Gordon Stephenson (6 June 1908 – 30 March 1997) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

town planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He is best known for his role in shaping the modern growth and development of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia.

Biography

Gordon Stephenson was born in 1908. He studied architecture at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, graduating in 1930.

Early career

His early career included working with

Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English regional and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior to the Second World ...

on the

Greater London Plan The Greater London Plan of 1944 was developed by Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957). The plan was directly related to the County of London Plan written by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Abercrombie in 1943. Following World War II, London w ...

.Murdoch University: Honorary Degree Citation, Emeritus Professor Gordon Stephenson, CBE Along with Peter Shepheard, he created an influential design for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

, the first post-war British new town, which incorporated a pedestrianised town centre. In 1953, he was commissioned by the state government of Western Australia to produce a plan for the metropolitan area of Perth and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. The resulting 1955 '' Plan for the Metropolitan Region'' was co-authored with

Alistair Hepburn John Alistair Hepburn (8 March 1915 – 7 September 2004) was a town planner, noted for his contributions to the design and development of the urban regions within greater Perth in Western Australia, and Melbourne, Victoria. Early life Hepb ...

, and is commonly known as the "Stephenson-Hepburn Report". It included an atlas of maps which laid down a broad pattern of future land uses including highways and open space, and catered for significant additional population growth. The report formed the basis for the 1963

Metropolitan Region Scheme The Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) provides the legal basis for land use planning within the Perth metropolitan region. It classifies land into broad zones and reservations and is administered by the Western Australian Planning Commission. I ...

for

and Fremantle, a legal instrument for regulating land-use and development in the urban area It remained the overarching strategic plan for the development of Perth until it was succeeded by the ''Corridor Plan for Perth'' in 1970.

Later career

In 1953 he returned to the UK to take up the Chair of Civic Design at the University of Liverpool and, following his work in Perth, he was employed variously as a consultant planner and academic in New Zealand, Canada, and America. In Halifax, Canada, he is known for his 1957 plan to redevelop the entire downtown core as well as the forceful eviction of Africville, a historically black neighborhood. He subsequently returned to Perth and continued to play an important role in its development, amongst other things crafting plans for

Joondalup Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's outer ...

and Midland regional centres, and for the campus of

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

. In later life, he authored several books. He died on 30 March 1997.

Personal life and collaboration with Flora Crockett

In 1938, Stephenson married New Jersey-born Flora Bartlett Crockett (1914-1979). She had been one of the first two women to graduate in City Planning from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, in 1937. The two collaborated on published work and research thereafter. Gerald Dix writes of Crockett: "She was an immense support and a sound professional collaborator upon whose judgement her relied in much of his work for 40 years. It was a great blow to him when she died in 1979." The Stephensons had three daughters: Gail, Sarah and Ann.

Legacy

Following his death in 1997, the Western Australian Minister for Planning acknowledged Stephenson's contributions to the development of the state, and his vision as providing the blueprint for the growth of the metropolitan region since 1963. On 28 August 2011, the WA State Government announced that the recently completed building informally known as one40william would be renamed

Gordon Stephenson House Gordon Stephenson House is an office building within the one40william commercial development in Perth, Western Australia. The building was named in honour of Gordon Stephenson, an architect responsible for planning much of modern Perth's urban fo ...

. The Planning Department at the University of Liverpool is located in the Gordon Stephenson Building.

Works

Reports

* Plan for the metropolitan region: Perth and Fremantle (1955) *The design of central Perth; some problems and possible solutions : a study made for the Perth Central Area Design Co-ordinating Committee (1975). *Joondalup regional centre : a plan prepared for the government of Western Australia, the Wanneroo Shire Council and the MRPA (1977). *Midland Regional Centre: A plan prepared for the government of Western Australia, the Swan Shire Council and the MRPA (1977). *Plan for the shire of Swan: prepared for the Swan Shire Council (1978).

Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Gordon 1908 births 1997 deaths People from Perth, Western Australia Alumni of the University of Liverpool Australian urban planners British emigrants to Australia