Public and private space in the traditional suburban centre

The broad suburban landscape in Australia has evolved to produce few rich, strong centres, outside of the 'shopping towns'. Because of this, suburbs rarely provide central places whose character and function reflect the full spectrum of civic life. The structure and history of traditional centres, which developed before the world wars, however, suggest a quality of community life can be redefined in the suburban place. This professional paper, in recognising this opportunity, establishes a strategic planning approach in order to reinvigorate the traditional centre's public and private spaces. A three dimensional plan of the subject site, Camberwell Junction, is developed to demonstrate the approach.