The Australian Ugliness, Featurism and our suburban landscape today

The Australian Ugliness has become an icon of mid-20th-century urban suburban life. In his book, Robin Boyd wrote that the fixation with a 'nice couple (or few) of features', as we choose to forget all else, can create a disconnectedness from our built environment. Through this disconnection and feature-focus style of designing he argued that occupants missed out on developing connections and meaningful experiences with their home or neighbourhood. With today’s increased development pressures and competition for space it is no wonder then, that many contemporary towns suffer from suburban ‘featurism’ – sacrificing connection in favour of exteriors masquerading design variety through facade articulation. So what can architecture do for an occupant beyond superficial visual pleasure? This blog post aims to use a critical analysis of Boyd's work and draw conclusions about how his theories may contribute towards today’s approach to urban planning so our towns are more than capable of providing solutions beautiful at scale and connectedly liveable for those inhabiting them.