'Establishing a Federal Presence in Australian cities: Reflections on the role of the Department of Urban and Regional Development in urban regeneration in the 1970s

Urban rehabilitation, regeneration and renewal have intermittently been identified within federal (as well as state) policy circles as central to the functioning of Australian cities since at least the 1940s. This paper adds to existing knowledge by exploring the role of the Federal Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) in the 1970s in facilitating a series of urban renewal and regeneration projects in Australia’s largest cities. The paper utilises previously unavailable data sources. Drawing upon ministerial correspondence and minutes recently out of confidential embargo, the genesis of an holistic urban regeneration agenda is explored. The paper traces the ideological foundations of and approaches to federal intervention at a time marked by disillusionment with the comprehensive redevelopment paradigm. It explores the relationships and tensions apparent between and within different levels of government in establishing a federal presence. The focus is on the relationships and processes which surround the rejuvenation of three inner city neighbourhoods in Sydney: Waterloo, Glebe and Woolloomooloo. The significance of the interventions is considered to lie primarily in the pioneering of an all-of-government approach that repays study at the present time when a renewed federal interest in Australian cities is evident.