(Masters of Architecture S1/16 @ Melbourne School of Design/The University of Melbourne)
An analysis of Ernest Fooks and a vision towards Melbourne 2046.
In pursuit of better urban conditions, Ernest Fooks wanted to equip planners and designers with more
intellectually rigorous footings to consider urban density and to change the way density measurements are
applied. Much of Fooks’s work has gone unheeded and, as a consequence, today we
observe some poor urban conditions in Melbourne. Namely, an unsustainable urban sprawl of sparsely populated
suburbs with little access to services and amenities. Compounding the problem is the way we currently treat
such services and amenities as discrete units; impeding efficient use of space and making it difficult for people
to gain access to multiple services within a limited area. Pushing against such conditions and adapting Fooks’
theory for the 21st Century, our proposition for 2046 aims to focus the design of our cities on access.
