Sydney Post-war Metropolitan Planning: The Rise and Fall of the Satellite Town as a Spatial Imaginary

Abstract

ABSTRACT Taming metropolitan expansion by developing satellite towns was conventional wisdom by the mid-twentieth century, but Sydney’s early attempts highlight the disjuncture between theory and practice. Viewed through the theoretical lens of the spatial imaginary, longer term metropolitan planning was problematised and tested through inadequate governance, flawed population projections, and aggressive public and private sector developers. Archival records permit a detailed account of the challenges faced into the post-war period. While Sydney failed to emulate the satellite town achievements of other capital cities, the lessons learned helped establish foundations for more effective planning in a new era from the late 1960s guided by a revised imaginary of the ideal metropolis.