Canberra from space: Australia's capital is an entirely planned city outside of any state, similar to the American Federal District of Columbia. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
- Canberra celebrates centenary in 2013
- Capital site compromise between Sydney and Melbourne
- Planned cities create incredible patterns from space
PLANNED to perfection, Canberra celebrates a century as a city in 2013. Australia's capital wasn't designed to look good from space, but like other planned cities, the aerial perspective is magnificent.
When Canberra was founded in 1913, man had only been airborne for ten years and the new capital's design was more influenced by the garden city movement than any notion of aerial beauty.
Planned cities worldwide: Brazilian capital Brasilia was planned and developed in 1956 with Lcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. Viewed from above, the main portion of the city resembles an airplane or a butterfly. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
Canberra was designed from scratch with a desire to incorporates large areas of natural vegetation and features geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, aligned with geographic landmarks in the newly created Australian Capital Territory.
Planned cities worldwide: Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
While March 12 will mark 100 years since Canberra became Australia's capital, the entire year will see a smorgasbord of events celebrating its artistic, cultural, sporting and scientific achievements.
Planned cities worldwide: Founded in 1593, Palmanova in Italy, a citadel, is famous for its fortress plan and structure, called a star fort, imitated by numerous military architects. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
Over the long-weekend birthday bash, the shores of Lake Burley Griffin will host indigenous performances and interactive art installations while the community gathers for a giant, synchronised toast to the city.
Planned cities worldwide: La Plata, Argentina, is designed a city layout based on a rationalist conception of urban centers. The city has the shape of a square with a central park and two main diagonal avenues, north-south and east-west. This design is copied in a self-similar manner in small blocks of six by six blocks in length. Every six blocks, one finds a small park or square. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
For those wanting to bang heads instead there's Canberra Rocks, a showcase of the bush capital's past and present rock talent.
Planned cities worldwide: named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort to King William IV, Adelaide was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
The festivities will close with a fireworks show and a performance at Old Parliament House of "Centenary Symphony", a commissioned work by renowned composer Andrew Schultz specially for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
Planned cities worldwide: La Plata, Argentina, is designed a city layout based on a rationalist conception of urban centers. The city has the shape of a square with a central park and two main diagonal avenues, north-south and east-west. This design is copied in a self-similar manner in small blocks of six by six blocks in length. Every six blocks, one finds a small park or square. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
Large screens will connect the different sites so lakeside party--goers can experience it all at once over the weekend.
Canberra from space: Parliamentary Triangle straddles Lake Burley Griffin. In the southern corner is Parliament House on Capital Hill, in the eastern corner is the Defence precinct and in the north is Market Centre. Source: Supplied
The full program is at www.canberra100.com.au
Canberra from space: Australia's capital is an entirely planned city outside of any state, similar to the American Federal District of Columbia. Photo: Google Earth Source: Supplied
Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar
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