Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2025C00174:front:0:p9
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2025C00174
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 23313–26285

areas.

1.2 Designated Areas
In identifying lands that have the 'special characteristics of the National Capital' and deciding the extent of the Designated Areas, three primary factors are relevant:
•         Canberra hosts a wide range of national functions – activities which occur in Canberra because it is the National Capital and which give Canberra a unique function within Australia.
•         The Griffins' strong symbolic design for Canberra Central has given the National Capital a unique and memorable character.
•         Canberra's landscape setting and layout within the Territory have given the Capital a garden city image of national and international significance.
The National Capital functions include Parliamentary uses; key Australian Government policy departments which have a close association with Parliament; official residences of the Prime Minister and the Governor‑General; chanceries and diplomatic missions of foreign countries; major national institutions such as the High Court, Australian National Gallery and the like; and major national associations.
Land has also been set aside and developed for non‑building uses. Examples are Anzac Parade, which performs a ceremonial purpose as well as functioning as a roadway, and Anzac Park which is set aside for national memorials. All of these examples and like activities and functions have the 'special characteristics of the National Capital', and should be included within Designated Areas of the Plan for their national significance to be recognised, and assured.
The Griffins' design incorporated the hills of (inner) Canberra – Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain, Red Hill and Mount Pleasant – and the lake and its foreshores into the plan, as much as buildings and roads.
The Griffins' design had four main elements:
•         the use of topography as an integral design feature and as a setting
•         a symbolic hierarchy of land uses designed to reflect the order and functions of democratic government
•         a geometric plan with the central triangle formed by grand avenues terminating at Capital Hill, the symbolic centre of the nation
•         a system of urban centres.
Canberra has been developed as a series of separate but linked towns, established in valleys and shaped and separated from each other by a system of open space. This arrangement has protected the major hills and ridges from development, and has created a scenic backdrop and natural setting for the urban areas. It has reinforced the garden character for which Canberra is renowned. This landscape setting makes a major contribution to the environmental quality which is a feature of Canberra's character. Conserving and enhancing the landscape setting is important in retaining the character of the National Capital.
Within Designated Areas the National Capital Authority has sole responsibility for determining Detailed Conditions of Planning, Design and Development, and for Works Approval.
The use of