The mythical arguments for decentralisation

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements The contribution is acknowledged of participants in a symposium arranged by the Urban Studies Group of the Institute of Australian Geographers held in Adelaide in February, 1973. In particular, comments by Dr. E. Woolmington (Duntroon Military College) and Mr. D. Wilmoth (Urban Systems Corporation) were of assistance. Also, Mr. J. Golding of the School of Geography, University of New South Wales, assisted in discussions and the bibliographic search. The opinions expressed are, of course, those of the authors. Notes 1. P.D. Day, “The Economic and Sociological Case for Decentralisation”. Sections 21 and 24, ANZAAS, University of New South Wales, August, 1972, p. 1. 2. J.K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1962, pp. 19–20. 3. R.C. Weaver, The Urban Complex, New York: Anchor Books, 1966, p. 26. 4. K. Davis, “The Origin and Growth of Urbanisation in the World”, in Readings in Urban Geography, H.M. Mayer and C.E. Kohn (eds.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959, p. 62. 5. I. Gottman, Megalopolis, Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press, 1965. 6. H.L. Harris, “The Implications of Decentralisation”, in Decentralisation, Papers of the 14th Summer School of the Australian Institute of Political Science, Armidale, 1948, pp. 1–2. 7. D.J. Bogue, “Metropolitan Decentralisation: A Study of Differential Growth”, Studies in Population Distribution, No. 2, Miami University, 1950, p. 2. 8. L.F. Schnore, “Metropolitan Growth and Decentralisation”, The American Journal of Sociology, LXIII (Sept., 1957), pp. 172–73. 9. R.J. Ratcliffe, “The Dynamics of Efficiency in the Locational Distribution of Urban Activities”, in Readings in Urban Geography, op. cit., pp. 306–7. 10. T.W. Beed, “Retail Centralisation and Decentralisation in Sydney”, in Readings on Urban Growth, Research Papers 3–7, jointly by the Department of Geography. University of Sydney, and The Geographical Society of New South Wales, 1963, pp. 97–99. 11. Support for the establishment of the Borg-Warner plant at Albury was $3 million (N.S.W. Horizons, No. 2 (Nov./Dec., 1971), p. 3). 12. J. Mooney, “Heading for ‘The Little Smoke”’, N.S.W. Horizons, No. 4 (March/April, 1972), p. 3. 13. It is sometimes difficult to separate the promotion of functional dispersion from that of functional diffusion (movement of industry to the periphery of the city) which has been encouraged by various city planning authorities. 14. Development Corporation of New South Wales, Report on Selective Decentralisation, Sydney: Government Printer, March, 1969, p. 5. In a recent article it has been suggested that this report may have been rejected (M. T.Daly, “Decentralisation: The New South Wales Case”, Geography Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 1 (March, 1973), p. 6). 15. M.J. Payne, “Some Comments on the A.I.U.S. First Report ‘New Cities for Australia”’, Staff Paper No. 12. Dept. of Town and Country Planning, University of Sydney, February, 1973. 16. Australian Institute of Urban Studies, New Cties for Australia, First Report of the Task Force, Canberra, August, 1972. 17. Australian Institute of Urban Studies, New Cties for Australia, First Report of the Task Force, Canberra, August, 1972.., p. 1. 18. H.D. Thoreau, Walden, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. 19. Day, op.cit., p. 7. 20. Day, op.cit., p. 7.. pp. 8–9. Aust. Inst. Urban Studies, op. cit., p. 6. 21. Day, op.cit., p. 7.. pp. 8–9. Aust. Inst. Urban Studies, op. cit.,., p. 7. 22. Devel. Corp. of N.S.W., op. cit., p. 2. 23. R.E. Lonsdale, “Manufacturing Decentralisation: The Discouraging Record in Australia”, Land Economics,Vol. XLVIII, No. 4 (Nov., 1972). 24. “Editorial”, N.S.W. Horizons, No. 4 (March/April, 1972). p. 2. 25. R.Ardrey, African Genesis, London: Collins Fontana Library, 1967. 26. D.Morris, The Naked Ape, Toronto: Bantam Books, 1969. 27. Ardrey, op. cit., p. 163. 28. One of the first attacks on this link is contained in R.B. Goodman and G.Johnston, The Australians, Adelaide: Rigby Ltd., 1966. 29. J. Power, “Town Planning and Politics”, Aust. Planning Inst. J., Vol. 8, No. 2 (April, 1970), p. 34. G.E. Cherry, “The Spirit and Purpose of Town Planning”, J. of the Town Planning Inst., Vol. 55, No. 1 (January, 1969), p. 15. F.J.C. Amos, “Approach to Planning”, J. of the Town Planning Inst., Vol. 55, No. 4 (April, 1969). 30. A discussion of the problems of urban growth and their failure to stop city growth is outlined in B. Goodall, The Economics of Urban Areas, Oxford: Pergamon Press. 31. Day, op. cit., p. 13. 32. Day, op. cit., p. 13., p. 11. 33. K. Boulding, “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth’, in H. Jarrett (ed.). Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971. 34. B. Wattenberg, “Overpopulation as a Crisis Issue: The Nonsense Explosion”, in G.E. Frakes and C. Soberg (eds.), Pollution Papers, New York: Meredith Corp., 1971. pp. 13637. R.L. Heibroner, “Ecological Armageddon”, ibid., pp. 253–64. P.R. and A.H. Ehrlich, Population, Resources, Environment San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1969. 35. Newcastle Herald, April 9, 1973. 36. G.A. Fleischer, “Effect of Highway Improvement on Travel Time of Commercial Vehicles”, Highway Research Record, No. 12 (1963), p. 45. 37. W.R. Blunden, “Land Usage and Transportation”, in symposium on “Problem of Moving People without Pollution”, ANZAAS, University of N.S.W., August, 1972. 38. National Roads and Motorists’ Association, Open Road, November, 1972. 39. Aust. Inst. Urban Studies, op. cit., p. 4. 40. Time, “What Makes a City Great?”, Nov. 14, 1969; reprinted in C.L. Salter (ed.), The Cultural Landscape, Belmont, Calif.: Duxbury Press, 1971. 41. J.K. Johnson, “The Quality of Life in Canberra”, Section 27, ANZAAS, University of N.S.W., August, 1972. 42. A.J. Rose, Patterns of Cities, Melbourne: Nelson, 1967, p. 112. 43. Aust. Inst. of Urban Studies, op. cit., p. 1. 44. A.J. Rose, “Dissent from Down Under: Metropolitan Primacy as the Normal State”, Pacific Viewpoint Vol. 7, No. 1 (May, 1966). 45. Aust. lnst. Urban Studies, op. cit., p. 11. H.W. Richardson, “Optimality in City Size, Systems of Cities and Urban Policy: A Sceptic's View”, Urban Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (February, 1972), p. 46. He points out: “These problems are not directly related to scale, and will persist even if the size of large cities could be reduced.” 46. Richardson, op. cit., p. 30. Goodall, op. cit., p. 336. 47. C.A. Doxiadis, “How to Build Better Cities”, J. Of Town Planning Inst., Vol. 55, No. 8 (Sept./Oct., 1969). p. 337. 48. Day, op.cit., pp. 7–11. 49. This particular conclusion is at variance with the subjectively based statement of Daly, op. cit., p. 4. 50. Day, op. cit., pp. 9–10. 51. An extensive discussion of the costs and implications of fringe development is contained in Goodall, op. cit., Chapter 7. 52. Presumably estimates were only made for local roads, while telephones and electricity were the most important utilities excluded. 53. Day, op. cit., p. 18. 54. Day, op. cit., p. 18., p. 11. 55. Richardson, loc. cit. 56. E.W. Zimmerman, World Resources and Industries, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951, p. 138.

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