river setting. In this respect it more closely resembles Canberra than Sydney or Melbourne. Its population is currently increasing by approximately 20 000 annually and, with several major new construction projects planned, there is no sign that the current boom in office redevelopment in the central city area is coming to an end. Further population growth, however, poses a major challenge to planning authorities in Perth. The cost of servicing new suburbs is rapidly increasing and there is growing aware-
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ness of local e n v i r o n m e n t a l constraints, particularly with regard to water resources. An overwhelming preference for living in a single detached dwelling has also made a high level of car ownership essential at a time when Australia's domestic oil production has already passed its peak. In the absence of effective mechanisms to channel growth elsewhere, Perth may have reached the point at which further population growth can be absorbed only at the expense of a decline in the general quality of life.
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Perth D. S. Houghton
Perth, the only major city on the west coast of Australia, is one of the most isolated cities in the world. Founded in 1829, development was slow until the Gold Rush of the 1890s. Thereafter, however, the rate of population growth has quickened so that, today, the city has become a sprawling metropolis of over one million inhabitants. Its physical setting ensures that it will long remain one of the most attractive cities in the world but continued population growth and its dependence upon the private motor vehicle pose a number of problems for metropolitan planners. The author is with the Department of Geography, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
1F.K. Crowley and B.K. de Garis, A Short History of Western Australia, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1969, p 9. 2M. Pitt Morison, 'Settlement and development: the historical context', in M. Pitt Morison and J. White, eds, Western Towns and Buildings, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1979, p 2. 3D.C. Markey, 'Pioneer Perth', in J. Gentilii, ed, Western Landscapes, University of Western Australia Press, Nediands, 1979, pp 346-358.
Western Australia covers 2 527 620 km 2 yet, in 1986, its total population was only 1.4 million. More significantly, 72% of the state's population lived in the Perth metropolitan area and the next largest urban centre had fewer than 25 000 inhabitants. As the only major city on the western seaboard of the continent, Perth is actually closer to Singapore than to Sydney, on Australia's east coast.
Urban origins British settlement in Western Australia dates from 25 December 1826, when a detachment of troops was sent from Sydney to establish a temporary military garrison on King George Sound, some five hundred kilometres south-east of Perth. At that time there were only two other colonies in the whole of Australia. 'New South Wales had been occupied in 1788 as a penal settlement to which unwanted convicts might be sent from Britain; and from 1804 Van Diemen's Land, later renamed Tasmania, was used for the same purpose. There was as yet no Adelaide and no Melbourne. The interior of the continent was largely unexplored and little was known about 'New Holland', as the western third of the Australian continent had come to be called. Dutch, French and English navigators had visited the shores of Western Australia from at least the beginning of the seventeenth century but most of them formed an unfavourable impression of what they saw. The dry sandy soil of the coastal plain seemed unsuitable for agriculture and there seemed little hope of profitable trade with the aborigines'. In 1827, however, the lower reaches
0264-2751/90/020099-08 © 1990 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
of the Swan river were partially explored by Captain James Stirling, a young naval officer who sent back to England poorly founded reports of the area's agricultural potential. A year later the British government decided to annex the whole of Western Australia in a move which appears to have been designed chiefly to forestall French occupation. Stifling was later appointed commander of an expedition to found the first 'free' British colony in Australia and was also charged with the responsibility of selecting a site for a town which was to become the future seat of government in Western Australia. 2 The site chosen on 11 August 1829 was approximately mid way between the coast and the Darling scarp, which forms the eastern boundary of the Swan coastal plain (see Figure 1). It was close to the more fertile soils of the Swan valley around Guildford and was safe from sea-borne attack because a bar at the mouth of the Swan prevented sea going vessels from entering the estuary. A short distance upstream numerous islands and sandbanks impeded navigation even by small craft. The physical characteristics of the site itself - a ridge of higher ground o v e r l o o k i n g a shallow l a g o o n favoured a linear form of development. A main street, later known as St George's Terrace, was laid out just below the crest of the ridge and other streets were then surveyed parallel to it. 3 As a result, modern street blocks in the city's central area are elongated, in sharp contrast to the regular grid pattern found in Melbourne and many North American cities.
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CITY PROFILE
Coastal sand plain
Guildford
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F i g u r e 1. T h e location of early settlement on the S w a n coastal plain.
4B.J. Shaw, 'Evolution of Fremantle', in ibid, pp 329-343. SG. Seddon and D. Ravine, A City and its Setting: Images of Perth, Western Australia, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantie, 1986.
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The choice of the site also had other implications for the course of urban development in Western Australia. Stirling's decision to locate the centre of administration some 18 km upstream from the mouth of the Swan immediately necessitated the establishment of separate port facilities on the coast. The development of Fremantle was brought about because the mouth of the river was obstructed by a bar of hard rock and passengers and goods had to be transferred from ocean going vessels to river craft before continuing to Perth. As a result, the functions of Perth and Fremantle have always been clearly differentiated. The difference in status between the two is even reflected in the naming of the settlements. Whereas Perth was named after the Scottish city associated with Sir George Murray, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Fremantle was named after the captain of the ship sent to claim Western Australia for the British crown, HMS
Challenger. 4 Figure 2 illustrates the Victorian character of the port today. Population growth The growth of urban population has closely paralleled the economic fortunes of Western Australia. During the first sixty years of settlement little economic development occurred and, for a time, Fremantle grew almost as rapidly as Perth. In 1881 residential development in Perth did not extend beyond the limits of the present city centre. However, the opening of the railway line from Fremantle to Guildford in the early 1880s encouraged residential development elsewhere and also brought about a sharp decline in the importance of the river, which had hitherto been the main means of communication. By 1891, however, the population of the Perth-Fremantle area was still only about 20 000. In contrast, Sydney then had some 400 000 inhabitants, while Melbourne's population was closer to 500 000. 5 However, the dis-
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CITY PROFILE
Figure 2. Late 19th century architecture in Fremantle has been zealously preserved by the council. Table 1. Population growth, 1911-86. Year 1911 1921 1933 1947 1954 1966 1976 1986
Population of Perth Statistical Division 116 200 170 200 230 300 303 000 395 000 559 300 805 500 1 050 300
% of WA population 41.2 51.2 52.3 60.3 61.7 65.9 70.4 72.0
Source: Western Australia Year Books Government Printer, Perth
6A. Kerr, 'Mining developments in Australia's North-West', in o p cit, Ref 3, pp 291308.
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covery of significant quantities of gold particularly severe, and, over a period near Kalgoorlie in the early 1890s not of several years, the state suffered a only transformed the economic for- net loss of population as a result of tunes of Western Australia but also migration. More recently, Western Australia had a lasting impact on the development of Perth. Western Australia's has witnessed another period of renon-aboriginal population increased m a r k a b l e economic growth based sevenfold in the space of twenty years largely on the discovery and exploitaand many important changes occurred tion of new mineral resources in the north-west of the state. 6 Since 1947 in Fremantle and Perth. U n d e r the supervision of C.Y. the annual rate of population growth O'Connor, the state's chief engineer, in the Perth metropolitan area has the bar at the mouth of the Swan was averaged 3.2%. This compares with a removed and a new deep water hat- national rate of population growth of bout dredged inside the mouth of the 1.9% and is significantly higher than river. Thereafter, Fremantle quickly that experienced in most other major eclipsed A l b a n y on King G e o r g e cities of Australia, with the notable Sound as the main port of call in exception of Canberra, the national Western Australia. By the turn of the capital. Between 1954 and 1976 the century, Perth itself was provided with population of Perth more than doubpiped water, sewerage and gas and an led to reach 805 200 and, by 1986, a electric t r a m w a y system was also further 244 500 residents had been under construction. The commercial added to the city's population. heart of the city was almost completeMuch of Perth's post-war populaly rebuilt as old buildings lining St tion growth has been the direct result George's Terrace were demolished to of international immigration. In 1986 make way for 'modern' office build- one-third of the city's total population ings. was foreign born, a higher proportion The gradual decline in gold mining than for any other city in Australia. activity in the early decades of the Over half of all foreign born residents twentieth century was more than were from the UK or New Zealand offset by agricultural expansion and but the population also contains signithe population of the metropolitan ficant numbers of immigrants from area continued to increase. Between non-English speaking countries such 1911 and 1933, for example, the as Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. As a population of the Perth Statistical Di- result of changes to Australia's imvision more than doubled (see Table migration policy a significant propor1). However, the effects of the De- tion of recent arrivals have also come pression on Western Australia were from south-east Asia.
101
CITY PROFILE ~ _
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1976
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Rockingham F ~ - ~ F i g u r e 3. Urban growth 1942-76 ~Taken from G. Stephenson, Joondalup Regional Centre, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1977.
Table 2. Population densities in Australia's major urban areas, 1981. Major urban area
Sydney Melbourne Brisbane
Persons per
km 2
3 160 2 537 2 186 Adelaide 2 178 Perth 1 702 Canberra 1 995 Source: Perth:A SocialAtlas, Atlasof Population and Housing, 1981 Census, Vol 6, Division of National Mapping and AustralianBureauof Statistics, Canberra, 1984.
7State Planning Commission, Plan for the Future of the Perth Metropolitan Area; Report of the Review Group to the State Planning Commission of Western Australia, Perth, November 1987. SOp cit, Ref 5, p 59.
102
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The modern metropolis" Despite its 19th-century origins, Perth is essentially the product of the postwar era. Up until World War II, urban development was largely confined to the northern side of the river, where separate nodes of development along the railway gradually coalesced. Since then, however, the scale of urban development has changed dramatically, as is shown in Figure 3. By 1981 the residential area of the city covered an estimated 475 km 2, more than half the area of Sydney with 2.8 million inhabitants. Perth today differs from most other Australian cities in a number of respects, quite apart from its geographic isolation. First, except for some small areas of wetland now used for market gardening, the coastal plain on which the city stands is of such limited agricultural value that many suburbs are built on land which had never previously been cleared of natural vegetation. Second, the two-storey terrace housing which is such a characteristic feature of the inner residential areas of Sydney and Melbourne is conspicuously absent. The single detached dwelling surrounded by a generous amount of private land has always predominated in Perth and can be traced back to the earliest building regulations in the colony. Conse-
30 40 50 krn
quently, even by Australian standards, the overall density of population is extremely low (see Table 2). Perth can also claim to have the highest level of car ownership of any maior city in Australia, with nearly one privately registered motor vehicle for every two inhabitants. In 1986 only 10.5'7o of households were without a private motor vehicle, while 47% had two or more. According to a recent survey7, approximately 78% of work related trips and 73% of shopping trips in the metropolitan area are made by private car. In contrast, public transport accounts for only 8% of work related trips and 6% of shopping trips in Perth. Unlike many North American cities, however, Perth currently has less than 35 km of freeways. Because of Western Australia's relatively small population and its geographical isolation, Perth has never been a major centre of manufacturing. In 1986 only 13% of the total metropolitan workforce were employed in manufacturing. To the casual observer, the city seems to lack a solid economic base. Mining and other economic activities in Western Australia have always been somewhat remote from Perth. Yet it is largely this lack of industry which makes the city so attractive. ~ The only heavy industries in the
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CITY PROFILE
9p.W;G. Newman, 'The impact of the America's Cup on Fremantle - an insider's view', in G.J. Syme et al, eds, The Planning and Evaluation of Hallmark Events, Gower, Aldershot, 1989, pp 46-58. 1°O. Yftachel and D. Hedgecock, 'The planning of Perth's changing form - invention or convention?', Australian Planner, Vol 27, 1989, pp 6-11. 11M.J. Webb, 'Urban expansion, town improvement and the beginning of town planning in metropolitan Perth, 1899-1914', in op cit, Ref 3, pp 359-382.
metropolitan area are situated at Kwinana, some 20 km south of Fremantle, where British Petroleum established an oil refinery in the early 1950s. Since then other refineries have been established to process bauxite and nickel, together with a power station and grain terminal. Fremantle itself remains an important retail node but the port is no longer a major centre of employment. However, it has become a major exporter of live sheep to the countries of the Middle East and the i n n e r h a r b o u r has r e c e n t l y been dredged to a depth of 13 m. The urban impact of resource development in Western Australia is seen most clearly in Perth's central area. Over the last quarter of a century, the late 19th-century architecture of St George's Terrace has been successively replaced by a new wave of office redevelopment, symbolized by glass and concrete office towers. At the same time, further infilling of the river shallows to accommodate a freeway interchange has resulted in the city centre now being completely cut off from the river by car parks, roads and rather barren areas of public open space (see Figure 4). In contrast, Fremantle has retained much of its original character. In 1981 the old port city had the highest level of unemployment in the metropolitan area and bore the physical hallmarks of stagnation and decline. Fremantle's fortune changed dramatically, how-
ever, after the victory of a Perth based yachting syndicate headed by Alan Bond in an America's Cup challenge off Newport, Rhode Island, in 1983. Four years later Fremantle found itself the focus of international media attention as the site of the latest America's Cup challenge. A total of around AS100 million in state and federal government expenditure was used to renew and expand local infrastructure, build new marina facilities, upgrade the foreshore and develop community facilities. Private investment in new and renovated hotels, housing, and commercial enterprises was probably even greater. 9 Although the America's Cup is no longer in the keeping of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, the impact of the 1987 challenge on Fremantle has been profound. But despite the scale of redevelopment, much of the fabric of the late 19th-century city has been preserved (see Figure 2) and Fremantle has now become an important destination for tourists and local visitors alike.
Metropolitan planning Metropolitan planning policy in Perth has closely followed national and international trends. 1° Originally, the development of planning in Western Australia owed much to the foresight and energies of W.E. Bold, Town Clerk of the City of Perth during the period 1900-1914.11 However, the first Town Planning and Development
Figure 4. The Perth central business district from the northwest. CITIES May 1990
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CITY PROFILE
12G. Stephenson and A.J. Hepburn, Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle, Western Australia, W A Government Printer, Perth, 1955. ~J. Georgiou, 'The metropolitan region' in op cit, Ref 2, p 261. 140p cit, Ref 7, p 9.
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Act in Western Australia was not proclaimed until 1928 and the combined effects of the Depression and World War I! served to minimize its impact. In 1952, however, the government of Western Australia commissioned Professor Gordon Stephenson of the University of Liverpool to undertake a comprehensive planning study of the Perth region. One of the most important recommendations in his report, 12 published in 1955, was a proposal to create a permanent planning authority responsible for preparing a development plan for the whole of the metropolitan area. In 1959 the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority (MRPA) was duly established and, four years later, a statutory planning scheme was introduced. This was based largely on the recommendations of the Stephenson Report and was essentially a master plan of future land-use in the metropolitan area within which each of the 26 local authorities in Perth was obliged to prepare a more detailed local planning scheme. Given Perth's rapid rate of population growth, the need for a broader planning strategy soon became apparent. In 1971, the MRPA published the Corridor Plan for Perth which recommended that future urban development should be channelled along major transport routes, 'thus forming corridors to the north-west, east, south-east and south-west of the urban core' (see Figure 5). 13 It also recommended the establishment of subregional centres in each of the corridors to act as 'counter-magnets' to the city centre. The corridors themselves were seen not as continuous urban development but as a series of largely self-sufficient communities separated by rural land. Following considerable controversy, the concept of corridor development was finally approved by the state government in April 1973. In 1985, the functions of the MRPA were transferred to a new planning body, the State Planning Commission, which is under more direct ministerial control. Following similar moves in other Australian cities, the Western Australian government also
announced its intention to carry out a major review of planning strategy in Perth in the light of changing economic circumstances. This identified the main deficiencies in existing planning policy in Perth as stemming primarily from the fact that, over the previous twelve years, most designated subregional centres in Perth had simply failed to attract significant development. It also predicted that, by the year 2001, Perth's population would be about 1.3 million and that, by 2021, it would be somewhere in the region of 1.7 million. Given recent trends in household size, the review concluded that an additional 171 000 dwellings would be required in the metropolitan area by 2001 and a further 194 000 by 2021. Under current zoning policies, however, sufficient land was available for residential development to meet Perth's housing needs for only a further 10-11 years. The preferred strategy adopted by the report retains the basic elements of the Corridor Plan but gives greater emphasis to consolidation and infill within established areas and replaces corridor growth in the more peripheral parts of the region by (developing) '~reas of land closer and more accessible to employment opportunities and facilities within the existing urban a r e a , 14
However, it was estimated that only 50 000-63 000 new dwellings were likely to be located within the existing urban area. The remainder would be in the form of single family dwellings located adjacent to existing urban development. A second set of recommendations concerns the location of employment opportunities. These centre on reducing the need for workers living in outer residential areas to travel long distances to work, and on eventually stabilizing the city central area workforce at about 100 000. To meet these objectives, the report advocates policies designed to encourage employment growth in outer and middle distance suburbs. In particular, it proposes that two new subregional growth centres be established in middle distance suburbs, one some ten
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CITY PROFILE I
Urban d e v e l o p m e n t ~ 1970 Major road ~ connections I
Future urban development Boundaries of urban corridors
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Figure 5. The Corridor Plan for Perth.
sj. Mant, Planning Procedures for Perth's Central Area: A Report to the Minister for Planning, Perth, June 1988.
CITIES May 1990
kilometres north-west of the city centre and the other in the south-east corridor. These and other recommendations of the report have yet to be adopted by the State Planning Commission but it seems unlikely that they will be rejected out of hand. At the same time, a separate review of planning procedures affecting the Perth central area is has been critical of the local
Perth City Council planning scheme and has recommended the establishment of a separate Planning Commission to oversee the future development of the central city area.
Conclusion To most visitors, Perth is a vast sprawling suburb blessed with a pleasant Mediterranean climate and
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CITY PROFILE an attractive river setting. In this respect it more closely resembles Canberra than Sydney or Melbourne. Its population is currently increasing by approximately 20 000 annually and, with several major new construction projects planned, there is no sign that the current boom in office redevelopment in the central city area is coming to an end. Further population growth, however, poses a major challenge to planning authorities in Perth. The cost of servicing new suburbs is rapidly increasing and there is growing aware-
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ness of local e n v i r o n m e n t a l constraints, particularly with regard to water resources. An overwhelming preference for living in a single detached dwelling has also made a high level of car ownership essential at a time when Australia's domestic oil production has already passed its peak. In the absence of effective mechanisms to channel growth elsewhere, Perth may have reached the point at which further population growth can be absorbed only at the expense of a decline in the general quality of life.
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