Most Canberrans are by now aware of the Gallagher Government’s desire to re-develop the land alongside the proposed Capital Metro rail line from Gungahlin to Civic (which includes Northbourne Avenue) for both high-density housing and retail/commercial purposes – the theory being that this will help offset the costs of construction and maximise future rail usage.

The Government’s attempt to ensure that “major projects’’ are not subject to the usual planning constraints suggests not just an overriding belief in the necessity of maximizing taxpayer return on those developments but a studied indifference to the significance of those buildings and open spaces which potentially stand in the way of such developments. Sustainable Development Minster Simon Corbell gave clearer definition to that thinking when he said this week that the public housing complexes lining much of inner Northbourne Avenue were impractical, did not match demand and were regarded by many as an eyesore. The buildings of which he speaks are not to everyone’s liking. Their polarizing appearance and their limited functionality – this s being an era when expectations of housing are much higher than they were at the time of construction in the early 1950s – accounts for that. They are, however, fine examples of post-war international style architecture, built to provide a gateway entry to Canberra and as an affirmation that this was to be the people’s capital. Though they are considered significant enough to warrant inclusion on the Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s register of significant 21^st century style architecture, Mr Corbell’s comments suggest their fate will be like that of the Allawah and Bega flats in Braddon, which are due to be demolished to make way for apartments – some of which will be require to be set aside for public housing tenants – and retail and office space.

The economic imperative for redeveloping public housing sites in the inner city is hard to deny. Rising land values demand that the uses to which it is put are maximized, particularly in a city/state like Canberra where real estate transactions contribute so significantly to government revenues. Consolidation of the inner city also meshes with the Government’s aim to limit urban sprawl.

However, beyond establishing an unarguable case for redevelopment along Northbourne Avenue, the Government has yet to articulate any particular view about how that revamp ought to look. Does it have in mind replicating the northern end of Flemington Avenue – with its banal and uninspiring but profitable blend of medium-density housing and retail space – all along Northbourne Avenue? Perhaps it will be satisfied with the creeping expansion northwards of the similarly hackneyed corporate offices that now inhabit the Turner end of Northbourne Avenue. Either way, insipidness could well end up becoming the city’s gateway most notable characteristic.

That was not what the city’s original planners had in mind for Northbourne Avenue, and it behoves this Government not dispense holus bolus with their efforts (which include the modernist housing precincts) to make it a unique gateway. If some of this housing is beyond redemption, there is still a strong argument for retaining the most architecturally significant portions of it and redeveloping them for other uses – just as most of the two storey, semi-detached houses in Manuka (which were also designed originally as low-cost housing) have been renovated for commercial use. The Government also needs to consider forgoing some redevelopment opportunities and to reserve land for open space, for an extra 45,000 people along Northbourne Avenue will require recreational as well as transport and other amenities.

The changes in store for Northbourne Avenue – which Mr Cobell has indicated will include the redevelopment of the Dickson Motor Registry – will be significant, both in financial and planning terms. The onus is on the Government not to lose sight of the latter as it furiously pursues the former.