Veteran Canberra based political reporter and bespoke chicken and lettuce sandwich maker, Alan Ramsey , opined that the planning of our national capital deteriorated once it obtained self government. Buildings had been permitted in areas in which the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) would not have allowed , he told Late Night Live presenter , Phillip Adams.
After the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy it was proposed that the NCDC should design a new city from the wreckage . With alacrity and enthusiasm , it threw itself into the task . Here was a town planner’s dream - to design a city from scratch. It drew up plans for a new Darwin in which there would be no building in surge zones where future loss of life and massive property damage could be expected. It was also planned to take over the sparsely populated rural area with the idea of establishing a safer new capital . The combined uproar from town and country dwellers saw the NCDC sent packing .
In the process , a golden opportunity to have a unique, expertly designed tropical city was lost. Darwin continued developing like Topsy , and under self government has gone the way of Canberra . Now there are a vast number of dwellings and businesses in tidal surge zones , which will also have to cope with sea level rises due to global warming.
The shabby CBD contains a hotch potch of high rises, at times built to different requirements , and rural suburbs lacking in services , experiencing peak hour traffic snarls , very little decentralisation. Not only has town planning gone to pot , there have been several worrying reports about the capacity of modern houses to withstand cyclones. The latest ABC’s Stateline quoted an engineer who said that building standards had slipped to below that which applied before Cyclone Tracy. He was voicing exactly what journalist Paul Toohey had detailed in a major article last year. The Master Builders' Association this very morning is reported as saying there is not enough "evidence " to justify a tougher building code. We shall see , as they say in the peep show .
After the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy it was proposed that the NCDC should design a new city from the wreckage . With alacrity and enthusiasm , it threw itself into the task . Here was a town planner’s dream - to design a city from scratch. It drew up plans for a new Darwin in which there would be no building in surge zones where future loss of life and massive property damage could be expected. It was also planned to take over the sparsely populated rural area with the idea of establishing a safer new capital . The combined uproar from town and country dwellers saw the NCDC sent packing .
In the process , a golden opportunity to have a unique, expertly designed tropical city was lost. Darwin continued developing like Topsy , and under self government has gone the way of Canberra . Now there are a vast number of dwellings and businesses in tidal surge zones , which will also have to cope with sea level rises due to global warming.
The shabby CBD contains a hotch potch of high rises, at times built to different requirements , and rural suburbs lacking in services , experiencing peak hour traffic snarls , very little decentralisation. Not only has town planning gone to pot , there have been several worrying reports about the capacity of modern houses to withstand cyclones. The latest ABC’s Stateline quoted an engineer who said that building standards had slipped to below that which applied before Cyclone Tracy. He was voicing exactly what journalist Paul Toohey had detailed in a major article last year. The Master Builders' Association this very morning is reported as saying there is not enough "evidence " to justify a tougher building code. We shall see , as they say in the peep show .
