This paper aims to analyze the Canberra plan designed by Walter Burley Griffin, underlining the innovative elements -related to the Olmstead’s landscape theories- and used by the American architect to create a new urban and civil utopia. The name of Walter Burley Griffin, in the history of contemporary architecture, is inseparably linked to the Canberra plan, his most famous project; despite of the many buildings designed all over United States, Australia and India, Griffin seems to be eclipsed by the western architectural scene. However, he is an emblematic figure of 20th-century, both professionally and humanly: in 1913, after winning the Canberra design Competition (held in 1911), he upset his entire existence closing his Chicago atelier and leaving for Australia, where he lived for more than twenty years. The american architect was interested in creating an ideal urban model, in which citizens of the new State (the Commonwealth of Australia) could recognize the common goal of civil and identity values.