Aussie city is ‘ugly’ and ‘chaotic’

A beautiful timelapse of Brisbane city. Music: What You Need (Ta-Ku Remix). Courtesy: Daduxio

Does this look ugly to you? Photo: Mark Calleja Source: News Limited

BRISBANE has been singled out as one of the ugliest cities in the world, and an example of "chaotic ugliness", says one of the world's leading philosophers.

UK writer and television presenter Alain de Botton, known for making philosophy accessible to audiences around the world, has singled out the Australian city for abuse in his latest musings.

"No one looks at the waterfront of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, and feels deeply moved by the grace and sweetness of the scene," de Botton says in post on his website The Philosophers' Mail .

Is Brisbane Australia's ugliest city? Alain de Botton thinks so. Picture: Bruce Long Source: News Limited

"While most people find the centre of Paris wonderful and others will delight in the winding streets of Siena, no one on the planet responds deeply to the brutal cross city expressway and chunky stained brown office blocks of the city."

The problem, de Botton says, is that people have accepted that everyone will have different views of what is beautiful or ugly.

"We have talked ourselves into the belief that taste is always relative," de Botton says.

"So even though almost everyone on the planet thinks that either Siena or Paris is delightful and everyone thinks that Brisbane is a bit of a mess, we don't dare to speak."

But a problem possibly unbeknown to de Botton - is that he used a photograph of Ipswich to illustrate how ugly Brisbane is.

Alain de Botton accidentally used a picture of Ipswich instead of Brisbane on his website. Source: Supplied

The Swiss-born de Botton is in Brisbane for a talk about his latest book about the media.

In a tweet, de Botton linked to his story with the comment "why Brisbane is the ugliest city in Australia" but has since deleted this as well as a Facebook post that said the same thing.

His article has divided the public with many agreeing but many others defending the city.

However, de Botton also offered solutions. He said planning restrictions in Brisbane focused on health and safety issues such as the distance between street lights, or how tall a building should be, but nothing about whether it should be beautiful, noble, grand or elegant.

More beautiful than Brisbane? Paris' famous River Seine with the Notre Dame in the background. Picture: Marianne Lacey Source: Supplied

"People who have no interest whatsoever in making any city even remotely beautiful or dignified can get away with some truly terrible construction projects free of any fear of being criticised," he said.

"And that's how modern Brisbane comes to look the way it does."

Brisbane's buildings give an appearance of 'chaotic ugliness', according to Alain de Botton Source: News Limited

De Botton, who has written a book called The Architecture of Happiness, said that cities which were beautiful like Siena, Paris, Bath and Edinburgh, all had one thing in common.

"In each case the planners in the past hit upon a pretty good basic model and imposed it widely. It wasn't the same model. But they were all good enough.

The uniform look of Siena's buildings in Italy help to make it more beautiful. Source: Supplied

"But in Brisbane - and a lot of other modern cities - there was a fatal refusal to select any model at all. So the result is chaotic ugliness - which no one likes."

But is it that bad? Italian photographer Dario Cali's timelapse of Brisbane released earlier this week shows the river city in a very different light.

Not only that, hipsters don't seem to be put off by the city's looks either, with Lonely Planet describing Brisbane as Australia's coolest metropolis and GQ Magazine saying it was experiencing a renaissance of coolness.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has also jumped to the city's defence.

"GQ Magazine and Lonely Planet got it right when they said that Brisbane is the 'hippest' city in Australia," Cr Quirk said.

"Brisbane truly is one of the few cities in the world that has everything. We've got great weather, enviable green spaces, lively bars and restaurants, world-class art galleries and premier events."

He said Brisbane was Australia's New World City.

"And with the G20 later this year our city will be showcased as it becomes the capital of the world for a week.

"As a city we are distinctively proud of what we are and optimistic about our future.

Do you think Brisbane is ugly? Tell us what you think below or join the debate on Twitter @newscomauHQ

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