Precious energy in the slums of our cities: on industriousness and housing in post-war Australia

this article considers the theme of industriousness in australian post-war housing reform and urban planning.in the mid-twentieth century, state and federal policymakers sought to develop industrial policies to develop a productive domestic manufacturing sector in the countryside and urban outer suburbs.Urban planners played a significant role in these policies, designing industrial towns, which married housing with industry, and slum abolition schemes, which intended to recapture a 'slum-minded' labour force lost to the inner city.through a re-reading of government papers, urban planning publications and housing commission reports published in the 1930s and 1940s, this article traces the theme of industriousness in housing reform and urban planning, and makes a claim for its importance as a concern in this history.