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The City of Kwinana is a satellite community outside of Perth, Western Australia, that was planned in support of an oil refinery and industrial area in 1952. Kwinana is significant as one of the first planned new towns in Australia and a symbol of the urban industrial maturation of the state of Western Australia. This article summarizes the key events leading up to the selection of the site, the most salient features of the development agreement, and the planning and construction of the new town. Two ways of understanding planning knowledge transfer are discussed in a postcolonial context and applied to understand the overseas origins and vernacular features of this unique example of Australian planning.
Ian MacLachlan is a professor in the Department of Geography in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the Uni- versity of Lethbridge. His work on Kwinana was done while on study leave as a visiting scholar in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Western Australia. He has research interests in urban and economic geography and currently serves on the City of Lethbridge Municipal Planning Commission.
Image: Ian with Western Australian bush, Kwinana industrial zone and the Indian Ocean in the distance . Courtesy of the speaker.
Contact:
Jarrett Duncan | jarrett.duncan@uleth.ca