Chris Turner

In June 1978, there appeared in The Age, Melbourne’s prestige daily newspaper, a vitriolic analysis of the city’s urban design. “Effective city planning has been almost unknown in Melbourne for at least 30 or 40 years,” wrote Norman Day, The Age’s architecture critic. “For the ordinary Melburnian, that means our city has been progressively destroyed. It no longer contains the attraction and charm it once had.” The essay’s headline pointed toward the root of Melbourne’s problem: “AN EMPTY, USELESS CITY CENTRE,” it read. ...