The car was king and sprawl was no real concern back when much of Canberra was laid out. Malls were set in the middle of vast open-air carparks in places like Woden. Hulking multi-storey carparks were attached to the side of shopping centres in Tuggeranong and Belconnen. This made sense then but not now.
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In places like Braddon and Phillip, car yards and other businesses were spread out in low-rise buildings with parking galore. Inevitably the march of the city has made these areas central and - long ago in Braddon's case - prime real estate.
How Canberra changes as its population grows is a vexxed issue. Urban infill is the only way to go without more sprawling, but it comes with complications and risks of mistakes.
McMansions eat up blocks and change the face of old suburbs, apartment towers displace public housing, schools are overstretched, green spaces encroached upon and, significantly, buyers are left victims of poor building standards tolerated in an environment of haste.
The tram project, loved and reviled depending on who you speak to, has turbo-charged development along the corridor from Civic to Gungahlin, but some of what's built along the tram's path will not stand as exemplars of design or construction. Some may not even stand for long.
So, it's always with bated breath that new proposals are greeted, especially those accompanied by lush artists' impressions that resemble something out of the film Avatar. Last week we reported on two very different visions, both more interesting than yet another apartment proposal in the inner north.
The first related to a five-storey serviced apartment building in Phillip, which the developer hopes will help transform the area into the "new Braddon of the south".
Dubbed 'The Lord', the development would feature a gastro pub under the apartments. It would be the first time people were living in that part of Phillip. The artists' design optimistically has only sports cars parked out front.
Phillip is now so central that, were the green light be given for its transformation from wholly commercial into a commercial and residential, it would surely not be long before it indeed turned into another Braddon.
The Woden community council clearly has concerns of a thin end of the wedge. President Fiona Carrick believes the proposal will break zoning rules, including around building heights as it doesn't front onto one of the major streets. The path of transformation from the Braddon of old to the Braddon of today was littered with such quarrels.
Another proposal Canberrans should watch with keen interest is a "vision" from Westfields to demolish its Belconnen mall and rebuild. Consultation has begun over a long-term plan for the precinct (although, dubiously, in calling for public comment Westfield claimed 8.8 million people visited the town centre last year).
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While the concept drawings show high-rise towers, they are conspicuously set amid vegetation and paths for foot traffic. The contrast to the existing carpark and mall, which presents fortress-like to the surrounding area, is striking. But will it represent reality?
There is almost always a gulf between artists' impression and ultimate reality, and too often it's comically large.
As it continues to grow, Canberrans are right to demand that planners and those who approve developments act in their interests, not the developers'. Otherwise mistakes will just have to be unmade in the future.
