City Futures ABPL20045
Assignment Two: Annotated Bibliography          
The suburbanisation In Australia
Suburbanisation has been often considered as one of the form of utopia, as it representing idealised images of the suburban neighbourhoods. A picture of nicely built single family houses sitting on uncluttered, adjoining and parklike landscapes creates the ideal utopia community with security, privacy, and economically safe life (Smicek, n.d.). The term ‘Australian (American) dream’ describes the phenomenonof urban sprawl (suburbanisation) in major cities, in order to achieve a better life for individual through home-ownership (Dodson, 2016).However, is current suburbanisation helping develop the city? Or in the other words, does this movement supportscitizens to realise the dream that driven them move outwards the city? Davies and others (2001) suggests in his article ‘Understanding sprawl: Lessons from architecture for legal scholars’, suburban-scale growth can be a healthy and natural way for cities to develop as long as it is in a right form (Davieset al., 2001).Indeed, suburbanisation has many flaws. According to recent researches, infrastructure projects and housing affordability are some of the main challenges that suburbanisation is now facing (Hamnett & Maginn, 2016).Undoubtedly, Australian cities can be considered as some of the world most dispersed urban regions, and also suburbia has also became an important part in the Australian cultural studies (Butler, 2005).It is a perfect opportunity to take one of the cities as an urban sprawl example for further analysis.
Word count: 227
Key terms:The utopia notion, ‘The Australian (American)dream’, Thesuburban life, The realities of suburbanisation.
Citation style: APA 6^th Edition
1. The Utopia notion
Smicek, M. American Dreams, Suburban Nightmares: Suburbia as a Narrative Space between Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary American Cinema.
This book provides a comprehensive understandings of the complicated relationship between utopia and suburbia. The term ‘utopia’ is defined as a “desirable, perhaps, but at the same time unattainable” (Smicek, n.d.) in the book.It is similar to the ‘American dream’— ideal but hard to achieve. The whole book is focused only on American context, it is perfect that the utopia notion is closed bonded with the ‘American dream’. In the later chapter of this book, it also discusses the role of suburbia in utopia concept, as well as in ‘American dream’. The value is that it perfectly respond to the question, and also it can be theintro part that introduce the focus of the essay.
Word count: 117
2. ‘The Australian (American) dream’
Davies, M., Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., & Speck, J. (2001). Understanding Sprawl: Lessons from Architecture for Legal Scholars. Michigan Law Review, 99(6), 1520.
This is a peer-viewed essay that critical analyses the book ‘Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream’in terms of the definition and influential of the urban sprawl.  This text is chosen for its brief understanding of urban sprawl, but also provided five detailed points about the research of key term ‘sprawl’. The primary value of this text is that the phenomenon of urban sprawl is specifically discussed in an American context:identifying the basic component of urban sprawl, in addition to the origin that causes this phenomenon, as well as the long term influences (advantages and shortcomings) of this suburbanisation process. Besides, in the first part of the article, it describes the features of urban sprawl and traditional towns, which can be later used to form a clear comparison between compact and dispersed city. In the second part,a specific example of the ‘American dream’ is used as the background informationindicatesthat why so many American choose to live in sprawl. This review is valuable that despite the various flaws in urban sprawl, Davies and others (2001) also argues the feasible solutions in terms of making suburbanisation in “a more healthy and natural way for cities to develop” (Davieset al., 2001).This argument can be considered as one of the key theme of making ideal vision of suburbia and also respond to the task.
Word count: 233
3. The suburban life
Butler, C (2005). ‘Reading the production of suburbia in post-war Australia,’ Legal Spaces, vol.9, no.2, pp. 11-28.
Suburbia is not only being one of the dominant part in Australian cultural studies, but also has a rising important role in visual arts filed. To be more specific, the resurgence of Australia’s cinema industry during last three decades is due to the suburban based background setting. The film makers intend to use the aesthetic of suburban life to represent the Australian culture. Thus it can be seen that the suburbia is playing a crucial role in citizen’s life, as well as in other fields.The value of this article is that Butler (2005) highlights some key elements in suburbia’s everyday life during post-war period. It can be later discuss in major essay to explore the difference between the suburb life in both post-war period and present time. In addition, in other report, the author indicates that dozens of new (outer) suburbs are being planned and constructed to accommodate almost one million additional residents in Melbourne over a twenty-year period (Wear, 2016). This reference can be taken as an example for further exploration in major essay.
Word count: 176
4. The realities of suburbanisation
Hamnett, S. & Maginn, P. (2016). Australian Cities in the 21st Century: Suburbs and Beyond. Built Eviron, 42(1), 5-22.
This article is chosen as one of the main references because the key factors mentioned in article will be the basis and main argument of the major essay. This essay reveals the challenges that suburbs are currently facing by providing examples specifically in Australian context. The ideal suburbia has not been achieved yet. For instance, one of the most common issues that outer suburbs are facing is lacking of insufficient infrastructures, such as access to public transport. Besides, this essay also briefly addresses the history and origin of the growth and form of suburban, which is crucial for understanding suburban sprawl. The other values of this text are some hidden facts are also bring out in a board version. For example, the author discusses the problems of housing affordability which younger generation is the major victim, reminding the rise tendency of aging population in suburban areas may become a long term issue. Moreover, in order to reinforce the argument, another report also suggests that the incorrect expansion of suburbanisation will impact on global climate eventually, due to the housing type and use of private transport in suburbia (Grimm et al., 2008).
Word count: 191
The starting point of having urban sprawl is decent. It is ideal to make city a better and sustainable place, because the urban signifies the future (Veer, 2016). The main references with four key terms will form the basic structure of the major essay follow the logic of (The utopia notion —‘The Australian (American) dream’—The suburban life—The realities of suburbanisation). A justification of urban sprawl will be given through a deeper exploration. However, the number of supplementary references is still needed to reinforce the key arguments.
Word count: 88
References:
Smicek, M. American Dreams, Suburban Nightmares: Suburbia as a Narrative Space between Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary American Cinema.
Dodson, J. (2016). Suburbia in Australian Urban Policy. Built Eviron, 42(1), pp. 23-36.
Davies, M., Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., & Speck, J. (2001). Understanding Sprawl: Lessons from Architecture for Legal Scholars. Michigan Law Review, 99(6), pp. 1520-1535.
Hamnett, S. & Maginn, P. (2016). Australian Cities in the 21st Century: Suburbs and Beyond. Built Eviron, 42(1), pp. 5-22.
Butler, C.(2005). ‘Reading the production of suburbia in post-war Australia,’ Legal Spaces, vol.9, no.2, pp. 11-28.
Grimm, N., Faeth, S., Golubiewski, N., Redman, C., Wu, J., Bai, X., & Briggs, J. (2008). Global Change and the Ecology of Cities. Science, 319(5864), pp. 756-760.
Wear, A. (2016). Planning, Funding and Delivering Social Infrastructure in Australia’s Outer Suburban Growth Areas. Urban Policy And Research, 34(3), pp. 284-297.
Peter van der Veer. (2016).The Future of Utopia, History and Anthropology, 27(3), pp. 251-262