Dubai (by Kubra Aktepe)

 
Within a realm of greatness and a flourishing economy contingent to the oil reserves within the parameters of the city, Dubai has become one of the 21st century’s most prosperous cities with its high-end advancements and prestige. Al-Maktoum - the grand producer of this fantasy, has endeavored, and successfully achieved his ideal of creating the ultimate city, however, the argument is really how one defines a truly great city for the metropolis of the 21st century.

This can be critiqued through various many elements. Dubai has flourished to become Arabia’s central gathering location for education, business, trade, and so on, as Friedman suggests, the “Manhattan of the Arab world”. Its locality within the region has proved to attract many tourists and individuals from all over the world to enjoy and take part in this new age revolution. The overwhelming description that Davis describes in the opening of ‘Sand, Fear and Money in Dubai’ ultimately creates a picturesque sight of the surreal nature of the city with its “forest of six hundred skyscrapers”. The area is an ultimate locale for those who yearn the ‘supreme lifestyle’ and grandeur with which it brings. The backdrop of this opulence however is rested upon the vast population of non-Arab laborers, who are inherently, the “invisible majority”. Therefore, some of the imperative issues that require attention are; the exploitation of the workforce behind this grand scale construction site, the vast contributions to the Arab world, the use of wealth derived from oil, and its association with the black market. All these issues are fundamental in discerning whether or not Dubai can be considered the ultimate city of the 21st century.

The great populations of laborers who are the backbone in this growing city live very different to the citizens of Dubai and are very poorly paid. There is, as Davis suggests, a clear distinction between them with regards to living standards and their existence as individuals in the city. This social class distinction is very well defined, as the workers are not allowed in many areas where the citizens wonder. They live in shanty areas far out from the central city district, out of sight and view, in extremely poor conditions. With such low wages, “totalitarian social control” and their long working hours, the laborers are without doubt, extremely significant in the establishment of Dubai being considered the ideal city of the 21st century. Their exploitation has been shadowed by the development of the city’s glamorous reputation, thus, diluting what is really the truth behind the success of Dubai. Without a doubt, as Davis suggests, “Dubai is capitalized just as much on cheap labor as it is on expensive oil”.

The contributions that Dubai has had on the Arabian world can to an extent be considered a positive in the midst of the bizarre nature of the city. Dubai, as mentioned by Davis was formerly a fishing village and smugglers’ cove, however is now a fantasy Arabian city. It has inevitably become a central hub for those fleeing their own countries due to wreck and poverty, in search of education, security, business, trade and prosperity. This surreal city has become a safe haven, and a place where individuals can “come to realize their full potential in arts, business, media, education and technology” in a country which is naturally a part of their own identity. Citizens from across neighboring countries have escaped to Dubai to live the life they so dreamt of in their own nations. Dubai is, as Friedman states, “the capital of the Arab spring” sparking a domino effect in neighboring nations to participate in this growing business of success.

The wealth which oil has brought to the city has allowed Dubai to “escape poverty” and hence become the “key commercial, financial and recreational hub of the Gulf”. The profit that derives from the oil was reinvested into creating this “Miami of the Persian Gulf” through their one great abundant natural resource; sand. Dubai sought to use the revenue from oil – a resource that is being exhausted and will inevitably be gone, to plan for the future and find new ways in which they will earn profit. This idea of creating the ultimate city has been beneficial for the municipal, as Davis states that it “will derive all of its GDP from non-oil activities like tourism and finance by 2010”. This modern boom is inherently a strategic move, as petroleum reserves have become a “subsidy for the apocalyptic luxuries that Dubai is coming to epitomize”.

There is also a fear among individuals that the flow of money into Dubai and the “freewheeling environment” encourages the growth of “black market operators, arms dealers, terrorist financiers and money launderers”. This issue is overwhelmingly suspicious and has not been proven, however, Dubai’s position in the gulf and their growing economy in the support of radical groups sparks thoughts of insecurity amongst common population. Davis suggests that as an ally nation, Western states have used Dubai as a strategic location in the “war on terror”. Dubai’s association with the black market and terrorism hence undermines the legitimacy of business and it being an ideal city, this free form environment suppresses terrorist threats in their borders, however perpetuates growing fear.

Dubai has become a financial and recreational hub for those to enjoy from all over the world. It has surpassed what many nations are still dreaming of, and concurrently become an inspiration to many. However, parallel to this idea of it being a great city for the metropolis of the 21st century, issues, such as the degradation of the laborers and the link between the growing wealth with black markets are shaded by the lavishness of the city lights. Dubai has become a place for endless possibilities, however the clandestine method of its current position does not suffice for it being labeled the ideal metropolis of the 21st century.



Reference List

Davis, Mike. & Monk, Daniel Bertrand (2007).Evil Paradises - Sand, Fear and Money in Dubai. New York: New Press, pp. 48-68. 

Friedman, Thomas (23 November 2014). Look to Dubai for answers to Middle East. The Age.

Animals in the City (by Grace Tuisku)

 

The city has long been regarded as the pinnacle of progress and humanity. It has been seen as an environment in which human beings thrived, developed and the wilderness was kept at bay. As a result there has been a growing disconnect from nature, as people grow more comfortable in their controlled urbanised environment. There are few animals present, and those that are, have been highly domesticated such as pets, or trained and controlled such as those held at the zoos. This separation causes many problems, for instance younger generations are often distanced from the production of their food and the animals that they eat, as well as being unaware of the important roles that wild animals play in the ecosystems that support us all. However, this arrangement may be the only way in which humans and animals can both survive. With people contained in a high-density environment, they are leaving larger areas of land uninhabited and free for animal populations. In this sense cities are much better for the animal kingdom then the suburban life, which, especially in Australia, is often seen as being more connected to nature. This is contradictory to the opinion held by Wolch (1998) who believes that there should be no segregation between human and non-human life.

 

As human environments have become more urbanised over time, the land has ceased to be an appropriate habitat for the animals that once inhabited the area. As a result of this, the populations have either died out or migrated to more suitable areas. This behaviour was paralleled by the human populations who migrated into the cities due to them becoming a prosperous habitat for people, with many opportunities to grow and develop. The absence of animals in the city has had many benefits for the human population. These benefits can be seen when a developed city is compared to a city in a developing country which often has high populations of stray dogs and cats, rats, and in some places cows or monkeys. These animals have the potential to spread disease through fleas, faeces or bites. These urban animals pose a considerable threat to the human populations in these areas, which is why they are often reduced or removed once as city becomes more developed. However the absence of animals in the city has also caused a disconnection between urban populations and nature, therefore people are less likely to be concerned with environmental issues or feel the need to curtail there behaviours which have negative environmental consequences.

 

Even though animals are generally considered to be absent in the city environment, there are three main ways in which animals are present in the city;

1) As pets

2) As pests

3) As education and entertainment in the zoos.

 

Pets are becoming increasingly common and important to individuals, it could be argued that this desire to have pets is the modern humans way of fulfilling the innate need to be close to animals. However this evolutionary need has evolved to the point that our pets are now also city dwellers and are reflective of the environment and lifestyle of the place in which they live. For example many suburban dogs regularly wear jumpers in the winter as the have been breed to have suitable characteristics for city living such as small size and non shedding hair rather than for survival in the wild. Wolch (1998) argues that the increasing popularity of pets is detrimental for native animals, and while this is true for outer suburban families, the inner city environment in this instance is possibly better for having pets as it increases the separation between native and domesticated animals. The presence of animals in zoos can be quite controversial issues as many people are uncomfortable with the idea of holding all these animals, particularly the larger and more intelligent ones in captivity. However zoos play an extremely important role regarding the education of urban populations and counteracting the disconnect from nature that can occur in the city. By allowing people to visit and have a personal interaction with these animals, the people are more likely to be concerned for the wellbeing of the rest of the species and be more inclined to be environmentally considerate and aware of their actions. Many zoos such as the Melbourne zoo have lots of information about how our behaviours impact the animals that they have at the zoo, for instance the presence of palm oil awareness posters in the orang-utan enclosure.

 

Wolch’s (1998) idea of the zoopolis is highly optimistic and extremely unpractical in the modern day city. The idea of the cohabitation of animals and humans would in all likelihood make the environment unsafe for all parties. The animals would also need to be semi controlled or domesticated in order to ensure they’re not an immediate threat to human safety.

 

The urban environment is one in which is the human population can thrive and develop. While it indeed has had negative impacts on the surrounding animal world, these problems will not be fixed by forced cohabitation of humans and animals. Instead other programs can be implemented so as to bridge the gap between these two worlds. For instance farm field trips are a regular part of Australian primary school in which children are able to be up close with many of the animals that provides them food. Also zoos can be used to keep city dwellers engaged with the natural environment so that disconnection can be avoided.

 

Heritage and Gentrification (by Matteo Gatto)

 

The areas immediately surrounding the centre of a city have typically been frowned upon by those from the upper and middle classes. Typically, they were seen as places where the working poor could find places close to employment (in most cases, the city) at a low price. Due to the types living in these places, they have typically been regarded as ‘slums’. However, in the last forty to fifty years, these places have become desirable to a higher population demographic, and the process of this has come to be known as gentrification. These inner suburbs have often included buildings constructed in a historic style, and despite often appearing rundown and destitute, they have come to be desired by the new ‘gentry’, increasing property values and thus often making the poor, original  inhabitants have to find somewhere new to call home.

 

To properly understand gentrification, one must go back to when these now ‘trendy’ suburbs were the last place any self-respecting Australian would want to be. Places such as Carlton, Brunswick and North Melbourne, from the viewpoint of a mid-twentieth century Australian were seen as places for those who could not afford a detached home with their own land, in other words, those who could not afford the suburban dream. However, at the same time as Australians were fleeing to the suburbs, there was a new wave of immigrants, predominantly poor, and mainly from Southern Europe and the Balkans. These people were far more used to the tighter living conditions, and had not been actively encouraged to have their own small block of privacy: for them, the now deserted and somewhat grotty inner suburbs were the best places for them to settle. In addition to this, the people remaining were those who could only really afford Carlton, most often poor blue-collar workers and artists.

 

These immigrants then made the inner suburbs into a vibrant places which the ‘trendies’, as they were described, thought gave off a ‘proper’ community, as opposed to the insular outer suburbs. They typically had more wealth than those already there, however not much more, as Howe, Nichols and Davison (2014) discuss, stating that despite being professionals, may ‘gentrifiers’ came from working class backgrounds, and thus may have already been comfortable with the kind of lifestyle a suburb like Carlton or Brunswick had to offer.

 

  Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, a typical example of a gentrified suburb in Melbourne

One thing common in gentrifying and gentrified suburbs is a tendency to embrace urban activism. Howe et al. (2014) point to unused railway land, where in 1971 a proposal to build apartments there was quashed due to a massive community backlash. The same occurred almost forty years later, when a proposal that would have fenced off parts of the same land for a community garden was also defeated due to a considerable backlash from the community. The fact the these two events, despite most likely having shared few characters, had similar results, seem to signify that despite the change in class of inhabitant and property values, the gentrified areas kept their spirit and attitude seem to give Logan’s 1985 assertion that the phenomenon is more ‘trendification’ rather than gentrification, as the gentry tend to have their own customs, while ‘trendies’ tend to adopt the popular opinion.

 

Gentrification and preservation can tend to go hand in hand, due to the interests of residents in keeping the area the way that they found it, due to that being what attracted them to it in the first place. Rising property values are mainly due to the increased attractiveness of inner-city properties, rather than ‘nicer’ housing turning up in place of the old ‘slum’ facades. This interest by residents in preserving places has led to many gaining a heritage overlay, preventing development which may disrupt the streetscape. The affinity to which residents, and indeed citizens in general have to these neighbourhoods can be seen as quite ironic given that less than 50 years ago in Australia widespread slum clearance was taking place.

 

A comic showing the process of gentrification and how it disadvantages the poor

 

One concern about gentrification is the displacement of the original inhabitants from the area. This is still a concern in Australia, but is even more so in the USA. A study by Atkinson, Wulff, Reynolds and Spinney (2011) highlighted the changing demographics, and the flight of blue collar workers from gentrified suburbs in Melbourne. Glaeser (2011) identifies that inner suburbs are good for the poor as their proximity to employment and the mobility given by the better access to public transport in the inner city. As the original residents are driven out by the rising prices, the new areas to which they move are often at the far edges of urban sprawl, with much reduced mobility and access to employment. Hunter (2014) shows us that ‘the number of suburbs with above average levels of poverty rose by 34%’. . From these occurrences, it can be seen that despite gentrification having positive effects in bringing the inner suburbs of a city in vogue, which can be seen as a way of curbing urban sprawl, it can also add sprawl through the residents it displaces.

 

Gentrification appears to be an inevitability as the suburban dream wears off and living near the city becomes popular, and what remains for us to do is to manage so that those less well off living in gentrified areas and those that can be seen to be in the process of gentrifying are catered for. This could be done either by being supported to keep living in the area, perhaps by setting aside a certain amount of land for public housing, or by improving mobility and employment access in cheaper, outer suburban areas.

 

Gentrification can do wonderful things to the inner areas of a city. In Melbourne, through the efforts of its ‘trendifiers’, it can easily be credited for saving the iconic Victorian streetscapes of Fitzroy and Carlton from the Victorian housing commission, and for revitalizing the inner city. On the other hand, the displacement it causes to its long term residents must be looked at so as they are not entrenched in poverty.

 

 

 

 

References

 

Atkinson, R., Wulff, M., Reynolds, M., & Spinney, A. (2011). Gentrification and displacement: the household impacts of neighbourhood change. Melbourne, Victoria: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.ahuri.edu.au/downloads/publications/EvRevReports/AHURI_Final_Report_No160_Gentrification_and_displacement_the_household_impacts_of_neighbourhood_change.pdf

Howe, R., Nichols, D., & Davidson, G. (2014). Trendyville: the Battle for Australian Inner Cities (pp. 159-176). Clayton: Monash Uni Publishing.

Glaeser, E (2011). Triumph of the City (pp69-91). London: Pan MacMillan

Hunter, P. (2015). Poverty In Suburbia. The Smith Institute. Retrieved from https://smithinstitutethinktank.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/poverty-in-suburbia.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

Slum clearance (by Chen Zhou)

 

Slum clearance is a great concern in urban planning especially in nineteenth century. As population grew, people from rural areas moved to cities in seeking for more working opportunities, better living condition and education for next generation (Habitat, 2007). Those people often lacked skills and were low income people. As a result, they settled in inner city and those settlements were often considered as informal settlements. According to Ooi and Phua (2007), there was expected to be one thirds of the world’s population living slum. To solve the current situation and the land shortage caused by slums, governments and authorities started to clear slums. This paper will analyse both good and bad aspects of slum clearance by using slum clearance in Carlton, Melbourne and the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong as examples.

Since slums are often informal settlement in inner city, they are usually of bad environment. This can be seen in the two example here. Slums in Carlton came after the economic depression in 1890s and were often resulted from land subdivision means the density of population was quite high (Groenhart etc., 2013). The low land value after the depression attracted a great amount of people, including immigrants. However, those housed often lacked basic infrastructures, including safe water supply, sanitation and sewage system (see picture 1). Living condition there was fairly bad. Thus, slums in Carlton was labelled as evil land and must be cleared and destroyed (University of Melbourne, n.d.). Slum clearance in Carlton was supported by Oswald Barnett. It was argued that Barnett’s Christian belief and Methodist background would apply religious elements in slum clearance. Nevertheless, slum clearance did gain great success. Same story happened in the Kowloon Walled City. It was acknowledged as the world’s densest area which used to have 50,000 people and 33,000 families live in that single area. It was an area full of drug peddlers, criminals and prostitutes. There were no water supply for years nor register doctors (Sinn, 1987). The whole area was dirty, dark and crowded (see picture 2). The demolition of it in 1992 ended its legend story and helped it to keep up with the living condition in Hong Kong. It also helped to reduce the crime rate and maintained social justice. Both Carlton’s and Hong Kong’s slum clearance was conducted by the government. They received funding and enforced rehabilitation on slum areas. In the case of Carlton, agencies were authorized to help urban renewal projects (Chapin, 1938). However, involving private agencies in slum clearance projects can easily cause corruption. Property companies may communicate with agencies to clear land for commercial benefits. Slum clearance can to some extent increase income and property value of that land and reduce poverty. It may also benefit the whole city and make the central city more attractive to business and people (Collins & Shester, 2011). But , such action often ignores the emotional attachment of people to the land (Pascoe, 2011). To them, slums are just simply homes where they have lived for a long time and unwilling to move.

While slum clearance played an important role on the planning and structure of a city and it may stimulate the economic growth, it has negative effects. Firstly, slums, as parts of a city has their own value that deserve to be protected. Those inner city areas are often areas with long history. Taking Carlton as an example, its architectures had their own characters and historical value. Also, it witnessed the migrant of Jews and Italians (University of Melbourne, n.d.). As those migrants gradually moved out of Carlton as a result of the slum clearance action, the value lost as well. Kowloon Walled City faced the same loss of culture and history. The City was built during the Qing Dynasty. The demolition of the city also destroyed the site of the old city, the former military office, some stone lions and the memories of old residents (Sinn, 1987). These things are worthy preserved as culture heritage. Secondly, slums can also provoke innovation and new ideas. They becomes a springboard to help people go out of poor. Leila Velez, who was the most successful business woman of her time, grew up in a slum. She was less educated but started her own business and became the most successful African-American businessperson (Glaeser, 2011). It may be argued that slums cannot help people move towards prosperity and Leila’s success can be an occasional story. But it is impossible for people to go directly from rural poor areas to middle- class position. In addition, we still see the success of many people who came from slums, for example, the Kennedy family. Finally, slum clearance can bring lots of problems to the city. Since slum clearance often comes with relocation of the people, they are unwilling to move out of the area. A research focused on the experience of relocated people shows that the living condition of those new houses are only slightly better, but people need to share the living room twice or three times more than their former homes as the new houses are often more crowded (Chapin, 1938). While the accuracy of this research need to be doubted since it was only conducted on 198 families, it still shows that the relocation does not totally improve the living condition of slum people. Considering those people who used to live in slums, they may suffer from poverty after the relocation. The new estates are usually more expensive than their slum houses so that they may be unable to pay the rent (Correspondent, 1935). Some may argue that the public housing arranged for relocation are often affordable and can improve their living condition. However, regardless of whether they are affordable or not, they are usually set in the city fringe. This means people living there may need to spend more to get into inner city and since there are more working opportunities in inner city, they have to get there. To solve the problem, governments should subsidise loans the help workers to buy or rent a dwelling in inner city instead relocate them to city fringe (Ministry of Housing and Construction, 1988). This action can give them more chances to find a job of higher paid in city and they can gradually pay the loan and buy homes of their own.


In conclusion, slum clearance were largely conducted in the 19th century as a result of bad living condition and land shortage. While the slum clearance and relocation can to some extent improve people’s lives and stimulate the local development, it ignored the emotional ties of people to the land. Furthermore, it destructs the cultural and heritage value. Finally, the relocation makes it more expensive for people to pay for the rent. However, if only improved the quality of slums, it may attract more people to come to live in that area and it will become worse and goes over its capacity (Glaeser, 2011).Generally, slum clearance is important and essential to a city’s development. However, governments should play an active and positive role in slum clearance. While concerning improving living condition, governments should also protect heritage and culture as well as provide affordable housing close to inner city.





Reference List

Barnett, F. O. (n.d.). Carlton. Doorless Lavatory. Palmeston St. Retrieved 5 May, 2015 form http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1937&start=6.

Chapin, F. S. (1938). The effects of slum clearance and rehousing on family and community relationships in Minneapolis. American Journal of sociology, 744-763.

Collins, W. J., & Shester, K. L. (2011). Slum clearance and urban renewal in the United States (No. w17458). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Correspondent, V. (1935). The Slum Problem in Melbourne. The Australian Quarterly, 78-80.

Girard, G. & Lambot, I. (1933). City of Darkness. Retrieved 6 May, 2015 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html.

Glaeser, E. (2011). ‘What’s Good About Slums?’ in Triumph of the City London, Pan Macmillan. pp 69-91.

Groenhart, L., Wood, G., & Hurley, J. (2013). Shaping Modern Cities: Structural Continuity and Change in Carlton, Melbourne. Retrieved 6 May, 2015 from http://www.soacconference.com.au/2013-conference/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Groenhart-Structure.pdf.

Habitat, U. N. (2007). What are Slums and why do they exist. Documento presentado en la Vigésima primera Sesión del Consejo de Administración, 16-20.

Ooi, G. L., & Phua, K. H. (2007). Urbanization and slum formation. Journal of Urban Health, 84(1), 27-34.

Pascoe, C. (2011). ‘One Little Piece of Earth: Ideals and Realities of 1950s Home’ in Spaces Imagined, Places Remembered: Childhood in 1950s Australia Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 89-111

Sinn, E. (1987). Kowloon walled city: its origin and early history. Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 30-45.

University of Melbourne. (n.d.). A Brief History of Carlton. Retrieved 5 May, 2015 from http://www.unimelb.edu.au/infoserv/lee/htm/briefhistory.htm.

Victoria. Ministry of Housing and Construction. (1988). New houses for old: fifty years of public housing in Victoria 1938-1988. R. Howe (Ed.). Ministry of Housing and Construction.

Suburban heaven and hell (by Deluca Lawson-Matthew)

Suburbanisation in Australia came into fruition in the aftermath of World War II. Several factors led to suburban life becoming a viable alternative to the reported slums and poor living conditions of inner city that many were all too familiar with. However the appeal, from the growing Australian middle class, for a large, modern and comfortable home, which was associated with suburbia, had overlooked a basic human necessity; a sense of belonging within a community.

In the late 1940’s and 1950’s, the cornerstone of mainstream Australian culture - which one could argue is still paramount in the modern day – was that as an Australian, one had he right to a good life, which had been fought for by Australia’s founders and those who had defended the nation in times of war. Embedded in this notion was private ownership of land and the ability to exercise one’s autonomy over the land in which they resided. The concept of “the Suburban Dream” (Pascoe 2011) provided a conceivable reality to allow Australian citizens to fulfil this engrained belief. 

Pascoe (2011) discusses how Robert Menzies’ the then Australian Prime Minister (image 1), gave the growing middle class of Australia a sense of envisagement through presenting Australian Suburbia as a quintessential cornerstone to the individuality and freedom that was entrenched into the white Anglo-Australian way of life. Menzies’ emphasised that suburban life would provide the means to a healthy family life and a perfect environment to raise children. Suburbanisation would, in conjunction with juxtaposing the congested living conditions of inner city living, contributed to the mass consumption of household appliances that was directly a result of the post World War II economic boom (Scollay 2012). Thus only aiding to the perception of consumerism and intemperance that was paramount in the middle of the 20th Century. 

One could argue that, consumerism and a yearning for intemperance lured people to Suburbia. However, the utopian notion of this re-envisaged Australian way of life that was sold to prosperous Anglo-Australian family and the realities of suburban life in the 1950’s never seemed to align. The realities of suburbanisation were that people were forced to fit into stereotypes. No particular stereotype greater than that of the suburban housewife. Deemed to take control of all the domestic requirements, the housewife of suburbia was essentially trapped to the private environment that encompassed the idea of ‘home’. Both Pascoe (2011) and Scollay (2012) emphasise the distinction between the public sphere that was dominated by males and the private domestic sphere that women and children were bound to. A paradox was thus conveyed. Despite government rhetoric and the popular mainstream culture presenting suburbanisation as the most logical method of exercising one’s ‘individuality and freedom,’ some very traditional values were embedded into suburban life, none more apparent that that of the domesticated housewife. The potential for social isolation was paramount. Whilst the household male would engage with other males in the public sphere, women were expected to prepare the ‘home’ for when the husbands returned to rest (Pascoe 2011). This conception was heavily embedded into rhetoric of suburbanisation. Personally the mentality of suburbanisation that was being portrayed by the Government, specifically Robert Menzies and the assumed popular culture stood for the exact opposite to realities that being exercised by many Australians. The ideas of individuality and freedom were the façade to an environment that demanded citizens fit into a modular idea that was perceived to be for the betterment of all individual and families involved. However in order to reap the benefits, one and one’s family had to conform. Conforming itself is a contrast to the perceived individuality and freedom that was apparently paramount to the Anglo-Australian way of life. As Scollay (2012) discusses, much of the feminist literature of the time suggested that suburbia presented a situation of “one step forwards, two steps backwards.” Nevertheless, despite it being critiqued as backward, many of the women who had relocated to Suburbia felt comfortable fitting into a more traditional role, with minimal disinterest in continued employment in the post war era.
 

Scollay (2012) depicts a group of women, specifically housewives in Lalor, a suburb that was established in the 1950’s six kilometres to the north of Melbourne’s CBD, who banded together, through their collective sense of isolation, effectively established a community. The Lalor Women’s Social Club (LWSC) would in due course set up childcare facilities, with minimal funding from Lalor councillors, to accommodate for the children in the area. These local councillors were by majority male farmers and provided resistance to the LWSC. The councillors held a conservative stance toward any type of change, especially change that would not fit into their linear ideas for the direction of the suburb. Through sheer determination to provide themselves and their families with a sense of community, the LWSC provided a clear yet rare example of a minority who broke away from the modular ideas that surrounded suburbanisation. This movement was conducted through the willpower to break through the concealment of the private domestic household and it’s engulfing sense of isolation.

Whilst the white Anglo-Australian middle class were relocating to newly found suburban areas of the country’s major cities, there were foreign immigrants from a wide array of cultural background moving into the cities and specifically into the inner-city areas. These immigrants appeared to, mostly likely though sheer unfamiliarity with Australian society and ideologies, modified many inner-city dwellings to better suit their needs and way of life. Pascoe (2011) describes how the Italian immigrants in Carlton completely reconstructed the built environment in which they found themselves. These immigrants, unfamiliar to the political pull and the popular Australian culture of the time, saw the inner-city environment through unbiased eyes for what actually present. These people saw a convenient location to reside, relocate their wider families and an ideal place to conduct business.
 

To surmise, the idea of suburbanisation that was conveyed and sold to the public varied immensely from the backward and linear realities that Australian Suburbia in the post World War II era presented.




Reference List:
Delstein, S. 2015 A visual remix of the American Dream as pictured in Mid-Century media, viewed 7 May 2015,

 http://envisioningtheamericandream.com 

News Corp Australia, 2014, John Howard’s Homage to hero Robert Menzies, The Australian, Sydney, viewed 7 May 2015,

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/john-howards-homage-to-hero-robert-menzies/story-fn9d3avm-1227026098789

Pascoe, C. 2011, ‘One Little Piece of Earth: Ideals and Realities of 1950s Homes’ in Spaces Imagined, Places Remembered: Childhood in 1950s Australia, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, pp. 89-111.

Scollay, S. 2012, “Lalor Women’ in Lalor, UNSW Press, Sydney, pp. 212-240.

20th Century Middle-Eastern Cities (by Qitao Wang)

 

The Middle-Eastern cities refer to the cities in a region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. Islam is the largest religion in the Mid East, but there are also other faiths such as Judaism and Christianity. There are indivisible historical origins between Europe and Mid East cities, they have a long history of encounters, exchanges and conflicts. This essay will focus on the impact from west on the 20^th century Middle-Eastern cities. The whole essay will be divided into three periods - the early 20^th century, after World War 2 and the later 20^th century.

 

According to Stefano (2000:160), in the West, industrialization reached a first climax in the later 19^th century, the new civilization caused by the industrialization was spread to Mid East through Europe’s colonial development activities. Istanbul is one of the largest cities in Mid East and it was the capital of Ottoman Empire, in the later 19^th century, there was a creep ‘westernization’ of Ottoman architecture, it is similar to 15^th century - the innovative assimilation of Byzantine elements came into the new Ottoman architecture, this ‘westernization’ is unfortunate to Istanbul because during the transformation process, there was nearly no local creativity came into it, it is a slavish imitation of western style.  In the early 20^th century in Istanbul, there were vast amount of decorative features borrowed from Classical and Rococo architecture in every corner of the new districts, furthermore, at that time, western style apartments started to appear along the streets in the new districts, the French and Italian architects were very popular, they were commissioned to do some important architectural and urban projects, this situation not only happened in Istanbul, but also in other cities managed by Ottoman Empire such as Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad, there were many representative projects - the new Rasheed Street in Baghdad, a shopping street with lateral arcades of Mediterranean character. The appearance of boulevard is because of the change on the trip mode, in the past, people chose horse for travel, with the advent of the motor car in the early 20^th century (the first car was invented in the later 19^th century, but at that time, it was not popularized), the boulevard became an indispensable functional element of modern cities, this was transmitted to Mid East through the colonialism in the early 20^th century, the witness is the small boulevard to the north of Aleppo built in the early 20^th century.

 

The colonial activities ended after World War 2 because of the internal struggles of European nations, however, around fifties of 20 century, the impact from west did not come to the end, it even reached a peak, the impact is mainly from three aspects - economic factors, demographic growth and political ambitions. Under the political ambitions impact, many politically independent national governments were established in Mid East, it was through revolutionary actions or peaceful agreements. At this period, many rich Mid East cities ‘lost most of their traditional urban heritage since the abundance of financial resources and the ensuing development pressures have led to the whole sale demolition of most of their historic centres in a short period of time.’ (Stefano 2000:175) The urban heritage in other poor cities is conserved though most people there at that time were still struggle with poverty. From early 1930s to later 1950s, the physical development of most historic Muslim cities was mainly based on three ways, at the beginning, it is based on two ways, one is continuing to construct the new city on the old historic fabric, it needs large amount of new roads and space for public buildings, the disadvantage of this method is that it will cause the continuous destroying on historic urban structures. The other method is to build new colonial cities on virgin lands. This method does not need any pre-existing urban structures, so it can avoid the demolition of historic urban structures, however, for this method, it needs huge amount of resource, capital and labour to support. So later, a median solution was carried out by the French colonial administration, the method is to create twin or parallel cities, they are allowed to be co - exist at a little distance or side by side. This method can minimize the disadvantages of the above two methods. Under this method, the representative cities are Fez, Rabat, Marrakesh, Tunis, Aleppo and Damascus.

 

Move to the sixties and the early seventies, a system of new thoroughfares designed by the French architect appeared in the old city centres of Fez, Damascus and Aleppo. (Stefano 2000:178) The main purpose of this design is to combine improved car access with a partial archaeological reconstruction of the Roman town plan, however, this design has not been fully implemented because it was too hard for the government to enforce as it even caused several violent reactions from conservationists and the capital it needed was a huge amount. In the later 20^th century, the informal sector and emerging non-governmental organizations stood up, they played a more important role in Mid East cities, the reason for this is they can assume some tasks that the government has no ability to do - even the government got enough money, for instance, they have ability ‘to mobilize the hidden resources of grass - root initiatives.’ (Stefano 2000:182) The relationship between the government and these informal groups or organizations is like partnership. The vernacular mode of development can generate a meaningful new system of cultural references through operating at grass-root level and it also has influence on narrowing the gap between tradition and modernity.

In conclusion, the 20^th century is an important period of rapid innovation and idealism sublimation for Middle-Eastern cities, Europe’s colonial development activities changed the urban structure and building style, and through the two world wars, the structure of Mid East society was also modified.

 

 

 

Reference:

Stefano Bianca, ‘The impact of Western models of development on the contemporary development patterns of historic Muslim cities’, in Urban Form in the Arab World: Past and Present, London: Thames and Hudson, 2000, pp.161-184.

Urban Japan (by Rizqi Abmar)

The urban trends that occurred in Japan during post-war reconstruction and industrialisation give us an insight into the practices that came into play and the values that Japanese citizens held in a rapidly changing urban landscape. The two examples looked at here are that of the reconstruction of Hiroshima, and the housing situation in Tokyo during its industrialisation. In the Hiroshima example we will see how the planning officials reacted to the catastrophe and how this lead to it being reshaped. The Tokyo example looks at suburban living in 1950s Japan and how the experience compared to the European experience of industrialisation.

The reconstruction of Hiroshima as well as the planning that went into it is an interesting case to look at in regards to post-war reconstruction. For starters the nuclear bomb destroyed a great proportion of the city which meant that it had to be rebuilt largely from scratch. The sudden nature of the losses also meant that reconstruction had to begin in earnest as there was a pressing need to provide housing for the victims that had been displaced. However, this did not stop considerations for the potential of reshaping Hiroshima with planning suggestions coming from both officials and citizens alike (Norioki 2003). The main hurdle in putting such ‘idealistic’ plans in motion was the lack of finances from the state as Hiroshima was not the only city in dire need of reconstruction. However, Hiroshima did have the means of acquiring more funding by being a city destroyed by a nuclear bomb. A plea for national aid to support it being ‘reconstructed as a peace memorial’ (Norioki 2003) and acquiring American aid using this reasoning allowed for a larger budget compared to other cities. This idea of being a symbol of remembrance persisted into the reconstruction plans for Hiroshima and would eventually lead to the preservation of structures such as what is now known the A-Bomb Dome. Green belts and riverside parks also came to be in the plans but this success was not without its own problems. In acquiring the land to be dedicated as parks, previous land owners, who at this point were often still in need of housing, occupied and built on this land as they had no other choice. The points to take from this example are how even though the events of the bombing were catastrophic to the city itself, its after-effects allowed for Hiroshima to not just be rebuilt more rapidly but reform and enact plans which would otherwise have not been conceived.

Housing in Tokyo presents a different case study in contrast of that of Hiroshima. This case study looks at a period slightly after post-war during the industrialisation of Tokyo. Here we see how the usual trends of poor housing conditions and slums forming as a result of an industrialised city did not happen in Tokyo to the extent they did in Europe (Dore 1958). According to Dore (1958) there were three reasons for this: the first was that employers at the time often had dorms where workers could stay in while they worked in the city; the second was the large amount of knowledge already available to draw upon to plan around this from Europe; and the final reason as well as the one he looks at primarily that there were hygienic habits already ingrained within the citizens as well as a different set of minimum standards for living.  He reports how the Japanese were much more used to living in smaller spaces and that it can assumed that while according to European standards it may have seemed there was overcrowding and low standards, in actual fact this was simply the way the citizens lived.  From Dore’s (1958) study, the sharing of houses in the suburb did lead to concerns about privacy but did lead to there being only a minuscule number of people being forced to temporary housing. The factor of interest here is the fact that even if the living conditions were cramped, the sharing of houses was essential to alleviate the housing needs that had occurred as a result of the industrialisation and urbanisation. Compare this case with a more contemporary look into what the urban situation is like in Japan. Ishii and Shigeta (2010) write about the City Planning Law (CPL) established in 1968 and how there is a need to review the law now that the urban landscape is changing. The main concerns being that the CPL is inadequate in dealing with the present issues of urban sprawl, lower economic growth, and population decline. Since the CPL was put in place during a time where there was much stronger population and economic growth due to the rapid industrialisation, it makes sense that there is a need to review it in the present-day. It is interesting to note that with the example of Tokyo above, there were only around 10 years between it and the CPL being implemented. The housing situation that was happening in those times was likely one of the many reasons that the CPL was passed.

In summary, both of these cases demonstrate how the planning process occurred during these greatly fluctuating times. From both we can infer how the immediacy in which the landscapes changed both affected and was affected by what priorities the people and the state had during those times. Moving forward, it will be very interesting to see what direction urban Japan takes and to compare it with how it was in these times.

 

References

Dore, RP 1958, ‘Houses and Apartment Blocks’, in City Life in Japan: A Study of a Tokyo Ward, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp. 40-52.

Ishii, K & Shigeta, H 2010, ‘Comprehensive revision of the City Planning Law in Japan’, Journal of Town & City Management, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 211-220.

Norioki, I 2003, ‘Reconstructing Hiroshima and Preserving the Reconstructed City’, in C Hein & JM Diefendorf (eds), Rebuilding Urban Japan After 1945, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 87-107.