Paul Ritter

Paul Ritter is an Western Australian architect, planner, sociologist, artist and author. Ritter was born in Prague in 1925, the son of Carl Ritter and Elsa nee Schnabel. In 1939 he was evacuated to England. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Masters in Civic Design. In 1946 he married Jean Finch. In 1965 he moved to Western Australia to become Perth's first City Planner and Architect. [" Briton is first city planning officer of Perth, Australia. Appointed Town Planner City of Perth, March 1965. Commenced duties May 1965". Local government journal of Western Australia, Vol. XXX, no. 9 (Mar. 1965), p. 50, ] He was dismissed from the council in 1967 ["Papers relating to committee formed to initiate an enquiry into the dismissal of Paul Ritter, 1967 [manuscript] " Battye Library, MN 310, Papers relating to committee formed to initiate an enquiry into the dismissal of Paul Ritter, ACC 1782A. Paul Ritter was dismissed from his post as City Architect of the Perth City Council in 1967. A committee was formed to initiate an enquiry into the dismissal. Committee members included Sir Walter Murdoch, Mary Durack Miller, Stella O'Keefe, Professor E.K. Braybrooke, Professor G.C. Bolton, Tom Wardle and Dr. R.B. Lefroy. ] Some decades later his activities were prosecuted by Australian federal government authorities [ Ritter, Paul, (1989) "Curses from Canberra : public service conspiracy and the failure of democratic safeguards" Perth, W.A : P.E.E.R. Institute, 1989 Limited, subscribed 1st ed. ISBN 0909647038 (pbk.) "Secret files that framed an honest man" - Cover. ] [ Ritter, Paul, (1999) "Soul & sex imprisoned : illustrated stories, ballads, verses & proposals" Kalamunda, W.A. : Planned Environment and Educreation Research Institute Press for Educreation Assoc., ISBN 0646377248 (pbk.) Former Perth City councillor who spent time in jail in the 1980s has put together a collection of stories, ballads and poems drawn from his time in jail ] . He has seven children and fourteen grandchildren, one of whom is the actor Ian Meadows.

Publications

He has written multiple books in such diverse areas as child rearing, planning and education. These include:
*"The Free Family", Paul and Jean Ritter, Gollancz, 1959
**(Translated into German by Rowholt, 1972 & 1978;
**Dutch by Nelissen and Bloemendaal, 1973;
**Hebrew by Massada, 1973)
*"Planning for Man and Motor", Paul Ritter, Pergamon Press, 1964 and 1970
*"Educreation", Paul Ritter, Oxford Press, 1966
*"The Free Family and Feedback", Paul and Jean Ritter, Gollancz, 1975
*"Educreation and Feedback", Pergamon Press, 1979
*"Concrete Fit for People", Down To Earth Bookshop Press, 1980

Other Achievements

In Nottingham and later in Perth, he and Jean Ritter ran several exhibitions called "The Child's Eye View", where everything was built 2.5 times the normal size to show adults what it was like to be a child.

Another of his notable achievements is a housing development designed on Radburn Principles (see Clarence Stein) in Thornlie, Western Australia. In this development every house sits on the edge of a park.

In the Supreme Court Gardens in the centre of Perth his sculpture [ http://australia.webzdarma.cz/index.php3?lang=en&me=geography&co=perth_obelisk] "The Ore Obelisk"] (1972) acts as a reminder that the state's wealth is largely built on mining.

Notes

References

The books listed above plus
*"A Fascinating Record: 25 Years 1953-1978, Peer Institute Perth", Paul and Jean Ritter, PEER Institute, 1978.

Further reading

* Gregory, Jenny (2003) "City of light : a history of Perth since the 1950s" Perth, W.A. City of Perth ISBN 0959463240 (pbk.) Paul Ritter - career of Perth's first City Planner, controversies and achievements and his work as a Perth City Councillor - p.134-152