Building a Golden Grove ‘Community’: A Study of Suburban Production Processes in South Australia, 1970s-1980s

Abstract

Ideals of community have been associated with the practice of planning for over a century. Proponents of the Golden Grove Development considered particular ideals of community to be fundamental to the financial and social success of the new suburban development. This paper will analyse the early planning processes that underpinned the production of community ideals and argue that these planning processes took place at the transition between welfarism and neo-liberalism. This study will offer provocative glimpses into late 20th century suburban planning practices; practices that establish the Golden Grove Development as a model of late 20th century suburban production processes.