"Was Gough Whitlam’s commitment to Federal involvement in cities strengthened by meeting Dr Constantinos Doxiadis in the early 1950s? It’s probably not particularly well known that Doxiadis and family had migrated from Greece to outer Brisbane in 1951. A resistance fighter during WW2, he had been, in his early thirties and with a degree from Athens and a doctorate from Berlin, in charge of the massive US-funded Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of post-war Greece."
Doxiadis had a major impact on my career. In this short piece we explore an intriguing piece of history and faint hints that Doxiadis may well have influenced a future Australian prime minister, too.
Published in the Planning Institute of Australia Journal (https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.344871997454341)
John Byrne LFPIA FRAIA is an urban designer with a background and experience combining urban planning, architecture and social policy. A former award-winning public service director, he is a consultant advising public, private and community clients on development projects and policy initiatives across the continuum of city-making. His work ranges from regional and social policy to the design of TOD and knowledge precincts, centres and residential projects and often involves public and professional presentations. A long-serving QUT Adjunct Professor in Urban Design and Architecture, he was in 2014 the co-recipient of an Australia Award for Urban Design for contributions to Australian urban design, prompted by the UDF’s book "Urban Voices” celebrating a quarter century of Australian city-making.