IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v52y2025i9p2196-2214.html

Visualizing city incompleteness: Incremental urban change in Central Sydney 1965–2020

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Tighe
  • Robert Freestone
  • Ainslie Murray

Abstract

Urban theorists and observers have pointed towards a persistent if elusive character of incompleteness within cities. This paper responds to these ideas both theoretically and visually. Building on a definition of incompleteness as encompassing a perceptual absence or missing, the paper addresses a gap in theoretical understanding of how incompleteness can be critically understood and depicted as a temporal urban process. The focus goes beyond a singular state or built quality towards continuums of re-construction, fragmentation and re-imagination. These notions inform a practice-driven interrogation of incompleteness in graphic terms. The case study is a five decade microhistory of ongoing change in a central city block in Sydney, Australia. An approach to analytical and speculative drawing is presented to enable a conceptual and analytical investigation of incompleteness as a regenerative process of city-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Tighe & Robert Freestone & Ainslie Murray, 2025. "Visualizing city incompleteness: Incremental urban change in Central Sydney 1965–2020," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 52(9), pages 2196-2214, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:52:y:2025:i:9:p:2196-2214
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083251324754
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083251324754
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083251324754?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mike Crang, 2000. "Urban morphology and the shaping of the transmissable city," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 303-315, November.
    2. Robert Freestone & Sarah Baker, 2025. "Urban policy transfer and paradigm shift: the City of Sydney Strategic Plan 1971," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 112-131, January.
    3. María José Zapata Campos & Ester Barinaga & Jaan-Henrik Kain & Michael Oloko & Patrik Zapata, 2023. "Organising grassroots infrastructure: The (in)visible work of organisational (in)completeness," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(1), pages 126-145, January.
    4. Paul Chatterton, 2010. "The urban impossible: A eulogy for the unfinished city," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 234-244, June.
    5. Matthew Carmona, 2014. "The Place-shaping Continuum: A Theory of Urban Design Process," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 2-36, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antonia Astore & Luca Tricarico, 2024. "Understanding the Transformations of San Lorenzo, Rome: An Attempt at Conceptual Order between Gentrification and Urban Policy," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Hillary Angelo & David Wachsmuth, 2015. "Urbanizing Urban Political Ecology: A Critique of Methodological Cityism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 16-27, January.
    3. Shuyang Li & Fei Qu, 2022. "Preserving Authenticity in Urban Regeneration: A Framework for the New Definition from the Perspective of Multi-Subject Stakeholders—A Case Study of Nantou in Shenzhen, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Mine Eder & Özlem Öz, 2015. "Neoliberalization of Istanbul's Nightlife: Beer or Champagne?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 284-304, March.
    5. Dawid Soszyński & Malwina Michalik-Śnieżek, 2023. "Riverside Placemaking outside Big Cities—The Case Study of Three Polish Rivers," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, April.
    6. Nicole Lambrou, 2022. "Resilience Design in Practice: Future Climate Visions from California’s Bay Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    7. Innis, Phillip Garjay & Van Assche, Kristof & Müller-Mahn, Detlef, 2024. "Searching for stable electricity in Monrovia: Co-evolution of energy infrastructure and practices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Oto Novacek & Jesus Lopez Baeza & Jan Barski & Jorg Rainer Noenning, 2021. "Defining Parameters for Urban-Environmental Quality Assessment," International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR), IGI Global Scientific Publishing, vol. 10(4), pages 152-164, October.
    9. Rasa Pranskūnienė & Erika Zabulionienė, 2023. "Towards Heritage Transformation Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    10. Rongna, A. & Sun, Jiuxia, 2022. "Tourism livelihood transition and rhythmic sustainability: The case of the Reindeer Evenki in China," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Andrew Warren & Chris Gibson, 2011. "Blue-Collar Creativity: Reframing Custom-Car Culture in the Imperilled Industrial City," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(11), pages 2705-2722, November.
    12. Antonio Moya-Latorre, 2024. "Community weaving across Latin American peripheries: A listening infrastructure in Oaxaca," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(12), pages 2416-2434, September.
    13. Dalit Shach-Pinsly & Isaac Guedi Capeluto, 2020. "From Form-Based to Performance-Based Codes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-20, July.
    14. Rosalie Callway & Helen Pineo & Gemma Moore, 2020. "Understanding the Role of Standards in the Negotiation of a Healthy Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-26, November.
    15. Buse Acik Etike & Muyesser Ebru Erdonmez Dincer, 2024. "Determining the Interaction of Social Sustainability with the Physical Environment: A Case Study of Adana, Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-26, June.
    16. Ibrahim Z. Bahreldin, 2020. "Beyond the Sit-In: Public Space Production and Appropriation in Sudan’s December Revolution, 2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    17. David Pinder, 2015. "Reconstituting the Possible: Lefebvre, Utopia and the Urban Question," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 28-45, January.
    18. Rafael Martinez & Francisco Benita, 2026. "Performing Ephemerality and the Daily Production of the Fleeting City," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 171-192, March.
    19. Mimi Sheller, 2009. "Infrastructures of the Imagined Island: Software, Mobilities, and the Architecture of Caribbean Paradise," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(6), pages 1386-1403, June.
    20. Chiara Garau & Alfonso Annunziata, 2020. "Supporting Children’s Independent Activities in Smart and Playable Public Places," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:52:y:2025:i:9:p:2196-2214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.