The construction of the Braddon Garden City heritage precinct the area bounded by Donaldson, Elimatta, Batman and Currong streets began in 1921 and 1922.

The area includes several small art galleries, car rental agencies, a few mid-market restaurants, cafes and bars, trendy gift and clothes shops, as well as liquor stores and a Centrelink office.

It formerly contained many car dealerships and businesses providing automotive services, but some of these are being redeveloped with six-storey apartment buildings with commercial uses on the ground floor.

Away from the commercial areas, much of the previously suburban housing in Braddon has been replaced with apartment buildings that are popular due to their relatively close proximity to the city.

The old Fenner Hall, a residence of the Australian National University, is located along Northbourne Avenue, now as the Canberra Accommodation Centre.

The suburb is socially mixed with its population including many younger professionals and students, along with some recipients of public housing assistance.

[15] The area between Ainslie Avenue, Cooyong, Donaldson and Currong street, currently occupied by four and eight-storey government flats (Allawah Court and Currong Apartments) and Catholic church land, is currently proposed for redevelopment with mixed-use buildings, with a range of building heights between 5 and 12 storeys.

[18] The three-storey Allawah Court flats (containing 114 two-bedroom flats) were completed east of Cooyong street and north of Ainslie Avenue in 1956, the three-storey Bega Court was completed south of Ainslie Avenue in Reid in 1957 and the eight-storey Currong Apartments (184 one-bedroom flats and 28 of two bedrooms) were completed east of Allawah Court and west of Currong Street in 1959 in order to cope with a critical lack of accommodation for public servants transferred to Canberra.

The area bounded by Donaldson, Elimatta, Batman and Currong streets, including the street furniture, are heritage listed as "an early 20th century 'Garden City' planned subdivision" and as an example of early Federal Capital planning philosophy and architecture among other things.

It formed part of the Federal Capital Commission's early planning and was established with the designation of the Braddon area as a light-industrial zone.

The Heritage Council said that Coggan's Bakery "remains as the most historically distinctive structure in the Braddon industrial area.

[11] The Hotel Ainslie (currently operating as the Mercure Canberra) was built in the English Arts and Craft style as a government hostel to accommodate the transfer of public servants in 1926 and 1927.

[8][29] Historically an industrial area comprising car yards and factories, Lonsdale Street has in recent decades transformed into a cosmopolitan hub and the commercial centre of Braddon.

There is also a mix of restaurants,[32] bakeries,[33][34] bike shops,[35] food vans,[36][37][38] camping stores, car yards and hairdressing salons.

[42] In 2011, the ACT Government ran a national design competition to remodel the flats, to make way for the new development current public housing tenants will be relocated to other properties.

In the ACT Legislative Assembly, Braddon is part of the electorate of Kurrajong, which elects five members on the basis of proportional representation, two Labor, one Green, one Liberal and one Independent.

Haig Park has mixed plantings including cedar, eucalypt, pine, cypress, ash and oak (Cedrus deodara, Eucalyptus cinerea, Pinus radiata, Cupressus sempervirens, Fraxinus velutina and Quercus palustris respectively).

[47] Poisonous mushrooms are known to grow in Braddon, including death caps which are commonly found near established oak trees.