I don't think the high rise, high density development is appropriate for
Australia though, and a more open medium density environment seems like a
reasonable compromise between the two extremes. Melbourne's experiment with
high rise development in Southbank has resulted in a soulless concrete
jungle choked by traffic. It's a really ugly part of the city, and most of
the towers that have been thrown up are of appalling build quality—though
this seems to be the norm Australia-wide. I know engineers who have left
the construction industry because they couldn't in good conscience oversee
buildings with serious design flaws due to rushed construction and shoddy
materials and workmanship. If a construction industry Royal Commission ever
occurs, it'll make the banking one seem like a walk in the park.
The other big problem with the overdevelopment occurring is that all that
is being built are high rise apartments. There's no new schools, or new
hospitals, or new services. Can the water, sewerage, and power distribution
systems keep up with the demands of a rapidly growing population? We've all
seen firsthand that our transport networks can't, and the new
infrastructure being built is likely to be too little, too late.
The reason I brought up cities like Prague and Vienna is that even though
they've got long histories of high-density housing, there's still a lot we
can learn from them. Maybe there are aspects of their policies we can learn
from? I'd personally prefer if we stopped trying to emulate the US and UK,
neither of whom are regarded as world leaders in anything positive these
days.
Robbie
On Fri., 17 May 2019, 07:34 Prescott, lenkaprescott@...> wrote:
> My comment was by no means directed specifically at you Tony. I'm
> referring to anybody who lives within the roughly 25 km belt bounded by
> Cronulla/Parramatta/Hornsby and, in any case, nobody is required to give up
> their house for redevelopment but many choose to do so to capitalise on the
> opportunity. I don't necessarily agree personally with the population
> policy but it's quite obviously not going to disappear any time soon and,
> while it's there, people have to find homes in cities and people who are
> already fortunate enough to be there don't have the moral ground to deny
> others the opportunity.
>
> Sydney has had in fact a very long history (a century in fact, not
> counting the initial 19th century terrace house era) of urban consolidation
> through higher density. The trend to the garden house on the large block
> really lasted no more than 50 years until it became unsustainable and
> housing options have been returning to the apartment block and the terrace
> house (townhouse) since the 1960s, as well as much smaller lot sizes for
> garden houses. This has more recently extended to larger apartment blocks
> of about 8 storeys or more, which, again arises from the demands of the
> market which wants a choice of housing options.
>
> Robbie I don't think European cities like Prague and Vienna are models
> because they've had a long history of high-density housing with garden
> housing hardly being a choice at all. We have to find our own solutions
> appropriate to Australia. Sydney is not the only Australian city to go
> through this process. If anybody has been to Perth, they would be surprised
> to find that in a state with "land, lotsa land", just about every house
> seemingly has another house or two built in its backyard! The street
> setbacks are tiny and they are apparently content with just a little
> courtyard at the front and back of the house, the back one having an open
> shelter to keep that searing WA sun off the inhabitants. It's an initial
> form of urban consolidation, with apartments not having yet reached the
> city in large numbers but townhouses are widespread. Extensive areas of
> high rise residential of 8 stories or more can also be found in regional
> cities like Gold Coast and Wollongong. People want and need somewhere to
> live that is convenient to their life activities and they want a choice of
> housing types. We need to supply that.
>
> Tony P
>
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