tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/higher-density-housing-30439/articlesHigher-density housing – The Conversation2023-09-01T01:40:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112082023-09-01T01:40:12Z2023-09-01T01:40:12ZHow do we get urban density ‘just right’? The Goldilocks quest for the ‘missing middle’<p>What would Goldilocks do if given the chance to pick the “just right” density for our cities? Depends who you ask.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/minns-government-on-cusp-of-rewriting-sydney-housing-density-reforms-20230801-p5dt0h.html">Debates</a> over <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-s-most-liveable-city-status-at-stake-as-andrews-gears-up-for-planning-overhaul-20230727-p5drr2.html">densities</a> in our <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-suburbs-being-asked-to-rise-to-the-challenge-of-population-growth-20230530-p5dcey.html">cities</a> divide between advocates of low-rise detached housing and supporters of higher-density towers. Both offer little diversity. In Australian cities, but also in North America, we see a clear contrast between ground-scraping suburbs and clusters of CBD skyscrapers.</p>
<p>The combination of these two patterns of development has produced largely car-dependent cities. Commute times are long and carbon emissions high. Options are limited for those who wish to live in a neighbourhood with corner shops, short walking distances to a local centre, communal green space and public parks.</p>
<p>Neighbourhoods like this are enabled by mid-rise (three to seven storeys), mid-density housing. This form of building has been dubbed the “<a href="https://twitter.com/zachklein/status/1488285651237683202">missing middle</a>”. Decades of planning for urban consolidation has made little difference – medium density is still missing in many of our cities.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544706/original/file-20230825-23-tmxawo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/zachklein/status/1488285651237683202">Source: X – read more</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/houses-and-high-rises-and-nothing-in-between-why-land-zoning-hasnt-been-effective-for-improving-urban-density-204185">Houses and high-rises (and nothing in between): why land zoning hasn't been effective for improving urban density</a>
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<h2>Lack of clarity bedevils density debates</h2>
<p>In debates about urban density, there’s often a confused mix of different <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-density-matters-but-what-does-it-mean-58977">conceptions and measures</a> of density. For example, the widely used measure of <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/59860">dwellings per hectare</a> conflates building and population densities, capturing neither with precision. Often such debates don’t consider basic distinctions such as those between building and population densities, residential and job densities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-coronavirus-forces-us-to-keep-our-distance-city-density-matters-less-than-internal-density-137790">internal and external densities</a> (inside and outside buildings), measured and perceived densities. </p>
<p>A census can easily capture residential night-time population densities. However, fluctuating daytime densities cannot be measured accurately. Building densities can be accurately measured as floor area ratio (FAR, the total floor area of buildings divided by the total site area) but this is rarely applied.</p>
<p>Metrics are often heavily biased by inconsistent reference areas. What <a href="https://rdcu.be/dhDKh">spatial scales</a> matter for which desired outcome is seldom questioned. </p>
<p>For example, a reference area of about 1 square kilometre is relevant for a walkable neighbourhood. Our perceptions of densities depend on the spatial reach of our senses, mostly up to 100 metres. These include the visual sense of enclosure, the diversity and quality of the public-private interfaces, street layouts, trees and other vegetation. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542049/original/file-20230810-21-lcpgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Gross residential densities (people per hectare) in Melbourne at 1x1km walkable neighbourhood scale and 100x100m experiential scale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rdcu.be/dhDKh">Pafka 2022</a></span>
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<p>If experts are unable to accurately measure urban densities, how can we expect everyone else to understand?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-density-matters-but-what-does-it-mean-58977">Urban density matters – but what does it mean?</a>
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<h2>Buzzwords don’t solve the problem</h2>
<p>With confusions persisting, the stigmatisation of urban density, meaning for many “too dense”, persists. This tendency has been often countered through linguistic attempts to reframe the term. </p>
<p>For example, in Vancouver, Canada, the urbanist Brent Toderian has been calling for “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/6/20/15815490/toderian-nimbys">density done well</a>”. This term has been adopted in Melbourne too. Other terms include “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/16/cities-need-goldilocks-housing-density-not-too-high-low-just-right">Goldilocks density</a>” – “not too high, not too low, but just right” – “<a href="https://futurecitiesenviro.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40984-016-0021-3">optimal-quality density</a>” and “<a href="https://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/sydney-needs-urban-housing-to-compliment-suburban-housing/">EcoDenCity</a>”. </p>
<p>But these are vaguely defined terms that can mean many things to different people. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08111146.2023.2198550">Our research</a> shows that planning professionals in Melbourne associate “density done well” with neighbourhoods as different as North Perth, Western Australia, and Friedrichshain in Berlin. Their gross floor area ratios range from 0.7 to 4.3. </p>
<p>Put simply, “good” density is not limited to ratio of buildings to space. And it’s prone to change over time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three neighbourhood examples of 'density done well' provided by planning professionals in Melbourne." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543920/original/file-20230822-25-8i4v63.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Three neighbourhood examples of ‘density done well’ provided by planning professionals in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Merrick Morley, based on GoogleEarth and StreetView</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-love-the-idea-of-20-minute-neighbourhoods-so-why-isnt-it-top-of-the-agenda-131193">People love the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods. So why isn't it top of the agenda?</a>
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<h2>Getting density right depends on local contexts</h2>
<p>The “missing middle” is sometimes exemplified by the three-to-seven-storey perimeter block. The block is formed by attached buildings aligned with the streets with a large communal courtyard in the middle. It’s common and well understood in Europe (Friedrichshain is an example above), but less so in Australia and North America. </p>
<p>David Sim describes this building type in detail in his book <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347943346_Book_Review_Soft_City_by_David_Sim_2019_Island_Press">Soft City</a>. He links it to nine quality criteria, including the diversity of buildings and open spaces. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373096737_Finding_good_densities_An_urban_morphological_search_for_Goldilocks_density_in_Melbourne_MSD_Minor_Thesis">Research</a> testing these criteria for Melbourne shows only five larger pockets come close to meeting them, with floor area ratios of 0.6-0.7. These are inner-city suburbs built along tram lines and with diverse building types. Their buildings include two-storey terrace housing, three-storey walk-ups and occasionally taller apartments. None of these are perimeter blocks, which are largely absent in Australia.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Examples of larger pockets of 'soft density' in Melbourne" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543922/original/file-20230822-19-1crsil.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Examples of larger pockets of ‘soft density’ in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Ben Thorp and Merrick Morley, based on GoogleEarth and StreetView</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-city-tick-designing-the-urban-dma-67227">What makes a city tick? Designing the 'urban DMA'</a>
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<p>We argue that well-meaning discourses about “good” densities risk masking divergent desires through linguistic tactics. Rather, we need a better understanding of the different conceptions and metrics of densities and how they relate to people’s everyday experiences. This will require increased urban density literacy, through formal and informal education, as well as public deliberation, so we can build cities as diverse as our societies. </p>
<p>Goldilocks confronted very simple challenges with very simple means. But cities are made of diverse people with different tastebuds. None would have to burn their tongue if they were more aware of the knowledge and tools we have at hand.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1680596368237428736"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211208/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>We thank Ben Thorp for his contributions to this article. Elek Pafka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merrick Morley receives a stipend from the City of Melbourne for his PhD candidature</span></em></p>Despite adopting the goal of creating medium-density neighbourhoods to end urban sprawl, our cities have struggled to achieve it. Confused debates about ‘good density’ are part of the problem.Elek Pafka, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Urban Design, The University of MelbourneMerrick Morley, PhD Candidate, Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1909082022-11-20T19:04:21Z2022-11-20T19:04:21ZRemaking our suburbs’ 1960s apartment blocks: a subtle and greener way to increase housing density<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496008/original/file-20221117-25-m3pm1a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C369%2C2836%2C1910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Matthew Darmour-Paul</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As cities grow, new buildings gradually replace the older ones. Ideally, the new buildings are higher quality, more sustainable and better suited to today’s needs. But there’s a risk current approaches to urban renewal will produce poorer amenities and buildings that are less flexible and more environmentally damaging than those they replace. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the 1960s <a href="https://assemblepapers.com.au/2019/07/16/six-pack-living-type-street-apartment/">walk-up apartment block</a>. These ageing buildings are often derided for being unattractive, utilitarian and cheap. </p>
<p>But these buildings also have design features we have come to celebrate: narrow footprints that allow cross ventilation, flexible floorplans, minimal use of shared walls, low-maintenance design and a modest human scale. We seldom find these features in apartment developments today.</p>
<p>As pressure to renew ageing apartment buildings mounts, we can expect calls to rezone and redevelop these areas at higher densities to make demolition and redevelopment financially viable. We propose a more subtle and sustainable way to remake these buildings. It’s one that will allow us to increase housing density while preserving neighbourhood character.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-city-policy-to-protect-the-brisbane-backyard-is-failing-150173">Why city policy to 'protect the Brisbane backyard' is failing</a>
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<h2>Remaking Campsie and its old brick apartments</h2>
<p>The New South Wales government has identified the Sydney suburb of Campsie as a strategic growth hub in the <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Plans-for-your-area/Priority-Growth-Areas-and-Precincts/Sydenham-to-Bankstown-Urban-Renewal-Corridor">Sydenham-to-Bankstown urban renewal corridor</a>. A projected 35,000 new homes will be required in the corridor over the next 20 years.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Campsie showing locations of apartment blocks suitable for redevelopment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495561/original/file-20221116-15-338qll.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Apartment buildings in Campsie identified as suitable for redevelopment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Like suburbs across Australia, Campsie has hundreds of brick apartment buildings developed in the 1960s and ’70s. How could these 350 or so housing apartment blocks (shaded areas on the map) be reimagined to provide more new homes? </p>
<p>We have come up with <a href="https://alastairswaynfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Future-of-Living-goes-to-Campsie.pdf">a proposal</a> for subtle densification that could transform and preserve Campsie and the neighbouring suburbs of Belmore, Punchbowl and Earlwood. It could also be applied to suburbs with similar housing types across Australia. </p>
<p>Adaptive reuse reduces the damaging impacts of an all-new development. These impacts include emissions from demolition, construction and the energy used for making and transporting both the discarded and new building materials. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Street view of two 1960s apartment buildings before and after refurbishment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489985/original/file-20221017-11-rp2hoz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of typical 1960s apartment blocks before and after proposed refurbishment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://alastairswaynfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Future-of-Living-goes-to-Campsie.pdf">Image: The Future of Living goes to Campsie/Choirender</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-construction-waste-recycling-plants-but-locals-first-need-to-be-won-over-161888">Australia needs construction waste recycling plants — but locals first need to be won over</a>
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<h2>Four blocks remade as one</h2>
<p>Remaking this awkward yet quintessential housing type offers an alternative path to medium-density living. Let’s start by looking at these apartments not as individual buildings but as groups. Four similar adjoining blocks in an adequate state are perfect candidates for intervention. </p>
<p>We propose to remove the fences between the blocks and create a shared collective space to join them. This new timber structure hosts half-sunk parking and common areas for everyday life. It will include a light semi-outdoor pavilion that could be used for washing, exercising, reading, gardening, hobbies, daydreaming and cooking. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The new common areas shared by the four redeveloped apartment blocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489986/original/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents of the apartment blocks would share the new common areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://alastairswaynfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Future-of-Living-goes-to-Campsie.pdf">Artist's impression: The future of living goes to Campsie/Choirender</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-coronavirus-must-not-stop-australia-creating-denser-cities-137487">Why coronavirus must not stop Australia creating denser cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s a straightforward architectural strategy featuring: a new steel core with stairs and lifts shared between two blocks; semi-interior spaces carved out of the building’s façade; and balconies, winter gardens and new residential units added on top of the buildings. </p>
<p>These new timber structures provide the most generous space possible. And, by increasing the number of dwellings, they make refurbishment financially viable.</p>
<p>In summary, the refurbishment operates at five levels by: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>adding the common infrastructure at the heart of the four blocks</p></li>
<li><p>adding two new stairways</p></li>
<li><p>refurbishing the apartments while offering a mix of outdoor spaces, shaded areas and semi-outdoor terraces, allowing for different weather conditions and connecting seamlessly with indoor spaces</p></li>
<li><p>adding a layer of external spaces and winter gardens on the main facades</p></li>
<li><p>adding four new dwellings on the rooftop.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>With some adjustments, this subtle densification would also work for individual blocks or pairs of blocks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Interior view of a rooftop unit" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489987/original/file-20221017-18-m2gf3o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inside one of four added rooftop units.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://alastairswaynfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Future-of-Living-goes-to-Campsie.pdf">Artist's impression: The future of living goes to Campsie/Choirender</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-need-to-give-up-on-crowded-cities-we-can-make-density-so-much-better-131304">No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Higher density doesn’t have to mean bigger buildings</h2>
<p>This approach challenges the idea that much bigger developments are needed to renew suburban housing and increase its density. This alternative strategy can retain existing buildings, their footprints and floor plans. </p>
<p>This renewal approach reduces costs and carbon footprints, while preserving the local social fabric. </p>
<p>Strata ownership does present challenges to this type of renewal – there may well be as many owners as there are units in these developments. Involving developers, local councils, designers, builders and communities in developing these strategies will be essential for success.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zk4plgj2Cqc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The authors explain their idea to subtly increase housing density by adapting existing buildings.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quality-of-life-in-high-density-apartments-varies-here-are-6-ways-to-improve-it-139220">Quality of life in high-density apartments varies. Here are 6 ways to improve it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Successful renewal depends on local input</h2>
<p>In European cities like Berlin, Paris and Zurich, urban renewal projects are being publicly driven (on public and private property) with incentives to refurbish post-war housing. Municipal and European funds are supporting these upgrades. </p>
<p>There is a role for Australian local councils to promote alternative approaches to urban renewal that are more sustainable than conventional models. Local and state governments might even work together to encourage this more nuanced and localised model of regeneration. </p>
<p>These interventions must be planned at the neighbourhood scale. Local government would provide the framework via a sensitive and detailed master plan. </p>
<p>In our experience, developers typically need at least six to eight levels to be interested in redevelopment after demolishing a building in this sort of neighbourhood. We are arguing for more subtle densification: refurbishment that adds no more than one or two storeys to the building. This would allow neighbourhoods to maintain buildings at three to four levels, quite similar to the existing housing.</p>
<p>Because the walk-up apartment building is so common in Australian suburbs, this incremental change could have a significant wider impact. It is designed to engage local owners and preserve neighbourhood life, while updating old housing to today’s needs and energy standards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guillermo Fernández-Abascal received funding from Alastair Swayn Foundation to develop part of this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Urtzi Grau received funding from Alastair Swayn Foundation to develop part of this research.</span></em></p>Ageing brick apartment buildings of two to three storeys are being redeveloped in many suburbs. Typically, they are knocked down to be replaced by much bigger developments. But here’s an alternative.Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Academic Fellow in Architectural Practice, University of SydneyUrtzi Grau, Senior Lecturer, Director of The Master of Architecture, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1374872020-05-13T20:00:10Z2020-05-13T20:00:10ZWhy coronavirus must not stop Australia creating denser cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334248/original/file-20200512-66669-bryn29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C48%2C5077%2C3369&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-march-15-2018-cyclist-1099671374">Abdul Razak Latif/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stay-at-home orders have meant many people are happy to live in dispersed suburbs with free-standing, single-family homes. Quarantine feels less daunting with a backyard, plenty of storage space to stockpile supplies, and a big living room for morning stretches. Before the crisis, though, Australia was slowly moving toward urban density. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/highend-melbourne-apartment-developments-offer-amenities-fit-for-a-mansion-20170406-gvefx2/">More apartments with communal amenities</a>, rather than privatised space, were being built, creating less dependence on driving. It is easy to think these urbanites are now glumly looking out their windows towards the more spacious suburbs, wishing they had made different choices. Yet, despite the impacts of restrictions, Australia’s future is in urban density and not the suburban sprawl of the past.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-coronavirus-forces-us-to-keep-our-distance-city-density-matters-less-than-internal-density-137790">As coronavirus forces us to keep our distance, city density matters less than internal density</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The benefits of density done well</h2>
<p>Before the world changed and Australians were ushered inside <em>en masse</em>, the country was making great strides toward creating more compact, walkable cities. Denser neighbourhoods provided multiple benefits:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>better access to transport alternatives to cars</p></li>
<li><p>the creation of vibrant commercial districts</p></li>
<li><p>increased ability to house more people during affordability and homelessness crises. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-need-to-give-up-on-crowded-cities-we-can-make-density-so-much-better-131304">No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nationally, we were building almost as many apartment units as single family homes. In cities like Melbourne and Sydney, <a href="https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2016/07/apartment-construction-boom-is-this-the-end-of-the-dream/">apartment construction even surpassed stand-alone houses</a> despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-in-a-windowless-box-the-vertical-slums-of-melbourne-41181">lax quality regulations</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/lack-of-information-on-apartment-defects-leaves-whole-market-on-shaky-footings-127007">design and construction flaws</a>. </p>
<p>Density was achieved not just through towers for <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/chinese-investors-are-pushing-into-melbourne-and-sydney-20141010-113q7x.html">Asian investors in CBDs</a>, but more subtle alterations such as townhouses and small blocks of flats. Residents moving into these neighbourhoods affirmed a sense of environmental consciousness, based on driving less, but also the belief in tight-knit communities with small businesses, parks and thriving street life. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334250/original/file-20200512-66681-tr6m05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Townhouses, like these in Hobart, increase urban density more unobtrusively than high-rise apartment blocks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Lade/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">Becoming more urban: attitudes to medium-density living are changing in Sydney and Melbourne</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Beware the siren call of suburbia</h2>
<p>With the onset of COVID-19, it seems Australia’s new-found love of city living might be over, reverting to the suburban norm. The suburbs always offered a sense of safety, now more than ever. </p>
<p>Yet much of this is illusory. People still have to go shopping and, in many cases, to work, where they could be exposed to the virus. People have just as much control over their physical space in an apartment as in a house. (The exception is the lifts, but distancing measures and gloves can easily reduce risk.)</p>
<p>Australians may be tempted to re-embrace suburbia out of nostalgia for pre-virus safety, but they should remember what brought them to cities in the first place. As the architect Robin Boyd <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=RDxR8Xu9WLIC&pg=PA100&dq=stealthy+crawl+like+dry+rot+eating&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwij9u_Mna3pAhV4yzgGHZqECt8Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=stealthy%20crawl%20like%20dry%20rot%20eating&f=false">bemoaned</a> way back in his 1960 critique of suburbanisation, The Australian Ugliness: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the suburbs’ stealthy crawl like dry rot eating into the forest edge.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With 60 years of government policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/50-years-on-from-the-melbourne-transportation-plan-what-can-we-learn-from-its-legacy-127721">propping up sprawl through freeway construction</a> and tax breaks like negative gearing, it continues to be its own kind of infection scarring the landscape.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/move-away-from-a-car-dominated-city-looks-radical-but-its-a-sensible-plan-for-a-liveable-future-116518">Move away from a car-dominated city looks radical but it's a sensible plan for a liveable future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Don’t blame public health failures on density</h2>
<p>Despite re-animated fears of living closer together, many countries that have <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/high-density-living-should-not-be-feared-despite-the-spread-of-covid-19-945758/">successfully contained</a> the coronavirus have some of the <a href="http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html">most densely populated cities</a> in the world. These cities include <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/how-south-korea-prevented-coronavirus-disaster-why-battle-is-not-over/">Seoul</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-plans-bounce-back-after-two-weeks-with-no-local-coronavirus-cases-11588611222">Hong Kong</a> and <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/-taiwan-s-sars-experience-helped-it-beat-covid-19-/1830547">Taipei</a>. They have done this not by separating people but by increasing testing and contact tracing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-korea-flattened-the-coronavirus-curve-with-technology-136202">How South Korea flattened the coronavirus curve with technology</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What is needed during a pandemic is not panic but effective public health. Prosperous, well-managed city governments are often best placed to offer these services to the community. </p>
<p>Negative examples like the United States, where the Trump administration has devolved responsibilities to states and cities, provide even more proof of why cities have to be at the forefront of public health campaigns, whether or not they choose that role voluntarily. The same could be said of Australia, where state governments in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/scott-morrison-has-a-good-story-to-tell-but-the-world-isn-t-listening-20200424-p54mt3.html">Victoria and New South Wales took the lead</a> on restricting gatherings as the national government dithered. </p>
<p>Now, more than ever, we are appreciating urban life from afar: making lists of our favourite restaurants, changing our Zoom background during “virtual happy hour” to the interior of our local pub, and yearning for social connections that have migrated online. </p>
<p>We should listen to our desires and use this moment to double down on urban density when the crisis subsides, by funding mass transit and providing incentives to construct apartments rather than free-standing suburban homes. </p>
<p>Low-density living is less sustainable, less affordable and less fun. We should all remember that, despite currently having to keep our distance from one another. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-cities-fall-short-on-sustainability-but-planning-innovations-offer-local-solutions-107091">Our cities fall short on sustainability, but planning innovations offer local solutions</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Max Holleran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before the pandemic, the country was making great strides towards creating more compact, sustainable and liveable cities.Max Holleran, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1311932020-02-19T19:01:59Z2020-02-19T19:01:59ZPeople love the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods. So why isn’t it top of the agenda?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316041/original/file-20200218-10976-1gi67en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C219%2C4248%2C3107&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-october-20-2016-richmond-503074843">Nils Versemann/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We were heavily involved in the consultation program for Melbourne’s long-term land-use plan, <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/">Plan Melbourne</a>. The idea that resonated most with many participants was shaping the city as a series of 20-minute neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>People generally loved the thought that most (not all) of the things needed for a good life could be within a 20-minute public transport trip, bike ride or walk from home. These are things such as shopping, business services, education, community facilities, recreational and sporting resources, and some jobs (but probably not brain surgery).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-need-to-give-up-on-crowded-cities-we-can-make-density-so-much-better-131304">No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Creating a city of 20-minute neighbourhoods is a key policy direction of <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/">Plan Melbourne 2017-2050</a>. As the plan <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/highlights/healthy,-vibrant-and-inclusive-neighbourhoods">states</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The 20-minute neighbourhood is all about ‘living locally’ – giving people the ability to meet most of their everyday needs within a 20-minute walk, cycle or local public transport trip of their home.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This planning idea has gained Melbourne recognition in international planning circles. For example, Singapore’s recent <a href="https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/who_we_are/our_work/land_transport_master_plan_2040.html">Land Transport Master Plan 2040</a> is based on shaping the city and its transport systems to achieve 20-minute towns within a 45-minute city. Officials who prepared the report have acknowledged to one of us Melbourne’s leadership with the concept. </p>
<p>The concept is not about travel by car. It is about active transport (walking, cycling) and the use of public transport. The goal is that this combination of modes would offer a reasonably sized catchment area in which people, jobs and services, including recreational opportunities and nature, are accessible.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/god-save-us-greenspace-oriented-development-could-make-higher-density-attractive-126204">GOD save us: greenspace-oriented development could make higher density attractive</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315667/original/file-20200217-10976-sx3sli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/plan-melbourne/20-minute-neighbourhoods">State Government of Victoria</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Inner parts of Australia’s capital cities and parts of their middle suburbs already meet a 20-minute neighbourhood test. Very few of the outer suburbs would do so. However, new developments such as the <a href="https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/">City of Springfield</a> in outer Brisbane are encouraging.</p>
<h2>Key ingredients of 20-minute neighbourhoods</h2>
<p>If outer suburbs, in particular, are to become 20-minute neighbourhoods, then two key requirements must be met. </p>
<p>First, local development densities need to be increased. This means ensuring minimum density levels of around 25-30 dwellings per hectare, which will better support local activity and services provision. </p>
<p>Consultations with council planners suggest new developments in Melbourne’s outer north, for example, are typically running at about 18 dwellings. The density of developments was about 12 just a decade ago.</p>
<p>Accompanying more dense residential development is the need to integrate a mix of uses within these neighbourhoods. This would bring more jobs and services close to where people live. They would also have a range of housing to support a mix of household types, income levels and age groups. </p>
<p>So we need not just density but also a mix of land uses within a neighbourhood. This is often known as density plus diversity.</p>
<p>Second, local public transport service levels need to be greatly improved. To achieve 20-minute neighbourhoods requires local weekday public transport services running every 20 minutes or better, from around 5am until 11pm (start of last run). That’s a minimum of 55 services per stop per day per direction. </p>
<p>The map below shows very few parts of outer Melbourne have services anywhere near this level. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313621/original/file-20200205-20014-ppvhia.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Public transport service levels across Melbourne (dark green is best, dark red is worst).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: PTV GTFS feed</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-what-our-cities-need-to-do-to-be-truly-liveable-for-all-83967">This is what our cities need to do to be truly liveable for all</a>
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<h2>What would it cost to achieve?</h2>
<p>Gross funding increases of about 50% for local public transport services (essentially buses) would be needed to meet this basic service standard for 20-minute neighbourhoods across Melbourne. Based on scaling up the <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+Service+Delivery.pdf">cost of current bus services</a> in Melbourne, we estimate the cost would be about A$250 million a year, or A$4 billion over the long term, in present values.</p>
<p>This is a modest amount compared to current capital commitments for rail. These total <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+State+Capital+Program.pdf">A$30-40 billion</a>, depending on what share of the <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+State+Capital+Program.pdf">cost of level-crossing removals</a> is attributed to rail. Development of the government’s proposed <a href="https://suburbanrailloop.vic.gov.au/en">Suburban Rail Loop</a> around the city will add an <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/victorian-government-says-melbournes-suburban-rail-loop-will-be-an-operationally-independent-railway">estimated A$50 billion</a>. Annual payments for metropolitan train services add <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+Service+Delivery.pdf">A$1.1 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Trains now carry only <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+Service+Delivery.pdf">twice as many passengers</a> as buses do. So the suggestion that an extra A$4 billion or so be spent on bus services, in capitalised terms, is very modest compared to the commitments being made to rail. The amount includes an allowance for infrastructure works to improve operating speeds – such as bus lanes and B-lights, which give buses priority through intersections.</p>
<p>The tram network could make an equally strong argument for extra funding, relative to trains, given the relative passenger loads carried and <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+State+Capital+Program.pdf">small new capital program</a> in place for trams (hundreds of millions rather than tens of billions).</p>
<p>Melbourne has recently had a massive jump in spending on capital projects, particularly transport projects. This investment is needed to tackle the backlog from years of neglect and cope with one of the <a href="https://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/publications/research-papers/melbourne-how-big">fastest population growth rates</a> of any similar-sized city in the developed world. </p>
<p>The 2019-20 state budget, for example, suggests <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+State+Capital+Program.pdf">capital spending will average A$13.9 billion a year</a> over the four years to 2022-23. It was less than A$5 billion a year from 2005-06 to 2014-15. </p>
<h2>It’s about more than walkability</h2>
<p>In stark contrast, implementation of 20-minute neighbourhoods has been limited to <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/current-projects/20-minute-neighbourhoods/pilot-program">three pilot studies</a>, in <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/428910/Strathmore-Our-20-minute-neighbourhood.pdf">Strathmore</a>, <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/515242/Croydon-South-Our-20-minute-neighbourhood.pdf">South Croydon</a> and <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/515240/Sunshine-Our-20-minute-neighbourhood.pdf">Sunshine West</a>. These studies appear to be focused heavily on developing walkable neighbourhoods, rather than on improving access by walking, cycling and public transport, which was the original intent of the idea.</p>
<p>Walkable neighbourhoods are an important part of 20-minute neighbourhoods, but only one part. Increased neighbourhood densities and more mixed-use development across local active transport and public transport catchments, together with better walking, cycling and local public transport opportunities, need far greater attention if 20-minute neighbourhoods are to be created in outer and middle suburbs. </p>
<p>We expect a much stronger focus at the neighbourhood level will deliver very high social, environmental and economic returns from small outlays. But, for this to be achieved, much greater urgency is needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Stanley was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Plan Melbourne and Plan Melbourne 2017-2050.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roz Hansen was Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Plan Melbourne and Plan Melbourne 2017-2050.</span></em></p>Only the inner suburbs of Melbourne and other capital cities meet the 20-minute neighbourhood test. But we could transform the other suburbs for much less than the cost of current transport projects.John Stanley, Adjunct Professor, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney Business School, University of SydneyRoz Hansen, Adjunct Professor, Deakin University; Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305312020-02-11T19:10:07Z2020-02-11T19:10:07ZHalf of over-55s are open to downsizing – if only they could find homes that suit them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314351/original/file-20200210-27548-13rgp57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=279%2C96%2C3473%2C2435&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">karenfoleyphotography/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of Australians over the age of 55 are open to downsizing, according to a <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/325">new report</a> based on a survey of 2,400 households. The main barrier to moving to a smaller home is a lack of housing that matches their needs and preferences. The rapid growth in the number of older Australians adds to the major challenge housing markets face in meeting their diverse housing needs.</p>
<p>Downsizing, or rightsizing, is considered an essential component of meeting the <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/317">housing aspirations of older Australians</a>. At the same time, downsizing creates housing opportunities for younger households by freeing up family homes.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-sort-of-housing-do-older-australians-want-and-where-do-they-want-to-live-120987">What sort of housing do older Australians want and where do they want to live?</a>
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<p>The ageing population also creates fiscal challenges for government, in terms of delivering services to the home and providing residential care. Downsizing can enable older Australians to age well and age in place rather than potentially move prematurely into residential care. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/325">report</a> released today by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), for which 2,400 households over 55 were surveyed, found 26% of such households had downsized. Another third had thought about it. Overall, the findings point to a strong appetite among older Australians to downsize their dwellings. </p>
<p>With about <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/Census?OpenDocument&ref=topBar">6.5 million Australians aged 55 or older</a>, living in about <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6503.0Main+Features100002015-16?OpenDocument">4.3 million households</a>, our findings suggest downsizing could be relevant to 2.5 million households.</p>
<h2>Why downsize? And what are the obstacles?</h2>
<p>We know older Australians downsize in response to life events such as changes in health and relationship status, or children leaving the parental home. Lifestyle preferences and difficulties maintaining their garden or house also <a href="https://businesslaw.curtin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/06/bcec-keeping-a-roof-over-our-heads-report.pdf">shape downsizing behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>Barriers to downsizing include a lack of suitable housing and a <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/214">lack of financial incentives</a>. There are also emotional and physical barriers to moving. Financial factors, however, do not greatly impact the decision to move, nor does <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/321">perceived financial well-being increase</a> once they have downsized. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/downsizing-cost-trap-awaits-retirees-five-reasons-to-be-wary-80895">Downsizing cost trap awaits retirees – five reasons to be wary</a>
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<p>Where those who had downsized were dissatisfied, this was most commonly related to the new dwelling, particularly its size, and the neighbourhood. </p>
<h2>Is it actually downsizing?</h2>
<p>One of the policy rationales for downsizing is to reduce the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-17/vacancy-tax-wont-solve-australias-empty-housing-problem/8709184">underutilisation of dwellings</a>. However, this is at odds with the attitude of many older Australians. They consider “spare” bedrooms necessary for use as permanent guest rooms (58%), studies (50%), or dedicated rooms for children or grandchildren (31%). </p>
<p>Space remains important to Australian downsizers. Over half of them move to a dwelling with three or more bedrooms. A third move to an apartment. </p>
<p>However, two-thirds of downsizers surveyed did move to a dwelling with fewer bedrooms. Three bedrooms was the preferred dwelling size for older Australians. Downsizing the garden was essential for most. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=163&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314365/original/file-20200210-27560-1bsfxmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314368/original/file-20200210-27548-6krfsn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Older Australians aspire to attain or retain home ownership. Their preferred neighbourhood has shopping, medical, recreational and public transport services all within walking distance. </p>
<p>Downsizers appear mobile. While under a quarter downsized within their original neighbourhood, 42% moved to a neighbourhood completely new to them. </p>
<p>The survey finding of a lack of suitable housing options matching would-be downsizers’ preferences may explain why so few were able to downsize in their original neighbourhood. </p>
<h2>Delivering what older Australians want</h2>
<p>If the local market does not have enough options available to meet the needs of older households, it is very difficult to downsize within an existing community. Moving to another desired location can also be problematic. </p>
<p>Meeting the needs of older Australians generally means an increase in medium-density housing. Developers are likely to require incentives to produce these medium-density products rather than potentially more profitable high-density development – although there is, of course, a downsizing market for well-located apartments. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314354/original/file-20200210-27548-1yuiw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Most downsizers want less garden to maintain, but still want a three-bedroom home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Romalis/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-want-and-need-more-housing-choice-its-about-time-governments-stood-up-to-deliver-it-122390">People want and need more housing choice. It's about time governments stood up to deliver it</a>
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<p>The retirement industry has begun responding to the aspirations of older Australians. It is developing larger dwellings and offering a growing range of options, from high-end to affordable — all of which are accessible and suitable for ageing in place. </p>
<p>Equity-rich older Australians may wish to build a new dwelling in which to downsize. But they are often unable to borrow for this unless they have considerable capital available. </p>
<p>To support this avenue, new development finance models could be created to allow older Australians to develop without first having to sell the primary home. This shift would allow more collaborative forms of development, such as a group of <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/294">like-minded individuals developing</a> a site as housing for a small community. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/co-housing-works-well-for-older-people-once-they-get-past-the-image-problem-79907">Co-housing works well for older people, once they get past the image problem</a>
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<p>For those <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-10/older-australians-who-own-home-more-than-20-times-better-off/11815006">vulnerable private renters</a> moving into retirement, more secure rental accommodation through the social housing sector and delivered privately is essential. The community housing sector has a key role to play.</p>
<h2>Where next?</h2>
<p>The Australian housing landscape must shift towards a model of dwelling diversity with secure tenures – ownership and rental – in neighbourhoods where residents can walk easily to weekly services and recreation facilities, participate socially and be close to public transport options. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fall-in-ageing-australians-home-ownership-rates-looms-as-seismic-shock-for-housing-policy-120651">Fall in ageing Australians' home-ownership rates looms as seismic shock for housing policy</a>
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<p>Design is equally important. Australians need <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-more-flexible-housing-for-21st-century-lives-102636">adaptable dwellings</a> that can change to meet housing needs. </p>
<p>Such a landscape will provide effective downsizing options in which households can age well in the places that best meet their needs and aspirations. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-australians-to-have-the-choice-of-growing-old-at-home-here-is-what-needs-to-change-91488">For Australians to have the choice of growing old at home, here is what needs to change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amity James receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Rowley receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and the Australian Research Council. He is chair of the Housing Industry Forecasting Group in Western Australia</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Stone receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>While a majority of householders over 55 have thought about downsizing, only one in four have done it. What’s stopping them? Most simply can’t find a home in the right place that meets their needs.Amity James, Senior Lecturer, School of Economics, Finance and Property, Curtin UniversitySteven Rowley, Head of School, Economics, Finance and Property, Curtin University. Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin UniversityWendy Stone, Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Transitions and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Swinburne Research Centre, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1262042019-11-17T19:21:49Z2019-11-17T19:21:49ZGOD save us: greenspace-oriented development could make higher density attractive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301887/original/file-20191115-47161-17e0y5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C0%2C5114%2C3119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The lure of suburbia clearly remains strong. To deal with sprawl, planners need to increase urban density in a way that resonates with the leafy green qualities of suburbia that residents value. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Bolleter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the world, the vast majority of people are flocking to cities not to dwell in their centres but to live in the new suburbs expanding their outer limits. Reflecting this, from 2000 to 2015, the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/goal-11/">expansion of urbanised land worldwide outpaced urban population growth</a>. The result is <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/">unprecedented urban sprawl</a>. </p>
<p>Expansive suburbs of single-family, freestanding housing are ubiquitous in countries such as Australia, the US and the UK. Most Australians still <a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">aspire to own a large detached house</a> in the suburbs. </p>
<p>Public resistance to so-called infill development is unlikely to be overcome without a major change in how cities approach urban densification. We <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030296001">advocate greenspace-oriented development</a>, or GOD, which provides substantial, public green spaces to serve surrounding higher-density neighbourhoods. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299805/original/file-20191101-187907-jwuiia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greenspace-oriented development correlates urban densification with significant, upgraded public green spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">Becoming more urban: attitudes to medium-density living are changing in Sydney and Melbourne</a>
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<h2>We love our leafy suburbs</h2>
<p>The “Australian dream” of owning your own home is often automatically associated with a detached house on a block of land. It’s seen as a mark of having “made it”. </p>
<p>For instance, a <a href="http://www.dhw.wa.gov.au/News/Pages/hwc.aspx">study in Perth</a> found that, if they had the money, 79% of people would prefer a separate dwelling and 13% a semi-detached option. Only 7% preferred flats, units or apartments. </p>
<p>Evidently, the suburban dream runs deep in the Australian cultural psyche. Australia is not alone in this. As a result of widespread preference for suburban living, globally we are not in the age of urbanisation but rather the age of suburbanisation. </p>
<p>Despite the enduring popularity of suburban life, several emerging crises threaten its dominance. These include the <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-protect-fresh-food-supplies-here-are-the-key-steps-to-secure-city-foodbowls-114085">destruction of agriculturally productive</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/squandering-riches-can-perth-realise-the-value-of-its-biodiversity-63933">biodiverse land</a> around expanding cities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare-120598">ballooning commuting times</a> and service and public transport <a href="https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/08/australian-infrastructure-expensive/">infrastructure costs</a>, and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/private-renters-are-doing-it-tough-in-outer-suburbs-of-sydney-and-melbourne-120427">concentration of socio-economic vulnerabilities</a> in outer suburbs. These areas also <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-liveable-this-is-what-residents-have-to-say-about-life-on-the-urban-fringe-111339">have poorer access</a> to jobs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299804/original/file-20191101-187938-1d9yuix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The problems of sprawl: contractors clear once biodiverse land on the edge of Perth for a new suburb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided. Photo courtesy of Donna Broun, Richard Weller</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/living-liveable-this-is-what-residents-have-to-say-about-life-on-the-urban-fringe-111339">Living 'liveable': this is what residents have to say about life on the urban fringe</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why infill efforts are failing</h2>
<p>To limit urban sprawl, the emphasis in most cities worldwide is on increasing urban density. In pursuit of infill development, planning strategies have focused mostly on <a href="http://www.tod.org/">transit-oriented development</a>. This approach focuses on higher-density development around public transport nodes and corridors. </p>
<p>Despite the widespread adoption of this ideology in Australia, many cities are <a href="https://dusp.mit.edu/publication/infinite-suburbia">not achieving</a> their <a href="https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/made-in-australia-the-future-of-australian-cities">infill targets</a>. In part, this is because transit-oriented development strategies suggest an “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2006.00374.x">inflexible, over-neat vision</a>” of cities at odds with their “increasing geographical complexity”. </p>
<p>Much of the infill that has been achieved is through indiscriminate and opportunistic subdivision of individual suburban lots by “mum and dad” investors. This “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07293682.2016.1245201">background infill</a>” fails to achieve infill targets, does not reduce car use, erodes urban forests, and aggravates local communities. This has led to community resistance (the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Not-in-My-Backyard-Phenomenon">NIMBY</a> factor) and what one council official referred to as a “<a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/city-limits-why-australias-cities-are-broken-and-how-we-can-fix-them/">public sullenness</a>”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-cut-urban-sprawl-we-need-quality-infill-housing-displays-to-win-over-the-public-63930">To cut urban sprawl, we need quality infill housing displays to win over the public</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Higher density with a green focus</h2>
<p>The principles of transit-oriented development are well established and valid. However, we <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030296001">contend</a> that we need a complementary strategy, greenspace-oriented development, for achieving infill development. This approach would correlate urban densification with substantial, upgraded public green spaces or parks that are relatively well served by public transport.</p>
<p>Greenspace-oriented development builds upon the now well-recognised <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">array of benefits</a> of green spaces for urban dwellers. Most importantly, it underpins approaches to making our cities more sustainable and liveable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a>
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<p>Australian suburbs do generally contain a reasonable number of parks. But these are typically underdesigned and underused. Many parks offer minimal amenity, often little more than large stretches of irrigated lawn and a scattering of trees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299807/original/file-20191101-102207-1w2nlod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Before and after: in greenspace-oriented development, density and natural amenity are interwoven. Images courtesy of Robert Cameron.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We suggest redesigning parks to increase the naturalness, ecological function and diversity of active and passive recreational uses, which in turn can support higher-density urban areas. Indeed, it should increase the value of neighbouring real estate. With rezoning, this should enable greater local densification that is both commercially viable for developers and more attractive for residents. </p>
<p>Residents would then have an incentive to support well-designed infill development. When completed, each of these upgraded parks operates as a multifunctional, communal “backyard” for residents of a surrounding higher-density urban precinct.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299806/original/file-20191101-102182-1ncjsyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Before and after: parks become multifunctional communal ‘backyards’ for people living at a higher density around the park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The lure of suburbia clearly remains strong for people around the world. If planners are to deal with the problems of sprawl, they need to increase urban density in a way that resonates with the leafy green qualities of suburbia that most people desire (at very least in Australia). </p>
<p>Transit-oriented development ideology relies on a false presumption that residents will trade the benefits of nature for the benefits of urbanity. We require a new vision of urban densification that responds to the urban, societal and ecological challenges of the 21st century and aligns with people’s preference for suburban living near nature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126204/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Bolleter receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Healthways, The Western Australian Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Department of Communities and Landcorp.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cristina E. Ramalho receives funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub.</span></em></p>Residents of the ‘leafy suburbs’ will continue to fear what they might lose to increasing urban density without an explicit planning approach that enhances green space in affected neighbourhoods.Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaCristina E. Ramalho, Research fellow, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1223902019-09-08T20:03:09Z2019-09-08T20:03:09ZPeople want and need more housing choice. It’s about time governments stood up to deliver it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291205/original/file-20190906-175714-17tkntk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians want greater housing choice, including affordable compact homes that are neither large detached houses nor multistorey apartments.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/urban-houses-sydney-australia-544241326?src=-1-0">Markus J/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians need greater housing diversity to meet their current and future housing needs. Yet increasing diversity, and meeting the need for more smaller dwellings in particular, has proved surprisingly difficult to achieve. Vested interests – both the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/limited-high-rise-can-halt-sprawl-and-preserve-our-suburbs-character-20190524-p51qzp.html">big end of town and traditionalists</a> seeking to preserve Australians’ suburban way of life – have come together in a rare alliance to argue against policies to deliver more diverse housing. </p>
<p>There are strong demographic drivers of the need for a more diverse range of housing in our cities. Not all current and future households want single standalone houses or multi-storey apartments. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/090_cities_report_housing_market.pdf">three</a> <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1718">recent</a> <a href="https://www.sydney.org.au/terraces-before-towers-sydneysiders-want-more-medium-density-housing/">surveys</a> showed city dwellers are looking for housing diversity, particularly smaller houses such as terraces and semi-detached dwellings, in inner and middle suburbs. This demand <a href="https://theconversation.com/lack-of-housing-choice-frustrates-would-be-downsizers-60512">comes from downsizers</a> as well as families. We are seeing a clear <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/advice/the-block-2019-why-owner-occupiers-investors-and-developers-are-embracing-medium-density-%20housing-865240/">recognition of the shortage of this stock</a>.</p>
<p>There is strong community support for providing more housing choice in the areas where people already live. People as they approach retirement overwhelmingly want to stay in the same neighbourhood.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">Becoming more urban: attitudes to medium-density living are changing in Sydney and Melbourne</a>
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<h2>Housing hasn’t kept up with changing needs</h2>
<p>From about the 1980s, cities began to respond to the economic, social and environmental consequences of sprawl by <a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">promoting more compact urban forms and concentrating high-density housing in selected urban centres</a>. However, new housing in Australian cities has typically been dominated by two categories: freestanding homes and apartments. </p>
<p>Attempts to introduce more diverse housing have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/terraces-before-towers-sydneysiders-want-more-medium-density-housing-20190118-%20p50s8q.html">met</a> with <a href="https://architectureau.com/articles/election-promise-to-end-medium-density-housing-code-a-backward-step-institute/">fierce resistance</a> from <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2134/AHURI_Final_Report_No211_Understanding-and-addressing-community-opposition-to-affordable-housing-development.pdf">home owners in existing low-density suburbs</a>. As a result, cities in Australia have some of the <a href="https://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/housing-policy-brief.pdf">largest houses and lowest densities</a> in the world. </p>
<p>And just on the horizon is a huge <a href="https://2qean3b1jjd1s87812ool5ji-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Australia-Population-Map-Generational-Profile_Infographic_McCrindle.pdf">demographic bubble of older Australians</a>, many living in these large detached houses. This means much of our housing stock is likely to be under-used. </p>
<p>Furthermore, lifestyles are changing, including greater workforce participation by women and <a href="http://theconversation.com/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare-120598">ever-increasing commute times</a>. These changes have made smaller, lower-maintenance houses in inner and middle suburbs, with good public transport, very desirable places to live.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-more-flexible-housing-for-21st-century-lives-102636">We need more flexible housing for 21st-century lives</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The ‘missing middle’ of housing supply</h2>
<p>Despite these trends, our bigger cities offer limited variation in housing types. Australians mostly have a choice between single detached houses or high-density apartment living. </p>
<p>Take Sydney as an example. More than half of new homes built in the city are high-rise apartments. In 2018, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/apartment-oversupply-puts-squeeze-on-rents-20190705-p524cp.html">30,880 apartments were completed</a> in Sydney, with another <a href="http://www.udiansw.com.au/uploads/docs/Policy_Agenda_2019_20_low_res.pdf">194,000 in the pipeline</a>.</p>
<p>Housing that is neither a freestanding house nor an apartment accounts for only 14% of housing approvals in Sydney. Only 5,390 such homes were approved in 2015-16. This is despite current council zoning and planning controls offering the potential for almost 280,000 of these dwellings.</p>
<p>Dwelling supply from high-density apartments and from greenfield land releases will continue to provide the most significant proportion of future housing requirements. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-belong-in-the-suburbs-with-more-families-in-apartments-such-attitudes-are-changing-93742">'Children belong in the suburbs': with more families in apartments, such attitudes are changing</a>
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<p>However, there is a compelling case for an increase in different housing types in established urban areas, especially in middle suburbs developed in post war years.</p>
<p>Between 1919 and 1962, fewer terrace houses were built as they fell out of favour. Homes on quarter-acre blocks were built across Australian cities, aided by the construction of train lines and then the arrival of cars and motorways. Later, when strata title laws were introduced, apartments were increasingly developed. </p>
<p>But this housing legacy no longer meets the needs of large sections of our population, both old and young. The variety of housing supply has not kept pace with changing household needs, particularly as household sizes have shrunk and housing costs have soared. </p>
<p>Singles and couple-only households are increasing, accounting for more than 50% of all household types in some cities. <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/households-australia/households-australia-source-data">Average household size has fallen</a> below 2.5 people from more than 3 at the start of the 1990s.</p>
<p>These trends are partly linked to an ageing population. By 2036 the number of the Australian population aged over 60 will have <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/households-australia/households-australia-source-data">increased by 56%</a>. More than <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/households-australia/households-australia-source-data">one in seven people will be over 65</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lack-of-housing-choice-frustrates-would-be-downsizers-60512">Lack of housing choice frustrates would-be downsizers</a>
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<p>The other fast-growing age segment in Australian cities is young people and young families. But, as house prices rise, <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/households-australia/households-australia-source-data">home ownership levels for people in the 20-35 age group are falling</a>. </p>
<h2>Governments need to challenge vested interests</h2>
<p>Housing stock other than multistorey apartments or larger suburban homes will provide more affordable homes for smaller households. Compact, well-designed houses on smaller land parcels are <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2170/AHURI_Final_Report_No157_Planning_and_the_characteristics_of_housing_supply_in_Melbourne.pdf">around 25% more affordable</a> than detached houses (for newer or more recent stock) in the same neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>Yet providing this sort of housing stock still presents considerable challenges. Existing <a href="https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/planning/posh-sydney-says-no-to-density-its-a-thing/">owners in middle-ring suburbs are concerned about change and loss of character</a>. Councils face stiff opposition when they try to increase densities and introduce new housing stock. </p>
<p>The opposition often comes from people who have lived in these suburbs for a long time. This opposition is sometimes <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/limited-high-rise-can-halt-sprawl-and-preserve-our-suburbs-character-20190524-p51qzp.html?btis">supported by the property sector</a>, which perhaps fears this kind of stock <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-to-eliminate-nimbys-let-householders-unite-as-developers-20190227-p510kh.html">could undermine demand for new high-rise apartments</a>. </p>
<p>There are no powerful interest groups advocating for housing diversity because this market, in infill suburbs, is widely dispersed among individual householders.</p>
<p>Oregon has become the first US state to comprehensively bar local governments from imposing exclusive single-family residential zoning, and to open up almost all residential zones to low-density housing stock. The <a href="http://cityobservatory.org/in-oregon-the-middle-isnt-missing-any-more/">Oregon experience</a> shows that, after many years of trying alternative approaches, state government action was required to achieve housing diversity against the arguments of local councils, residents and the property industry. Neighbourhoods with this diversity of housing are now among the state’s most desirable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberta Ryan and Neil Selmon reviewed the NSW Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code for the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces in July 2019.</span></em></p>Australians’ need for smaller and more diverse dwellings is growing. The planning system is not providing enough of this housing, and self-serving opposition to it should be resisted.Roberta Ryan, Professor, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance and UTS Centre for Local Government, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1109752019-02-04T19:16:50Z2019-02-04T19:16:50ZBeyond Opal: a 10-point plan to fix the residential building industry<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-15/opal-tower-needs-significant-rectifiaction-work-report-finds/10713054">failure of the Opal Tower building</a> in Sydney has highlighted the poor quality of speculatively built multi-unit housing in Australia. The tower’s 392 apartments were evacuated on Christmas Eve when residents heard loud cracks and defects were found. So far, the only reaction from government has been a knee-jerk <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-30/opal-tower-damage-sparks-nsw-government-crackdown/10673968">promise to crack down on shonky building certifiers</a> (that’s you Matt Kean, minister for innovation and better regulation in New South Wales). Unfortunately, there is no evidence this will make any difference. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-lessons-to-be-drawn-from-the-cracks-that-appeared-in-sydneys-opal-tower-but-they-extend-beyond-building-certification-109428">There are lessons to be drawn from the cracks that appeared in Sydney's Opal Tower, but they extend beyond building certification</a>
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<p>Planning policies embraced by the NSW and Victorian governments mean a greater percentage of new housing is being constructed in tall multi-unit developments than ever before, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. </p>
<p>Between <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/governing-the-compact-city-the-role-and-effectiveness-of-strata-management-in-higher-density-residential-developments/">50% and 80% of multi-unit buildings</a> have defects serious enough to be the subject of strata committee involvement. Possibly close to 100% have significant defects at completion. Most of the problems are waterproofing issues (which may not be evident for years), malfunctioning services or a lack of proper compliance with fire codes and standards. </p>
<p>We can only fix this problem by changing the <em>culture</em> of the residential building industry. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-big-lesson-from-opal-tower-is-that-badly-built-apartments-arent-only-an-issue-for-residents-109722">The big lesson from Opal Tower is that badly built apartments aren't only an issue for residents</a>
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<h2>Ten steps governments can take</h2>
<p>We don’t need another royal commission. Governments could implement all of the suggestions below using their existing powers. </p>
<p>1) <strong>Increase density by permitting more subdivisions on existing housing blocks rather than building tall buildings.</strong> </p>
<p>Two <a href="https://www.reisa.com.au/publicinfo/general-tips-and-traps/torrens-title-explained">Torrens title</a> townhouses can be built on a normal single-house quarter-acre block. Low-scale buildings will still suffer from defects, but are less problematic to build, inspect and repair than tall buildings and use simpler technology. </p>
<p>2) <strong>In the short term, provide occupation certificates to new residential buildings taller than three storeys only if they comply with an enhanced protocol of regulations and oversight.</strong></p>
<p>State government would implement this, with a focus on waterproofing and fire performance. </p>
<p>A suitable code, standards and protocols could be developed in a few weeks. The necessary people to provide independent oversight could be drawn from qualified architects, builders and engineers who are able to pass a probing exam. They would be independent of the design and construction team. The government would fix their fees. </p>
<p>3) <strong>Develop a program to enhance the standards for residential building standards in the <a href="https://www.business.gov.au/planning/templates-and-tools/industry-factsheets/national-construction-code">National Construction Code</a> (NCC).</strong> </p>
<p>The current NCC codes for Class 2 buildings (home units) favour innovation and cost reduction over consumer protection. This is the wrong way around for housing. Section F, which covers health and amenity (including waterproofing), is weak and must be strengthened. </p>
<p>4) <strong>A voluntary quality scheme to star-rate <em>all</em> apartments, similar to <a href="https://www.ancap.com.au/about-ancap">ANCAP</a> (Australasia New Car Assessment Program), might work with industry support.</strong> </p>
<p>The minimum standard permissible would comply with the enhanced standards. The NSW Building and Construction Council promoted a scheme in the 1990s but failed due to lack of government support. It was a good idea then, and it is still a good idea now. </p>
<p>5) <strong>If the industry won’t support a voluntary scheme, government should introduce a coercive qualified practitioner (QP) scheme.</strong> </p>
<p>This would be a permanent version of the short-term scheme. If a building goes bad, the QP could lose the right to practise as a QP as well as being liable to the owners. </p>
<p>6) <strong>Revitalise trade training and certification to ensure all trade workers are properly trained and certified.</strong> </p>
<p>Many trades on building sites have no training and are not licensed. The requirement to read directions and document work against procedures means everyone on site must be functionally literate. The goal should be to have 30% of people working on site at Certificate 4 level by 2025. 100% of building workers should be literate by 2025. This should be a national requirement, checked by inspectors. </p>
<p>7) <strong>All leading hands for any trade should be educated up to Certificate 4 level.</strong></p>
<p>This should be independently verified to cut out shonky training providers. Leading hands in all trades should be licensed and responsible for the work they do. </p>
<p>8) <strong>Enhance licensing of builders and subcontractors to ensure people in charge on site are educated beyond Certificate 4.</strong> </p>
<p>All people occupying construction roles with management responsibility should have valid qualifications in architecture, structural engineering or building. </p>
<p>9) <strong>Consider additional laws on contract provisions to reduce the economic power disparity between developers, head contractors and subcontractors.</strong> </p>
<p>Unfair commercial pressures are at the heart of much bad building. We should do more to cushion the smaller players from the larger ones.</p>
<p>10) <strong>And, while we are at it, we should ensure a value-capture process accompanies the development of tall residential buildings so the cost of upgrading social infrastructure is recovered.</strong> </p>
<p>High-density, high-rise buildings massively increase loads on socially owned infrastructure, such as schools, libraries, hospitals, parks and sporting facilities. The developers of tall buildings should be made to contribute adequately to the economic cost of enhancing these provisions, which can involve solutions that are unusually expensive, such as high-rise schools. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-value-capture-and-what-does-it-mean-for-cities-58776">Explainer: what is ‘value capture’ and what does it mean for cities?</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Hanmer has received funding from the Building and Construction Council (NSW). </span></em></p>While Opal Tower residents are more badly affected than most, up to 80% of multi-unit buildings have serious defects. Here’s what government can do right now to fix the industry.Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture, Univeristy of NSW, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1063522018-11-08T19:32:42Z2018-11-08T19:32:42ZSpeaking with: Chris Ho and Edgar Liu about diversity and high density in our cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244238/original/file-20181107-74763-hwv7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=528%2C0%2C2524%2C2041&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We can make conscious decisions about how we live together in closer proximity that allow for both cultural diversity and a shared sense of community.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UHyrjKPsshk"> Ján Jakub Naništa/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><hr>
<p><em>This is a podcast discussing topics raised in our series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/australian-cities-in-the-asian-century-61652">Australian Cities in the Asian Century</a>. These articles draw on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12311">research</a>, just published in a special issue of Geographical Research, into how Australian cities are being influenced by the rise of China and associated flows of people, ideas and capital between China and Australia.</em></p>
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<p>Migration and population growth are hot-button issues in Australian politics at the moment. State and federal election campaigns have and will focus on them for probably years to come, and it’s not just a local phenomenon: by 2030 it’s estimated 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. </p>
<p>Most of the time discussions about the impacts are focused on external pressures – things like road congestion and infrastructure investment – but as more and more people are living in high-density housing, issues of cultural diversity and how we live together in such close proximity are just as important. </p>
<p>How do we make sure we can live comfortably and respect each other? And how could policy change the sense of ownership we have over ever smaller personal spaces?</p>
<p>Dallas Rogers speaks with Christina Ho and Edgar Liu about the changing ways we’re living in Australian cities, and how little attention has been given to what’s happening <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12282">inside the apartment buildings</a> of our cities.</p>
<p><strong>Music</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Free Music Archive: <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/5th_Cycle/Catching_Feathers">Ketsa - Catching Feathers</a></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dallas Rogers recently received funding from The Henry Halloran Trust, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Urban Growth NSW, Landcom, University of Sydney, Western Sydney University, and Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA).</span></em></p>Dallas Rogers speaks with Chris Ho and Edgar Liu about what's going on in apartment buildings as we move up, rather than out, and how we can look after ourselves and each other in culturally diverse, high-density living.Dallas Rogers, Program Director, Master of Urbanism, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1050502018-10-31T02:25:54Z2018-10-31T02:25:54ZTo make housing more affordable this is what state governments need to do<p><em>This week we’re exploring the state of nine different policy areas across Australia’s states, as detailed in Grattan Institute’s <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/?post_type=report&p=6974&preview=true">State Orange Book 2018</a>. Read the other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-the-states-2018-61464">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>House prices might now be falling, but Australians’ <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/house-prices-might-be-falling-but-our-anxiety-isn-t-20181019-p50atj.html">anxiety over housing affordability is not</a>. Price falls of a few percentage points in Sydney and Melbourne are cold comfort to first home buyers. They are <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/domain-property-reports/">still paying</a> 50% more than they would have five years ago. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.afr.com/real-estate/house-prices-to-fall-15-per-cent-morgan-stanley-20181010-h16ha7">Further price falls</a> are likely, but even then housing will still be less affordable than it was two decades ago.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-poorer-australians-bearing-the-brunt-of-rising-housing-costs-87003">Three charts on: poorer Australians bearing the brunt of rising housing costs</a>
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<p>Home ownership rates are declining across Australia, <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-poorer-australians-bearing-the-brunt-of-rising-housing-costs-87003">especially among the young and the poor</a>. An increasing proportion of low-income earners are in rental stress in all states except Queensland and Tasmania.</p>
<h2>STATE HOUSING SCORECARD</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242877/original/file-20181030-76408-5p1un3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/state-orange-book-2018/">Grattan Institute State Orange Book 2018, Table 5.1</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The required policy response remains the same. As Grattan Institute’s <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/state-orange-book-2018/">State Orange Book 2018</a> shows, state governments need to ensure a lot more housing is built. </p>
<h2>What has happened to housing?</h2>
<p>Australia’s population is growing rapidly. Our cities have not kept up, so there is less housing per person. The primary obstacle <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/901-Housing-affordability.pdf">appears to be planning rules</a> that delay or prevent development. </p>
<p><strong>All states except Tasmania have less housing per person than a decade ago</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242875/original/file-20181030-76408-j7fsag.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/state-orange-book-2018/">Grattan Institute State Orange Book 2018, Figure 5.1</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland governments have all <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/housing-affordability-re-imagining-the-australian-dream/">changed</a> planning rules and processes over the past five years or so. This has resulted in new building finally catching up with population growth, even if a significant backlog remains. </p>
<p>The extra supply has already contributed to flattening rents and <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/product/house-price-report-september-2018/">falling apartment prices</a> in Brisbane. It will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-house-price-falls-ubs-rba-negative-sentiment-2018-10">help push rents and prices lower</a> in Sydney and Melbourne as well.</p>
<p>But today’s record level of housing construction is the bare minimum needed to match <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-australias-population-the-highest-growing-in-the-world-96523">rapid population growth</a> largely <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-migration-affects-housing-affordability-92502">driven by immigration</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-migration-affects-housing-affordability-92502">How migration affects housing affordability</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And yet authorities in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/terrace-housing-backflipcouncils-density-code-20180517-p4zfyj.html.">NSW</a> and <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/backyardblitz-in-new-blueprint-for-brisbane-20180608-p4zk8z.html">Queensland</a> are <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-01/hendrie-the-triumph-of-the-nimby-in-urban-planning/3704744">responding to NIMBY pressures</a> by making it harder to increase density. In the Victorian election campaign, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy is <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/coalition-promises-to-rein-in-development-on-melbourne-s-leafy-streets-20180618-p4zm4t.html">promising to do the same</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Record housing construction will need to be maintained to meet city plan housing targets</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242873/original/file-20181030-76390-1vinopr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/state-orange-book-2018/">Grattan Institute State Orange Book 2018, Figure 5.2</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What should governments do?</h2>
<p>Resisting higher-density development is the wrong response. To enable more homes to be built in inner and middle-ring suburbs of our largest cities, state governments should:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Introduce a new small redevelopment housing code. It would protect neighbours, reduce planning uncertainty and improve the quality of new developments. The code would include the things that worry neighbours the most, such as privacy, height and overshadowing. </p></li>
<li><p>Allow taller developments of four to eight storeys “<a href="https://www.irwinlaw.com/cold/as-of-right">as of right</a>” on major transport corridors and around train stations.</p></li>
<li><p>Set housing targets for each local council. The targets should be linked to plans for the growth of the city as a whole. Where councils fail to meet planning targets, independent planning panels should step in. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The best evidence is that building an extra 50,000 homes a year for a decade could leave Australian house prices <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/supply-sceptics-beware-without-more-housing-it-wont-be-affordable/">5-20% lower</a> than what they would have been otherwise, stem rising public anxiety about housing affordability, and increase economic growth.</p>
<h2>Reform tenancy rules</h2>
<p>As well as boosting supply, state governments should make renting more attractive by changing residential tenancy laws to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-insecurity-of-private-renters-how-do-they-manage-it-77324">increase the security of renters</a> and help renters make their property feel like their home. The Victorian government recently <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/melbourne-vic/new-rental-laws-pass-victorian-parliament-strengthening-tenants-rights/news-story/164012c73122065d353885daed660999">tipped the balance</a> more towards tenants. Other state governments should follow suit.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-open-letter-on-rental-housing-reform-103825">An open letter on rental housing reform</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Of course, changes in tenancy laws in favour of renters could reduce the supply of rental housing and increase rents, but any such effects are likely to be vanishingly small. More likely some investors will sell their properties to first home buyers, which means one less rental property and one less renter. </p>
<h2>Boost the public housing supply</h2>
<p>The housing affordability crisis has made life particularly hard for low-income earners. There is a powerful case for extra public support for the most vulnerable Australians. But not all policies will be equally effective.</p>
<p>Boosting social housing will be expensive. Increasing the stock by 100,000 dwellings – broadly sufficient to return social housing to its historical share of the total housing stock – would require extra public funding of <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/the-conventional-wisdom-is-wrong-building-more-housing-does-help-low-income-earners/">around A$900 million a year</a>, or an upfront capital cost of between A$10 billion and A$15 billion. </p>
<p>Even then social housing would house only one-third of the poorest 20% of Australians. Most low-income Australians would remain in the private rental market. </p>
<p>The big problem is that there is not enough “flow” of social housing available for people whose lives take a big turn for the worse. Tenants generally take a long time to leave social housing; most have <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/housing-assistance/housing-assistance-in-australia-2017/contents/social-housing-tenants">stayed more than five years</a></p>
<p>To overcome these issues, governments should build more social housing, and tightly target it to people most at risk of becoming homeless for the long term. Extra support for the housing costs of low-income earners should otherwise be delivered primarily by <a href="https://theconversation.com/super-if-labor-really-wanted-to-help-women-in-retirement-it-would-do-something-else-103603">boosting Commonwealth Rent Assistance</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/super-if-labor-really-wanted-to-help-women-in-retirement-it-would-do-something-else-103603">Super. If Labor really wanted to help women in retirement, it would do something else</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stop offering false hope</h2>
<p>State governments also need to stop offering false hope. Even though policies such as first home owners’ grants have proved ineffective time after time, they were the centrepieces of the <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/housing-affordability-package-gives-voters-what-they-want-but-not-what-they-need/">housing plans of NSW and Victoria</a> announced last year. Inevitably these are really second home sellers’ incentives: the biggest winners are people who own homes already, and property developers with new homes ready to sell.</p>
<p>Similarly, state governments shouldn’t claim that housing and business incentives and regional transport projects will divert a lot of population growth to the regions. Such policies <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-dangerous-fantasy-diverting-population-growth-to-the-regions-105052">haven’t made much difference in the past</a>. And they provide excuses not to make the tough calls on planning.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-dangerous-fantasy-diverting-population-growth-to-the-regions-105052">Australia's dangerous fantasy: diverting population growth to the regions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>None of the policies recommended in our <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/?post_type=report&p=6974&preview=true">State Orange Book 2018</a> are easy politically. But Australians need to face up to a harsh truth: either people accept greater density in their suburb, or their children will not be able to buy a home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute's activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities as disclosed on its website.
The State Orange Book, from which this article is drawn, was supported by a grant from the Susan McKinnon Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Coates and Tony Chen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governments should stop offering false hopes and pandering to NIMBY pressures. As well as increased public and private housing supply, growing cities need well-designed higher-density development.John Daley, Chief Executive Officer, Grattan InstituteBrendan Coates, Fellow, Grattan InstituteTony Chen, Researcher, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866082017-11-01T18:55:59Z2017-11-01T18:55:59ZHigher density in a flood zone? Here’s a way to do it and reduce the risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192762/original/file-20171101-13374-1muhjmm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cars are submerged on a flooded road in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville in 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://nixpages.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/">Alex Holver/NixPages</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s March 2018. A massive storm has hit Sydney’s northern beaches. Luckily no one is hurt, but the floodwaters take days to drain away and the economic impact is serious. </p>
<p>Reporters will tell the story over and over again: how much damage this torrential rain did. But where have we heard that before? Well, the list includes: both <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/04/03/floo-a03.html">Queensland and New South Wales</a> this year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydneys-wild-weather-shows-home-owners-are-increasingly-at-risk-60621">Sydney</a> in 2016, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/flash-flooding-causes-chaos-on-queenslands-gold-coast/news-story/b27fca032d274d49d07c34a643e5a63d">Gold Coast</a> in 2015, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-29/live:-flooding-disaster-hits-australias-east-coast/4488032">Bundaberg</a> in 2013, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/emergency/2012-01-24/south-east-queensland-flash-flooding---january-2012/3790910">Queensland</a> in 2012 and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jan/15/australian-floods-queensland-germaine-greer">Brisbane</a> in 2011. </p>
<p>We are starting to understand we will be hit by <a href="https://theconversation.com/droughts-and-flooding-rains-already-more-likely-as-climate-change-plays-havoc-with-pacific-weather-71614">ever-increasing storms and floods</a>. The risk is especially high in years when <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-el-ninos-cranky-uncle-that-could-send-global-warming-into-hyperdrive-72360">La Nina</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-nsw-is-no-stranger-to-floods-but-this-one-was-different-75701">makes her appearance</a>.</p>
<p>We also know good <a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-debbie-we-can-design-cities-to-withstand-these-natural-disasters-75287">urban design can reduce the impacts</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/droughts-and-flooding-rains-already-more-likely-as-climate-change-plays-havoc-with-pacific-weather-71614">Droughts and flooding rains already more likely as climate change plays havoc with Pacific weather</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Measures to soften the blow</h2>
<p>Sydney’s <a href="http://202020vision.com.au/media/7200/barbara-schaffer-gao-sydneys-green-grid.pdf">Green Grid</a> is planned to increase the resilience of the city and its residents against flooding and other climate impacts. The grid is designed to connect hydrological and ecological systems or, better, to reconnect these systems to boost their capacity to deal with sudden and severe impacts. </p>
<p>Spaces need to be created in the city for storing water during and directly after a flood. This will stop water from drowning people, flooding houses or destroying public property. These storages can take the form of <a href="http://www.urbanisten.nl/wp/?portfolio=waterpleinen">water squares</a>, temporary storage on ovals or parking areas, basins or gardens on rooftops, and swales along roads. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192578/original/file-20171031-18725-ysergs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many water storage areas can combine to provide the capacity to greatly reduce the impacts of flooding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/reinforced-concrete-box-culverts-under-asphalt-717486706?src=NBnBXH6ToJgg96o5EviDYQ-1-24">Christopher PB/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These measures are well known to be effective and together form an urban sponge system. All we need to do is to create more of these places to increase the capacity to take up water, then release it when safe to do so. </p>
<p>In every city certain areas play a crucial role in increasing, or not decreasing, water-storage capacity. These areas are on the edge of the waterscape and the cityscape. Increasing water storage here prevents bigger problems elsewhere. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-debbie-we-can-design-cities-to-withstand-these-natural-disasters-75287">Cyclone Debbie: we can design cities to withstand these natural disasters</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What this means for Marrickville</h2>
<p>If these places become built-up and can no longer effectively store floodwaters, the impact downstream is disastrous. Carrington Road in Sydney’s Marrickville is a prime example. This inner-city area flooded in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/after-the-flood-sydney-counts-the-cost-of-record-rains-20120308-1un9p.html">2012</a>, leaving cars floating, houses flooded and people’s belongings lost or ruined. </p>
<p>The analysis and the facts are clear, even neatly mapped out by the New South Wales state government. No misunderstanding there. The safest option is not to build up this area.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The flood-prone zone in Marrickville.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NSW government, 2015</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, if Sydney wants to become a global city, we need to get used to urban environments with higher densities – these have all kinds of advantages. Immediate benefits include better public transport, higher level of amenities and proximity to a dynamic economic environment which generates jobs for the local population. Higher density also prevents occupation of green spaces outside the city and unnecessarily long commuting times for people housed even further away from the city. </p>
<p>This means no densification of existing neighbourhoods is a poor option. However, a proposal to build 20 buildings with 2,600 units in the flood-prone zone in Marrickville has raised eyebrows. </p>
<p>The local council is opposing the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/28storey-towers-proposed-for-marrickville-in-1-billion-apartment-project-20171013-gz0b6f">“monstrous” scale</a> of the development. The state Labor opposition has joined the battle against this “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/labor-leads-campaign-against-mirvacs-marrickville-megaapartment-project-20171019-gz4a8w.html">mega-apartment project</a>”. </p>
<p>But much of the opposition is not for the right reasons. The Inner West Council’s Carrington Road area <a href="https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/news---hot-topics/hot-topics/carrington-road-marrickville-planning-proposal">planning proposal</a> seems to prioritise density over flood risk. When the Cooks River overflows again, as it will, the floods will be even more severe. </p>
<p>Planning should be aiming to create a symbiotic situation, in which a higher-density development and flood mitigation are complementary. The challenge is to marry two seemingly contrasting ambitions: to increase density and yet not increase the vulnerability to floods.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192576/original/file-20171031-18683-1cjrc3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Marrickville apartment block was evacuated when its foundations were damaged following heavy rains in February 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Gray/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Well-structured density makes all the difference</h2>
<p>To achieve this, the first consideration would be to see the area as a flood reservoir where water can temporarily be stored. If this reservoir is then also used to clean rain runoff and grey water from the apartment buildings, it would function as a green space, water treatment and flood remediation space all at once. </p>
<p>What if one large natural wetland could be created, which could capture the water from the Cook River during a flood, but could also clean the rain and grey water from the buildings? The new buildings would not have to suffer from hazards such as flooding because the site design has anticipated the risk.</p>
<p>As an example, imagine a <a href="http://west8.com/projects/urban_design/borneo_sporenburg/">Borneo-Sporenburg</a> type of setting in which the water space surrounds the built-up area. Even with mostly low-rise housing, the development could still reach a high density of around 150 dwellings per hectare. </p>
<p>Applied to Carrington Road, this would imply around 1,200 dwellings can be built in a low-rise setting. Adding two internal superblocks to this development would create another 500 units and only one high-rise building (instead of 20) would then be needed to make it to 2,600 dwellings in the whole development. </p>
<p>The new neighbourhood could form a very sustainable, almost circular system in which waste water, waste heat and waste materials could all be reused for the apartments and dwellings, and in the wetland reservoir. This way the wetland becomes an attractive green space for residents to use. It’s then a green space that not only accommodates the eventual flood, but also regulates the temperature of the urban environment, creating cooler places in summer.</p>
<p>An interesting milieu could emerge here. If the buildings were built on stilts and lifted above the reservoir, wildlife, ecology and water could exist undisturbed under and around the buildings. The result would be a flexible infill development that preserves green and public space, and which is ready for extreme weather or climate conditions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Roggema does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A massive residential development in a flood-prone inner-city suburb sounds like a recipe for disaster. But good urban design can deliver higher density and reduce the flood risk.Rob Roggema, Professor of Sustainable Urban Environments, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/846932017-10-25T19:08:33Z2017-10-25T19:08:33ZBecoming more urban: attitudes to medium-density living are changing in Sydney and Melbourne<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191564/original/file-20171024-20352-1f3tle1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Without medium-density housing being built in the established suburbs – the 'missing middle' – the goals of more compact, sustainable and equitable cities won't be achieved. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-australian-suburban-houses-149265857?src=DGaoFoukE-7a7JNYu96suw-1-16">zstock/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is increasingly linked to a <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.html">fast-growing global population</a>. The populations of Sydney and Melbourne are both expected to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/property/australian-cities-face-great-growth-challenge/news-story/a89da2e7a566bd2c6d03cde4ed377bc7">exceed 8.5 million by 2061</a>. What will Australia’s cities look like then? Will they still be among the world’s <a href="https://chartingtransport.com/2015/11/26/comparing-the-densities-of-australian-and-european-cities/">lowest-density cities</a>?</p>
<p>Such sprawling cities result in economic (productivity), social (spatial disadvantage) and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705817316685">environmental weaknesses</a> (including a very big ecological footprint). Can our cities transform themselves to become more competitive, sustainable, liveable, resilient and inclusive? </p>
<p>Australian governments at all levels aspire to these goals, but they require <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/5854/">multiple transitions</a>. The prospects of success depend on the transformative capacity of four groups of stakeholders: state government, local government, the property development industry, and community residents. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1718">newly published research</a> has found such capacity is lacking, so transformation on the scale required <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/DevelopmentofCities">remains a major challenge</a>. Our research included a survey in Sydney and Melbourne of suburban residents’ attitudes to medium-density living and neighbourhood change – essentially “sounding out” community capacity for change. This article explores some of the findings.</p>
<p>So why do community attitudes in the suburbs matter? The key change involves the form and fabric of Australian cities: from a low-density suburban city to a more compact form characteristic of Europe. This requires regenerative redevelopment: redirecting population and property investment inwards to brownfields and <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/2018/AHURI_Final_Report_No171_Towards_a_new_development_model_for_housing_regeneration_in_greyfield_residential_precincts.pdf">greyfields redevelopment</a>, rather than outwards to greenfields development, and increasing the supply of medium-density housing – the “<a href="http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Policy-and-Legislation/Housing/Medium-Density-Housing">missing middle</a>”. </p>
<p>Unlike greenfields and brownfields, however, greyfields are occupied. More intensive urban infill represents a challenge to residents of established suburbs to share their higher-amenity, low-density space. And elected local councillors tend to align with their residents’ resistance to “overdevelopment” and changes in “neighbourhood character”.</p>
<h2>Are attitudes changing?</h2>
<p>In September 2016, the <a href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/research/urban-transitions/about/">Centre for Urban Transitions</a> surveyed 2,000 Sydney and Melbourne households in established middle-ring suburbs. </p>
<p>Asked “What type of dwelling would you want to live in?”, nearly 60% of residents in both cities favoured a detached house and yard. This is down from 90% in the early 1990s. So, in the space of one generation, attitudes have shifted significantly toward embracing higher-density living.</p>
<p>However, living arrangements extend beyond the dwelling. They include the neighbourhood and wider suburban context. Our survey explored three distinctive living environments:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>a separate dwelling with a garden in a suburb with poor public transport</p></li>
<li><p>a medium-density dwelling with no garden but close to public transport</p></li>
<li><p>a high-rise apartment in the CBD or surrounding areas. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Responses revealed that when location was combined with housing type, this significantly increased preference for medium-density housing when located in established suburbs with good public transport and access to jobs and services. In both Sydney and Melbourne, 46% favoured this. That was the same proportion as preferred a separate dwelling and garden in a car-dependent suburb. Just 8% opted for apartments.</p>
<p>The question is whether these shifts in preference are reflected in residents’ attitudes to higher-density housing in their own neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>The survey found 71% of respondents were “aware of neighbourhood change in their locality”. This figure was identical for renters and property owners. </p>
<p>Fewer than 10% of residents in both cities think such change is a good thing, but almost 40% understand it has to happen. Just over 10% are neutral. Preference for less or no change sits around 45%. </p>
<p>This suggests capacity to accept change is growing, but it is grudging and not strongly endorsed. </p>
<p>The survey’s final stage probed the extent to which property owners contemplating a move were aware of, or open to, options of selling as a consortium of neighbours. While not common, examples are being reported with value uplifts resulting from lot consolidation ranging from 10% to 100%. </p>
<p>One-quarter of Sydney respondents were open to consolidating property for sale with neighbours. This number was even higher (39%) for investment properties.</p>
<h2>What needs to be done?</h2>
<p>Consolidated lot sales are not part of the business model of most real estate agencies, local government, or property developers. </p>
<p>It’s an area where the property development industry lacks capacity and is still failing to respond to the medium-density urban infill challenge. And state governments are reluctant to extend mid-rise medium-density zones in the big cities beyond designated activity centres and transport corridors. </p>
<p>Supply of well-designed medium-density housing needs to be greatly increased in the well-located, established, low-density, middle-ring suburbs. And it needs to happen at a precinct scale of redevelopment beyond that of knock-down-rebuild. This would enable more innovative, sustainable and aesthetically attractive development.</p>
<p>Infill targets for new housing in Australia’s largest cities range from 65% (Brisbane) to 85% (Adelaide), with Melbourne and Sydney in between. But these targets are not being achieved (not even Perth’s 47%). Greenfield development is still the <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/75359">main demographic absorber</a>.</p>
<p>The Victorian government’s <a href="http://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/377206/Plan_Melbourne_2017-2050_Strategy_.pdf">latest metro strategy</a> introduced a new policy direction to “provide support and guidance for greyfield areas to deliver more housing choice and diversity”. That doesn’t alter many residents of these areas remaining resistant to change.</p>
<p>State and local governments need to introduce new statutory planning instruments and guidelines to enable greyfield precinct redevelopment. These are the focus of research in three Commonwealth Co-operative Research Centres (see <a href="http://www.crcsi.com.au/">here</a>, <a href="http://www.lowcarbonlivingcrc.com.au/">here</a> and <a href="https://watersensitivecities.org.au/">here</a>). </p>
<p>In an urban planning system that remains strongly top-down, local government serves as the main interface with local communities and property developers due to its role in planning approvals. Often this is reflected in local government’s gaming of the state government’s residential zoning schemes to ensure housing is “locked up” in minimal change zones. This effectively indicates that more intensive infill housing should happen “somewhere else” (the NIMBY syndrome). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.constructionedge.com.au/about/">David Chandler</a>, a leading figure in Australia’s building and construction industry, <a href="https://sourceable.net/shutting-the-garage-door-after-the-car-has-bolted/">sums up the challenges</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The capabilities needed to design and build small-scaled medium-density housing projects of three to ten dwellings up to three storeys atop below-grade parking have yet to be developed. If medium-density dwellings of the type described here are to make up a third of the housing landscape, a new marketing platform and delivery model will be required.</p>
<p>If governments are seriously minded to harvest the potential of greyfield sites and the urban middle, they will not only need to bring the community along in support of these more modest densification initiatives, they will need to be proactive in making sure the housing industry has the capabilities to deliver them.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Newton receives funding from the Co-Operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living and the Co-Operative Research Centre for Spatial Information.</span></em></p>Residents of established middle suburbs are slowly coming round to the idea, but governments and the property sector lack the capacity to deliver compact cities that are acceptable to the community.Peter Newton, Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820712017-08-23T19:24:23Z2017-08-23T19:24:23ZWhat’s equity got to do with health in a higher-density city?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182732/original/file-20170821-27241-1lw7thv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Green space, easily accessible to everyone no matter what their income, should be a priority in designing high-density residential areas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/apartment-block-sunny-green-sydney-australia-543594550?src=xqAcCH77Dv6cCieSpZyWwQ-1-4">Marcus Jaaske from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is the last of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">series</a> of articles based on new research into the place of lower-income and disadvantaged households in a compact city.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>More and more of us living in denser cities where apartments and high-rise developments are increasingly common. This creates specific health concerns for residents of these areas, and for lower-income households in particular.</p>
<p>We already know socioeconomic status is <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/socio-economic-disadvantage-and-health/">closely related to health and wellbeing</a>. The importance of equity was highlighted in the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/boyerlectures/series/2016-boyer-lectures/7802472">2016 Boyer Lectures</a>. Entitled Fair Australia: Social Justice and the Health Gap, the lectures were delivered by a world leader in health inequality research, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/professor-sir-michael-marmot/7637440">Professor Sir Michael Marmot</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-determinants-how-class-and-wealth-affect-our-health-64442">Social determinants – how class and wealth affect our health</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Marmot examined the challenges for poor communities in achieving good health from early life to old age. His message focused on the <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/australias-health/2016/determinants/">social determinants of health</a>. And the built environment, including its environmental context, is among the most important of these. </p>
<p>This is usefully presented in the below health map for human settlements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182545/original/file-20170818-1994-1rdzmf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The health map shows the determinants of health and wellbeing in our neighbourhoods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/7863/2/The_health_map_2006_JRSH_article_-_post_print.pdf">Barton & Grant 2006</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How does the built environment affect health?</h2>
<p>Many urban planners are working with health professionals to create a built environment that promotes good health for diverse populations. An ever-increasing body of <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-better-data-access-urban-planners-could-help-ease-our-weight-problems-80604">research and practice evidence</a> is available to support this work. </p>
<p>We know that the neighbourhoods where people live, together with their workplaces and the transport systems that link them, <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/city-wellbeing/city-wellbeing-resources/literature-review/">are fundamentally important for health and wellbeing</a>. </p>
<p>We also recognise that the obstacles to health and wellbeing are <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Planning-for-Health-and-Well-Being-Shaping-a/Barton-Thompson-Burgess-Grant/p/book/9781138023307">greater for lower-income groups</a>. For instance, those who live further from good city infrastructure and services, typically poorer communities, face greater challenges to <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-are-where-you-live-health-wealth-and-the-built-environment-23141">stay healthy</a>. </p>
<p>Residents of the outer suburbs tend to travel much longer distances between home, work and the services they need daily. Getting around necessarily defaults to the car, which has serious long-term implications for health. Driving is particularly associated with extended sitting in a confined space and, as a result, not getting enough exercise each day. </p>
<p>Long car-based commutes are also tiring and often stressful. Arriving home exhausted takes away from quality time with family and friends, as well as the energy needed to prepare nutritious meals. These are all negatives for maintaining good physical and mental health.</p>
<h2>High-rise living and health</h2>
<p>Denser cities are <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/series/urban-design">seen as the antidote to these problems</a> – and with density comes high-rise and apartment living.</p>
<p>So, the question then is: how does a higher-density built environment affect our health?</p>
<p>The first thing to consider is the location of high-rise development. Siting high-rise residential blocks along busy and polluted roads is <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Increasing-density-in-Australia-Evidence-Review-2012-trevor.pdf">problematic for health</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-access-is-good-for-new-housing-but-beware-the-pollution-77790">Transport access is good for new housing, but beware the pollution</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>When poorer communities are located in areas of lesser amenity due to lower housing costs, this exacerbates their health problems. While the initial cost of home ownership might be lower for the individuals, the longer-term impost on the health budget, associated with respiratory disease, needs to be factored into the equation. </p>
<p>Another critical concern is building design and construction. Poor design and building standards can mean adjoining apartment dwellers are affected by noise from their neighbours. This can result in sleep deprivation, stress, and anxiety (and in extreme cases, neighbour conflict and violence).</p>
<p>These are all risk factors for mental health problems, as well as being implicated in poor physical health. For example, sleep deprivation is linked to obesity, which is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. </p>
<p>It doesn’t stop there – ongoing building maintenance and management are crucial. A pristine development won’t remain that way if not well managed. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>security might well complicate easy access between floors and prevent stair use, which is a <a href="https://www.stepjockey.com/health-benefits-of-stair-climbing">great way to get some incidental physical activity</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>meeting rooms can be closed off for fear of noisy gatherings or messy community groups; and</p></li>
<li><p>garden spaces may be contracted out, denying residents the benefits of growing and harvesting their own food.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Green open space is good for us</h2>
<p>There is no shortage of evidence to show just how important access to <a href="http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/about-us/healthy-parks-healthy-people/the-research">quality green open space</a> is for health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>Different types of green space, easily accessible to everyone, no matter what their income, should be a priority in designing high-density residential areas. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/planning-and-building-healthy-communities-a-multidisciplinary-study-of-the-relationship-between-the-built-environment-and-human-health/">recently released research</a> explored how neighbourhoods <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-medicare-levies-joining-the-dots-to-create-places-that-are-good-for-our-health-79115">support community health</a>. Our findings offer insights into key elements of health-supportive environments:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>free (or low-cost) infrastructure for activities such as walking and cycling is important, as are continued maintenance and safe and direct routes to nearby destinations;</p></li>
<li><p>affordable spaces that enable community-led social groups (sewing, cooking, men’s sheds) are critical in helping with social interaction, at little or no cost, to avoid isolation and loneliness;</p></li>
<li><p>all residents benefit from free, accessible, good-quality and well-maintained public spaces;</p></li>
<li><p>residents should have access to affordable, healthy local food outlets, and community food box programs are a key initiative for lower-income groups; and</p></li>
<li><p>implications of ageing and the use of public facilities need to be considered – our interviewees spoke of frailties that made it more difficult to be out and about, enjoying physical activity and being socially connected. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Study participants living in high-rise apartments were concerned about increasing residential density and loss of amenity. Issues they mentioned included access to sunlight/daylight, privacy and inter/overlooking, and dust and grit affecting their use of balconies. </p>
<h2>A fair go for all?</h2>
<p>This is a good question when it comes to the health and wellbeing of poor communities in high-rise housing. </p>
<p>All of the issues mentioned above are potentially challenging for maintaining wellbeing day-to-day. Many are not income-specific, but lower-income groups have less capacity to respond to these challenges.</p>
<p>High-density living is increasingly trumpeted as “healthy”. But without supportive infrastructure based on an understanding of specific geographic contexts and community needs, this way of living will pose significant health risks. </p>
<p>Blindly pursuing a uniform denser city agenda will only reinforce and exacerbate health inequalities. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Thompson has received funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Health, UrbanGrowth NSW and the Heart Foundation. She is a member of the NTEU.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Paine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Being crowded into poor-quality high-density units harms residents’ health, but design features that are known to promote wellbeing can make a big difference to the lives of low-income households.Susan Thompson, Professor of Planning and Head, City Wellbeing Program, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyGregory Paine, Research Officer, City Futures Research Centre, City Wellbeing, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820702017-08-21T19:23:11Z2017-08-21T19:23:11ZIt’s not just the buildings, high-density neighbourhoods make life worse for the poor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182169/original/file-20170816-26751-1q26064.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Higher-density developments change neighbourhoods, often in ways that further disadvantage low-income households.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Crommelin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is the second in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">series</a> based on new research into the place of lower-income and disadvantaged households in a compact city.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Last year marked the first time that construction began on <a href="http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2016/07/apartment-construction-boom-is-this-the-end-of-the-dream/">more higher-density housing in Australia</a> than detached dwellings. </p>
<p>While many may claim this as a success for “compact city” policies, the negative consequences of this transition disproportionately affect lower-income and disadvantaged households. This is partly because of what our apartment buildings are like to live in, as <a href="http://theconversation.com/this-is-why-apartment-living-is-different-for-the-poor-82069">yesterday’s piece</a> in this series showed.</p>
<p>But there are also aspects of neighbourhoods with lots of high-density development that compound the challenges lower-income and vulnerable residents face. In <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/equitable-density-place-lower-income-and-disadvantage-households-dense-city/">our research</a> for <a href="https://shelternsw.org.au/">Shelter NSW</a>, we identify two key problems at the neighbourhood scale: gentrification and poor infrastructure.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="http://theconversation.com/this-is-why-apartment-living-is-different-for-the-poor-82069">This is why apartment living is different for the poor</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Australia’s market-led development model underpins the gentrification reshaping our cities. This gentrification hurts lower-income residents in two main ways:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>it changes neighbourhoods for the residents who remain; and</p></li>
<li><p>it pushes people out of these neighbourhoods to more disadvantaged areas.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>How high-density development changes neighbourhoods</h2>
<p>Anyone who’s observed the changes in suburbs like <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/sydneys-indigneous-communities-are-being-forced-out-by-gentrification-20160713-gq4kwm.html">Redfern</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-gentrification-lacks-empathy-a-case-study-70582">Richmond</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-07/brookman-moir-street-heritage-precinct-in-perth-explored/7301954">Northbridge</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-to-the-gatwick-and-to-so-much-of-the-old-st-kilda-78681">St Kilda</a> will be familiar with <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-suburbs-turn-for-gentrification-comes-75609">gentrification</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-suburbs-turn-for-gentrification-comes-75609">When a suburb’s turn for gentrification comes</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>The term originally referred to middle-class residents fixing up old homes in inner-city areas. Researchers now argue higher-density urban renewal is also driving gentrification in three main ways:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Developments on inner-city “brownfields”</strong>: When old industrial areas in desirable inner-city areas get redeveloped (think Pyrmont or Docklands), they usually become high density with apartments designed for high-end buyers, as these offer developers the greatest returns. While not displacing anyone directly, this brownfield renewal can trigger <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psp.584">gentrification in surrounding areas</a> – by increasing house prices in these areas and changing their social and commercial nature. This “commercial gentrification” can price out existing lower-income residents and make them feel unwelcome.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Renewed private high-density buildings</strong>: In New South Wales, <a href="http://stratalaws.nsw.gov.au/">new laws</a> allow termination of a strata scheme if 75% of the owners agree. <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/documents/72/Renewing_the_Compact_City_-_V4_Interim_Report_2014_06_19_0.pdf">Our modelling</a> shows that, in high-value areas, gentrification will likely follow, with older, cheaper strata buildings redeveloped and resold at higher prices. This will likely displace lower-income renters, while lower-income owners may struggle to buy back in with the proceeds from their old apartment. This eventually reduces the socioeconomic diversity of these areas, so the remaining lower-income residents feel increasingly excluded.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Renewed public housing estates</strong>: Higher-density renewal of public housing – like the <a href="https://www.communitiesplus.com.au/major-sites/ivanhoe-1">Ivanhoe</a> redevelopment – often adds private housing to make the project “feasible” (profitable) for the developers that undertake these redevelopments for governments. Governments justify this with claims that greater socio-economic diversity in these “mixed tenure” redevelopments <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5625d102e4b0040b09643cc5/t/5990f65ae58c6284b2a7760a/1502672478421/NSW+Government+Media+Release+-+Ivanhoe+Redevelopment+-+14+Aug+2017.pdf">benefits lower-income and vulnerable residents</a>. Some researchers <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-mix-in-housing-one-size-doesnt-fit-all-as-new-projects-show-80956">disagree</a>.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If the addition of private housing reduces public housing stock, these residents will be displaced. Even if this doesn’t happen, mixed-tenure neighbourhoods aren’t necessarily better for lower-income residents.</p>
<p>The ways these neighbourhoods are designed, developed and managed are central to <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/developing-and-sustaining-mixed-tenure-housing-developments">how well they work</a>. </p>
<p>To benefit these residents, these neighbourhoods should be “<a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/LSECities/citiesProgramme/pdf/housingAndTheCity/2_affordability_and_tenure.pdf">tenure blind</a>” so that it’s hard to tell which parts are public housing and which parts are private.</p>
<p>At the same time, support services for high-needs residents and programs to help develop a sense of shared community are essential. Otherwise, lower-income and vulnerable residents may feel excluded from the redeveloped area, even if they are not physically displaced.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/class-divide-defies-social-mixing-and-keeps-public-housing-stigma-alive-81560">Class divide defies social mixing and keeps public housing stigma alive</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What happens to those who leave?</h2>
<p>Many lower-income residents are slowly but surely being <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/2122/AHURI_Final_Report_No160_Gentrification_and_displacement_the_household_impacts_of_neighbourhood_change.pdf">displaced from gentrified neighbourhoods</a>. Over the past few decades, disadvantaged communities across all our major cities have been pushed to middle and outer ring suburbs. </p>
<p>While we tend to assume moving away from the inner city means moving into lower density, that is not necessarily the case. Particularly in Sydney, many older, cheaper apartments are in outlying suburbs.</p>
<p>What we see is increasing concentrations of lower-income residents both in higher-density buildings and in areas further from the CBD. These trends for Sydney are shown in Figure 1. Lower-income households are concentrated in higher density in outer suburbs, particularly to the south and west.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181880/original/file-20170814-1313-xj380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Distribution of lower-income households in higher density for Greater Sydney, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided, data from ABS Census 2016</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These trends are linked to higher-density renewal and gentrification in the inner suburbs, as an increasing proportion of jobs have moved to the “<a href="http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2017/02/metropolitan-plans-and-metaphors-potential-problems-with-greater-sydneys-three-cities/">global arc</a>”. Lower-income residents are being driven further from areas with <a href="https://juablog.com/2016/07/11/relocating-disadvantage-in-five-australian-cities-socio-spatial-polarisation-under-neo-liberalism/">good access to jobs, transport and services</a>. </p>
<p>Lower-income and vulnerable residents suffer most when infrastructure and services are inadequate. This is especially so in <a href="https://theconversation.com/melbourne-shows-up-sydney-in-funding-the-most-disadvantaged-suburbs-82154">suburbs</a> with poor public transport, as they are less likely to be able to afford a car. </p>
<p>This problem highlights another flaw in our urban densification strategies: Australian cities have a <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/planning-in-a-market-economy/">poor record</a> of providing adequate infrastructure and services to support higher-density living.</p>
<h2>So how did we get here?</h2>
<p>To understand how we’ve created these problems, we need to understand the market-led model used to develop our cities in recent decades. </p>
<p>In the 1940s, Australia’s housing system was driven by a belief that every citizen was entitled to a house of their own of a <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6577819?selectedversion=NBD21271538">minimum standard</a>. Initially, this was satisfied through extensive public housing programs. </p>
<p>By the mid-1950s, however, the approach had shifted to supporting home ownership as a <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21647041?q&versionId=45483230">bedrock of Australian society</a>. As the public housing share of overall stock declined, eligibility requirements tightened. This has pushed many lower-income households into private rental housing.</p>
<p>As part of this shift away from direct government-provided housing, governments have increasingly relied on the private sector to deliver new housing. </p>
<p>Because private developers are profit-making entities, project success is tied to maximising investor return. This takes priority over delivering the best housing outcomes for residents, including lower-income households. </p>
<p>At the same time, planning policies have shifted from trying to direct market activity to being <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/168426669?selectedversion=NBD50661936">shaped by market desires</a>. As the next piece in this series will show, this generally means more higher-density development. And most of this now caters to the desires of investors rather than owner-occupiers. </p>
<p>In other words, the creation of speculative profit, rather than the creation of homes, is now the primary driver of much higher-density development. </p>
<p>As a result, lower-income and disadvantaged households are being displaced to areas with poorer infrastructure. Furthermore, they are often forced to accept smaller dwellings of a lower standard. </p>
<p>Higher-density dwellings may offer attractive living opportunities in some parts of the city, but these are largely off limits to poorer households.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other published articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurence Troy receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Easthope receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Crommelin receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.</span></em></p>For the first time in Australia, more higher-density housing than detached housing was being built last year. Compact cities have pros and cons, but the downsides fall more heavily on the poor.Laurence Troy, Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyHazel Easthope, Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLaura Crommelin, Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820692017-08-20T19:20:32Z2017-08-20T19:20:32ZThis is why apartment living is different for the poor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181309/original/file-20170808-27840-1k441ro.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When disputes and other problems of apartment living arise, low-income households' options are often limited.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hazel Easthope</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is the first in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">series</a> based on new research into the place of lower-income and disadvantaged households in a compact city.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>There’s been a lot of talk about apartment living of late. Whether it’s millennials who <a href="https://theconversation.com/moving-on-from-home-ownership-for-generation-rent-71628">can’t afford to buy a house</a>, downsizers <a href="https://theconversation.com/lack-of-housing-choice-frustrates-would-be-downsizers-60512">making a lifestyle change</a>, owner-occupiers struggling to <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/nsw-apartment-owners-could-face-bills-for-millions-of-dollars-to-replace-unsafe-cladding-20170619-gwu6kv/">get defective buildings fixed</a>, or foreign investors <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-for-off-the-plan-foreign-buyers-rely-on-a-broken-supply-argument-69487">buying into new development</a>, there’s no shortage of opinions and interest. </p>
<p>Except for one group: lower-income and vulnerable residents.</p>
<p>In Greater Sydney, the latest census data show that almost one in five households (17%) living in apartments and townhouses have weekly household incomes of less than A$649. </p>
<p>Among this group the largest sub-group (36%) live in private rental housing. That’s more than 72,000 households living on $649 or less per week in a housing market where average weekly rents for apartments <a href="http://www.afr.com/real-estate/want-to-rent-a-house-or-unit-in-sydney-theyll-now-cost-the-same-domain-says-20170719-gxe6cv">are $550</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/equitable-density-place-lower-income-and-disadvantage-households-dense-city/">Our research </a>for <a href="https://shelternsw.org.au/">Shelter NSW</a> identifies multiple challenges such households face. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-insecurity-of-private-renters-how-do-they-manage-it-77324">The insecurity of private renters – how do they manage it?</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Why does this matter?</h2>
<p>It matters because some things about apartment and townhouse living are fundamentally different to living in a house. These differences have particular impacts on lower-income and vulnerable people living in higher-density housing.</p>
<p>The significant differences include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You live closer to your neighbours, so it’s more likely you’ll see, hear or meet them.</p></li>
<li><p>You share services and spaces with neighbours, from gardens to laundries to lifts.</p></li>
<li><p>You have to co-operate with other residents and owners to manage and pay for building operation and upkeep. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>If you live in a private apartment building then the fact that a large proportion of apartments are sold to investors and rented out will likely have three key impacts on you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Developers often cater for investors <a href="http://apo.org.au/system/files/55361/apo-nid55361-151686.pdf">when designing new apartment buildings</a>, so you will likely find a limited variation in apartment designs and sizes available. </p></li>
<li><p>Resident turnover in your building may be high, as private renters <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/2227/AHURI_Final_Report_No209_Long-term-private-rental-in-a-changing-Australian-private-rental-sector.pdf">move more frequently</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Tensions between owner-occupiers and investor-owners may result in disagreements and disputes over budgeting and maintenance.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>While these unique aspects of higher-density living can be tricky for anyone, they present particular challenges for lower-income and vulnerable residents. They tend to have less choice about their living arrangements, so they can’t up and move to better-designed, constructed and managed properties if things aren’t working out.</p>
<h2>Building flaws affects some residents in particular</h2>
<p>Poor building quality is one of the major issues in high-density development in Australia. The problems relate to design, defects and maintenance. </p>
<p>The design issues include <a href="http://www.highdensityliveability.org.au/dwe_noise.php">noise disturbances</a> as a result of poor design, inadequate solar access and cross ventilation, the availability and flexibility of shared spaces, and <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/living-well-in-greater-density/">safety and security considerations</a>. </p>
<p>Another issue is design that fails to help meet the needs of particular groups (such as <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/the-accessibility-needs-and-challenges-of-strata-residents/">people with a disability</a>, and families with children). </p>
<p>Beyond design, the construction quality of higher-density developments is a major issue in Australia. Key concerns include the quantity and severity of <a href="http://bpb.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/Archive/BPActReviewDP_Engineers%20Australia%20Multi-Disciplinary%20Committee.pdf">building defects</a>, as well as the difficulties owners face having defects fixed.</p>
<p>Among the problems are quality of workmanship, <a href="http://bpb.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/Archive/BPActReviewDraftReport_Jonathan%20Drane%20attachment.pdf">management of construction</a>, private certification, <a href="http://www.be.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/upload/CopperBrownCity%20Futures%20Report%20Dealing%20With%20Defects_published.pdf">limited warranties</a> and the often-prohibitive cost of legal action. </p>
<p>As with poor design, lower-income households are particularly susceptible to construction issues. This is because there are more incentives to cut corners when constructing more affordable housing. Examples include rushing jobs, hiring cheaper but less experienced tradespeople, or using substandard materials. </p>
<p>Once residents move in, negotiating to fix defects is particularly difficult for private renters, as they typically must go through the real estate agent or landlord. This means renters may be stuck with unsatisfactory living conditions. </p>
<p>Lower-income renters are also likely to be over-represented in poorly maintained buildings, as these are usually cheaper to rent. Compared to a detached house, maintenance in higher-density properties is complicated by the complexity of the buildings themselves and the governance structures. </p>
<p>As a result, required maintenance work is often not carried out, or is reactive rather than proactive. This is especially true in buildings occupied by lower-income renters with no direct recourse to the strata committee. They often cannot afford to move and may fear <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/2099/AHURI_Final_Report_No170_Secure_occupancy_in_rental_housing_conceptual_foundations_and_comparative_perspectives.pdf">retaliatory rent increases</a> if they report maintenance issues.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/dickensian-approach-to-residential-tenants-lingers-in-australian-law-65146">Dickensian approach to residential tenants lingers in Australian law</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Social relations can be challenging</h2>
<p>Neighbour disputes happen everywhere, but evidence suggests <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2014.933783">disputes are more common</a> in areas with more lower-income and vulnerable residents and with more apartments. </p>
<p>Common causes of <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/governing-the-compact-city-the-role-and-effectiveness-of-strata-management-in-higher-density-residential-developments/">neighbour conflict</a> in higher-density housing reflect different expectations about noise levels, parking practices, or spending on maintenance and improvements. </p>
<p>Neighbour disputes can have significant impacts on health. This potentially counteracts the <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/city-wellbeing/city-wellbeing-resources/literature-review/">health benefits</a> associated with the walkable nature of many higher-density neighbourhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181613/original/file-20170810-10793-8uxcjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apartment residents must negotiate disputes, and not everyone is equally well placed to do so.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-family-having-conflict-elderly-female-382740439?src=AWLpZ7RCoUDPe7dnbYwcog-1-21">Iakov Filimonov from shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When disputes arise, the number of stakeholders involved complicates efforts to find a resolution. They might include renters, resident owners, investor owners, building managers, strata managers and strata committee members. </p>
<p><a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/governing-the-compact-city-the-role-and-effectiveness-of-strata-management-in-higher-density-residential-developments/">Research with strata residents</a> in New South Wales shows residents find formal dispute resolution mechanisms complex and slow. Most disputes are resolved informally. </p>
<p>Lower-income residents, and renters in particular, are likely to have less influence over the outcomes of such processes.</p>
<p>Fostering positive neighbour relations can be more difficult where resident turnover is high, such as in buildings dominated by private renters. It is also more difficult in poorly designed buildings without quality shared spaces.</p>
<h2>New norm promotes inequity</h2>
<p>Apartment living is the new norm in Australia. As the nursery rhyme says, when it’s good it’s very, very good, but when it’s bad it’s horrid. If these homes are poorly designed, poorly built, poorly maintained or poorly managed, they are poor places to live.</p>
<p>The market-led housing model that underpins Australia’s compact city policies has meant that people with less money get a poorer product. Few planners or politicians have adequately acknowledged these inequities. </p>
<p>The reasons why we got here will be considered in tomorrow’s piece in this series.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Easthope receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Crommelin receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurence Troy receives funding from Shelter NSW and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.</span></em></p>In the push for more compact cities, don’t forget the ways apartment living is different. And often the downsides of these differences weigh heavily on low-income and disadvantaged households.Hazel Easthope, Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLaura Crommelin, Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLaurence Troy, Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814792017-07-31T19:54:42Z2017-07-31T19:54:42ZVanishing Australian backyards leave us vulnerable to the stresses of city life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179740/original/file-20170726-30134-26yxld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The traditional backyard provides a retreat from the pressures of city life.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The traditional Australian suburban backyard is being lost to higher-density housing and massive project homes on small lots. </p>
<p>City planning is focused on making cities more compact, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-living-can-make-us-healthier-but-not-on-its-own-34920">in some ways is desirable</a>, and the large backyard is seen as unsustainable and undesirable because of the space it consumes. But its loss could well be <a href="http://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/mind-the-gaps-framework.html">increasing the risks of physical and mental health problems</a> among city residents.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="http://theconversation.com/planners-know-depressingly-little-about-a-citys-impacts-on-our-mental-health-81098">Planners know too little about the ‘depressogenic’ city</a></p>
<hr>
<p>Private and secure backyards are places where people can retreat from the relentless pressures and intensity of city life. This sort of open space may provide the essential nurturing environment city dwellers need to cope mentally and physically with the stresses of their lives. </p>
<p>And cities are stressful places in which to live and have always been so. In the second century AD, Roman poet <a href="http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-seven-plagues-of-the-ancient-roman-city-dweller/">Juvenal wrote</a> that the noise and lack of sleep in Rome was a major problem. Only wealthy Roman citizens could deal with the stress by building homes surrounded by peaceful gardens outside the city centre. </p>
<h2>How is our health affected?</h2>
<p>Today, evidence shows us that city dwellers, while benefiting from the advantages of city living, also suffer. </p>
<p>For instance, they are more likely to experience <a href="https://www.academia.edu/17156175/City_living_and_urban_upbringing_affect_neural_social_stress_processing_in_humans">anxiety and depression</a>, and their risk of psychosis increases dramatically. City dwellers <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110622135216.htm">have been shown</a> to have a 39% greater risk of mood disorders and a 21% added risk of anxiety disorders compared to rural dwellers.</p>
<p>Life stresses clearly play a major role in causing poor mental health among city dwellers, but the impact of the environment cannot be ignored. A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760412/">recent review</a> of 50 studies shows that an environment devoid of nature may have undesirable impacts on health or quality of life. Part of the problem lies in the visual absence of plants and landscape.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/hug-a-tree-the-evidence-shows-it-really-will-make-you-feel-better-21924">Hug a tree … it really will make you feel better</a></p>
<hr>
<p>Research also finds that play-oriented green spaces <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/26/7937.full">benefit children’s mental development</a>.</p>
<p>It’s reasonable, then, to suggest that a lack of landscaped settings, such as backyards, could reduce emotional wellbeing, particularly among people less able to cope with mental stresses. </p>
<h2>A place of vanishing backyards</h2>
<p>Perth, where project homes bigger than 300 square metres are common, provides an interesting case study. </p>
<p>When devising Perth planning policies in the 1950s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Stephenson">Gordon Stephenson</a> argued that the large backyards associated with Australian homes reduced the need for large public recreation areas. The backyard was seen as necessary for healthy city living. </p>
<p>By the 1970s, land subdivisions in Perth usually produced a residential lot around 600m<sup>2</sup> with a frontage of 20 metres. Because project homes were so much smaller then, with a minimum 6m rear setback, a Perth family usually had a backyard of 120m<sup>2</sup> at the very least. These areas provided space for large trees, cubby houses, climbing frames, swings, gardens and area to throw a ball. </p>
<p>Today, Perth planning regulations require private open space smaller than a double garage per family household. Houses like those of Alkimos and Ellenbrook, on Perth’s fringes, spread almost from boundary to boundary. </p>
<p>The houses comply with Perth planning requirements that allow areas under eaves, patios, verandahs and paved parking areas to be included in open space calculations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179742/original/file-20170726-30108-1gbuumb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Backyards have all but vanished from housing in Ellenbrook (above) and Alkimos (below).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179741/original/file-20170726-3011-17uv8mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Starved of space, and hotter</h2>
<p>The result is little useful recreational outdoor space. Far from being child-friendly, these family homes without backyards are restricting our children from enjoying a normal active life in the safety of their homes.</p>
<p>Children have to use indoor spaces for recreation. This usually take the form of sedentary entertainment sources such as television and electronic games, adding to a great public health problem confronting our children. Obesity is associated with a lack of exercise as well as eating fast food. </p>
<p>Reducing open green space is also increasing urban temperatures, with major physical health consequences. All Australian capitals will increase significantly in average temperature by 2050. Perth will become Australia’s hottest capital with estimated heat-related deaths increasing <a href="http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/verve/_resources/heatwaves_fact_sheet_oct_3_07.pdf">from 294 a year to 1,419</a>, many more than the city’s annual road toll.</p>
<p>It has been known for many years that the best way to combat urban heat is by providing well-landscaped open spaces with large trees. This is the very type of space that many large backyards provided. </p>
<p>We can confirm this cooling effect using thermal imaging. This thermal image of suburban Perth, taken on a 38-degree day, shows that landscaped backyards in older suburbs (blue) are far cooler than more intense housing developments with little private open space (orange to red). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179764/original/file-20170726-20682-17jv4ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A thermal image shows older suburban areas with large landscaped backyards are much cooler (blue) than the hotter (orange-red) higher-density areas of Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Paul Barber ArborCarbon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/out-in-the-heat-why-poorer-suburbs-are-more-at-risk-in-warming-cities-66213">Why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities</a></p>
<hr>
<h2>Leadership is needed</h2>
<p>What can and should be done? </p>
<p>The principle is simple: in the suburbs we need to build smaller two-storey project homes with large backyards open to the sky, just as they have learnt to do in the suburbs of European cities. The role of these backyards can change as family lifecycle needs change. </p>
<p>Achieving this, however, will be difficult. Australians show little self-control of their consumption even when warned of the consequences. </p>
<p>A change is needed, driven by courageous, sensible and forward-thinking politicians who can see beyond the compact city pushed by planning bureaucrats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linley Lutton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australians are losing the backyards that once served as retreats from the stresses of city living. Our health is likely to suffer as cities become less green and much hotter.Linley Lutton, Adjunct Senior Teaching Fellow in Urban Planning and Design, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/758402017-05-04T20:08:43Z2017-05-04T20:08:43ZHigher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable<p>Access to high-quality public open space is a key ingredient of <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-urban-bushland-improves-our-health-and-why-planners-need-to-listen-72876">healthy</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-create-liveable-cities-first-we-must-work-out-the-key-ingredients-50898">liveable cities</a>. This has long been recognised in government planning policy, based on a large body of academic research showing that accessible green spaces <a href="http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/321971/Urban-green-spaces-and-health-review-evidence.pdf?ua=1">lead to better health outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>However, cities are home to more than just people. We also need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/concrete-jungle-well-have-to-do-more-than-plant-trees-to-bring-wildlife-back-to-our-cities-51047">accommodate the critters and plants</a> who live in them. This includes the species who called our cities home before we did. </p>
<p>Greening cities that are becoming denser is a major challenge. <a href="https://www.healthybydesignsa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Green-Spaces-Evidence-Review-FINAL_website.pdf">Green spaces</a> and <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Increasing-density-in-Australia-Evidence-Review-2012-trevor.pdf">density</a> are both good for health outcomes when <a href="http://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/">designed well</a>. However, higher-density development can place added pressure on green space if not well planned and managed. </p>
<p>The South Australian government is leading the way in the design of public green spaces in denser cities by bringing together the multiple actors needed to create change. This includes the Heart Foundation, Departments of Health and Ageing, Environment Water and Natural Resources, Office for Recreation and Sport, the South Australian Local Government Association and the Office of the Chief Architect, as well as researchers from RMIT University and the University of Melbourne.</p>
<p>This is the new shift required for urban greening practice – led by practitioners with support from research evidence provided by (and in collaboration with) academics.</p>
<p>In Victoria, Planning Minister Richard Wynne has called for the suburban backyard <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-11/victorian-government-legislate-to-protect-suburban-backyard/8344876">to be maintained</a> in the refreshed <a href="http://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/">Plan Melbourne 2017-2050</a>. This <a href="http://www.vic.gov.au/news/plan-melbourne-2017-2050.html">policy</a> recognises the importance of private green space by establishing minimum garden areas in new developments. </p>
<p>Another major challenge is <a href="https://theconversation.com/smart-urban-design-could-save-lives-in-future-heatwaves-33246">increasing urban heat</a> and climate change. Some tree species we know and love will no longer be viable in cities that are several degrees warmer than they were. </p>
<p>Suitable species for future climates need to be selected, as the City of Melbourne has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-17/melbourne-gets-a-tree-change-in-readiness-for-a-hotter-climate/8035270">recently demonstrated</a>. Increasing temperatures and the resulting loss of old trees will have adverse consequences for public health, ecology and biodiversity. </p>
<p>Understanding how best to achieve these benefits, and the trade-offs involved in delivering them, is particularly important today. Our cities are growing rapidly. We are seeing increasing populations, greater housing density, rising temperatures, growing rates of obesity, diabetes, stress and depression, and declining native biodiversity. </p>
<h2>Why is greening on the agenda?</h2>
<p>Urban greening is now recognised as a public health issue. New research has found its benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>lower rates of anti-depressant prescriptions in neighbourhoods <a href="http://www.thatsfarming.com/news/nature-depression">close to woodlands in the UK</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>happier people <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/25/watching-garden-birds-good-mental-health-research-shows/">living in areas with more birdlife</a>; and</p></li>
<li><p>better health outcomes with <a href="http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2015/07/street-trees-really-do-make-people-healthier/">increased neighbourhood tree coverage</a> in the US.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Ecological research also shows that urban green spaces can support many kinds of <a href="http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?paper=EC12485">birds</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.2224/full">bats</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715001895">bees</a> and plants. Urban greening has even been found to <a href="https://theconversation.com/greening-cities-makes-for-safer-neighbourhoods-62093">lead to safer neighbourhoods</a>.</p>
<p>Australian urban planning and policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-planners-understand-its-cool-to-green-cities-whats-stopping-them-55753">need to embrace these findings</a>. Multiple government portfolios must work together to better plan for green cities that achieve maximum impact for economic, environmental and public health outcomes.</p>
<h2>What do we mean by green space?</h2>
<p>Green spaces are areas of public and private land covered with vegetation. This includes most areas we traditionally see as public open space: parks, gardens and sports ovals. </p>
<p>Green space also includes other areas of public land: street trees and streetscapes, nature conservation reserves, community gardens, school grounds and public buildings with green walls, facades and roofs. On private land, green spaces include residential gardens, golf courses and greening on and around private buildings. </p>
<p>All these green spaces together provide multiple benefits. The Heart Foundation and South Australian government recently commissioned an <a href="https://www.healthybydesignsa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Green-Spaces-Evidence-Review-FINAL_website.pdf">evidence review</a> of how quality green space is supporting health, wellbeing and biodiversity. This report shows that green spaces can be designed to provide multiple benefits.</p>
<p>These benefits are delivered by including features that are known to influence physical activity, mental health, social, cultural, environmental and biodiversity outcomes. For example, planting trees in parks, gardens or streets can have many benefits:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/can-trees-really-cool-our-cities-down-44099">cool cities</a>;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-debbie-we-can-design-cities-to-withstand-these-natural-disasters-75287">slow stormwater runoff</a>;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130619164708.htm">filter air pollution</a>;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/go-native-why-we-need-wildlife-allotments-to-bring-species-back-to-the-burbs-69631">provide habitat for some animals</a>;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-stress-at-work-is-a-walk-in-the-park-57634">make people happier</a>; and</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-panopticons-are-coming-and-theyll-know-when-we-think-the-grass-is-greener-63935">encourage walking</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Greening solutions aren’t simple</h2>
<p>The benefits green spaces provide are also influenced by local context: climate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-heatwave-the-leafy-suburbs-are-even-more-advantaged-53307">inequity and social disadvantage</a>, culture, or resident/user age and gender. </p>
<p>However, if green spaces are well designed with community input, these local factors can provide opportunities to maximise impact. For example, green space can be more beneficial when <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61689-X/abstract">provided in areas of social disadvantage</a> with limited existing green space, and trees provide more cooling benefits <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866712000829">in hotter cities</a>.</p>
<p>There are no magic bullets. If green spaces aren’t well designed, for example, trees can:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>reduce the area available for some active sports;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://earthtechling.com/2012/08/not-made-in-the-shade-can-solar-trees-get-along/">shade rooftop solar panels</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>reduce flower, fruit and vegetable production;</p></li>
<li><p>create mess through fallen leaves; and</p></li>
<li><p>create <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/27/1093518098983.html">unsuitable habitat</a> for other kinds of plants and animals. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These complex interactions highlight the need for academics and practitioners to work collaboratively across disciplines and sectors. These should include urban planning, public health, urban ecology, urban forestry, engineering, community development and economics. Knowledge needs to be shared and translated into action. </p>
<p>Our green cities of the future need to be designed to benefit human (and non-human) residents equitably. We need to move beyond a reliance on backyards and parks that were designed according to 19th-century principles (and using 19th-century species). </p>
<p>Cities need green spaces that are well designed, creatively delivered, accessible to all, and managed and maintained with appropriate resources to ensure long-term quality and availability.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading: <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-urban-bushland-improves-our-health-and-why-planners-need-to-listen-72876">How urban bushland improves our health and why planners need to listen</a></strong></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Davern receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Clean Air and Urban Landscape Hub of the National Environmental Science Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Kendal receives funding from the SA Heart Foundation, City of Melbourne, Melbourne Water, the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the Clean Air and Urban Landscape Hub of the National Environmental Science Program, and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Gunn receives funding from the NHMRC funded Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Farrar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Greening cities that are becoming denser is a major challenge. City-dwellers’ health benefits from both well-designed green spaces and urban density, so we must manage the tensions between them.Melanie Davern, Senior Research Fellow, Healthy Liveable Cities Group, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityAlison Farrar, Research Assistant, School of Ecosystem & Forest Sciences, The University of MelbourneDave Kendal, Research Fellow, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences and the Clean Air and Urban Landscape hub of the National Environmental Science Program, The University of MelbourneLucy Gunn, Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741722017-03-14T03:21:43Z2017-03-14T03:21:43ZContested spaces: living next door to Alice (and Anh and Abdullah)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160253/original/image-20170310-3700-1neyndl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How is apartment living changing the way we get to know our increasingly diverse neighbourhoods?
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the eighth article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">Contested Spaces</a> series. These pieces look at the conflicting uses, expectations and norms that people bring to public spaces, the clashes that result and how we can resolve these.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Ethnic conflict is on the rise in Australia, with <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2017/02/01/face-racism-what-you-need-know">regular reports of racist abuse</a> in public spaces, including transport, streets and shopping centres. But what about our more immediate domestic environments such as apartment buildings? </p>
<p><a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/managing-diversity-strata-communities/">Our research</a> shows that ethnic tensions can also play out within these buildings, where growing numbers of city dwellers now live.</p>
<p>As increasing diversity and density come to characterise our cities, how can we build harmonious communities within apartment complexes? Community relations programs have traditionally focused on neighbourhoods, local associations, sport and recreation activities, or schools. But as more and more of us <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/cityviz/strata-schemes-sydney/">move into apartments</a>, we need to pay more attention to these super-local residential interactions. </p>
<p>Apartment complexes are microcosms of society, but living so close to strangers can increase the likelihood of tension. The flashpoints range from complaints about noise and garbage to disputes about levies and budgets. Cultural and language differences can exacerbate these conflicts.</p>
<p>What can we do with our closest neighbours to combat growing cultural tensions in society and improve community harmony? Here, drawing on our research, we reveal some top tips on how to build an inclusive and harmonious community in your apartment building.</p>
<h2>Know thy neighbours</h2>
<p>Social commentary on the <a href="http://bowlingalone.com/">loss of community</a> abounds. As we become busier and more mobile, we are less and less likely to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/a-matter-of-trust/2005/10/29/1130400400879.html">know our neighbours</a> and our local community. However, <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/When-Strangers-Meet/Kio-Stark/TED-Books/9781471156090">a recent book</a> highlighted the benefits of talking to strangers. This includes cementing relationships in the places where you live, work and play. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3236.0Main%20Features42011%20to%202036">increasingly isolated societies</a>, these local relationships are important. The same goes for our most immediate neighbours.</p>
<p>In addition to getting to know them face to face, you could ask your strata committee to do a quick survey of residents to get a better picture of the diversity among your neighbours. If many families of particular cultural groups live in your building, this knowledge can help you plan communication and events accordingly.</p>
<p>It may be that you have important notices translated, or arrange for neighbours to act as translators at meetings and relay information to others who may not speak English well. Or you can plan communal activities around festivities such as Christmas, Chinese New Year, Diwali or Eid.</p>
<h2>Be a social butterfly</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160112/original/image-20170309-21047-ykhpys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inviting your neighbours to pop over for tea or a glass of wine, depending on everyone’s taste, is a good way to get to get to know one another.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Doing things together is by far the most effective way to getting to know people. Invite your neighbours over for a cup of tea or, if all of you prefer, a glass of wine. But, remember, while sharing food can help you get to know one another, be considerate of people’s food choices, whether it’s for religious, ethical or other reasons; a barbecue of just pork sausages many not win many friends.</p>
<p>Invite neighbours to form working bees to do up the garden or decorate the hallways. But be culturally sensitive in your approach to building aesthetics. Don’t just put up decorations for Christmas or Easter; include other cultural events your neighbours celebrate. Or, if your building has a “no decorations” rule, make sure this applies universally and not just to Chinese New Year or Diwali ornaments.</p>
<p>Some apartment residents have successfully used social media such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/167970719931213?helpref=about_content">Facebook groups</a> or <a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/21073373">WhatsApp group chat</a> to encourage communication in their buildings. This may be an easier method of communication for those with poor spoken English. Your residents survey may reveal other preferred forms of communication.</p>
<h2>Singling out is never the right thing to do</h2>
<p>While translating important documents will help your neighbours who may not have a good command of English, singling out specific language and cultural groups as potential wrongdoers (such as by translating “Do not do this” signage into one language only) may not only cause offence, but may be pointing the finger at the wrong party.</p>
<p>And leaving notes like the one below without first trying to find the culprit and speak with them about it may also damage relationships with your neighbours.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160111/original/image-20170309-21018-91k1le.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A note like this one, especially if directed at an innocent party, can lead to lasting difficulties between neighbours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are just some tips on how to start making your apartment building more harmonious and inclusive. <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/managing-diversity-strata-communities/">Our project webpage</a> has a longer list of these tips. </p>
<p>Help is also often at hand from other sources. The City of Sydney, for example, regularly holds <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/live/residents/apartment-living">workshops</a> on how to live well in apartments for all parties. Likewise, peak bodies such as Strata Community Australia (NSW) produce <a href="http://nsw.stratacommunity.org.au/information/factsheets/">fact sheets</a> that not only update you on changes in regulations but also on ways to make your meetings run more smoothly.</p>
<p>Apartment living provides many opportunities to <a href="http://interculturalunderstanding.org/">foster intercultural understanding</a>, as residents increasingly share a domestic environment and work together to maintain their buildings. However, such close proximity can also amplify intercultural tension and hostility. </p>
<p>Fostering harmonious relations within high-density living is becoming increasingly important in creating socially cohesive, multicultural cities. We need to pay more attention to ideas and strategies for achieving this goal.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can find other pieces published in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Strata Community Australia (NSW) funded the research project on which this article is based.
Edgar Liu receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, New South Wales' Department of Family and Community Services, PAYCE Communities, SGCH Ltd, South Australia's Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, and Strata Community Australia (NSW chapter).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ho has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Easthope receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>As increasing diversity and density come to characterise our cities, how can we build harmonious communities within apartment complexes?Edgar Liu, Research Fellow at City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyChristina Ho, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Coordinator, Social & Political Sciences, University of Technology SydneyHazel Easthope, Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/639302016-09-19T03:45:50Z2016-09-19T03:45:50ZTo cut urban sprawl, we need quality infill housing displays to win over the public<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134562/original/image-20160818-12281-1sp7ujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The continued preference for detached housing in new suburbs is driving Perth's urban sprawl and means two-thirds of dwellings built over the next 15 years need to be on infill sites to meet the state's target. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/perthhdproductions/7471252326/in/photolist-bUFopa-cod82h-aXzLE-73sZQC">perthhdproductions/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With state governments across Australia acknowledging the need to limit urban sprawl, fill the gaps within existing metropolitan areas and build higher-density housing on selected sites, many opportunities have opened up. Demonstration projects are key to ensuring quality outcomes, and government has a leading role to play.</p>
<p>The Western Australian target for urban infill is at the lower end compared to other states. In August 2010, the Department of Planning and the Western Australian Planning Commission released <a href="http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/publications/826.asp">Directions 2031 and Beyond</a>, a report that proposed a more consolidated Perth, with an infill target of 47% of new housing. </p>
<p>The report stated that 328,000 new dwellings would be needed by 2031. The 47% target translates to 154,000 of these. This target was a 50% increase on infill trends at the time.</p>
<p>In 2015, the same two government agencies released the draft document, <a href="http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/publications/3.5million.asp">Perth and Peel@3.5 million</a>, which again nominated the 47% infill target. However, the authors acknowledged that urban infill rates had reached only 28% in 2014. This means that, to reach the 47% goal, the required increase in infill has moved from 50% to 68% more than the actual infill numbers in the five years between the two reports.</p>
<h2>Filling the housing gap</h2>
<p>This is a substantial change, and one that will require significant shifts from “business-as-usual” approaches to housing delivery along with community acceptance of higher residential densities. Government can assist with these shifts and, in doing so, help to fill a conspicuous gap in the content of the reports.</p>
<p>This gap is the absence of anything more than the briefest of references to the nature of the housing that will provide the increased infill and density. There is no real discussion of housing types and design, methods of construction and delivery, or forms of ownership that may encourage a greater take-up of such housing.</p>
<p>Higher residential density and infill continue to face a level of community resistance. Some of this is justified, in that much of the completed suburban infill is of a poor quality and too fragmented to deliver the positive changes and level of amenity that higher density can bring.</p>
<p>A quick Google Maps scan across the middle suburbs of Perth shows the dominant form of suburban infill in the city. It is a compressed suburbia. Large houses are squeezed together onto sites, shrinking usable private outdoor space to leftover space, reducing access to sun and cross-ventilation, and diminishing existing tree canopy. Driveways, car courts and double garage doors engage with the street. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134568/original/image-20160818-12300-1cu08cx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Standard industry infill strategies in middle-ring or greyfield suburbs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do we improve infill?</h2>
<p>Looking at this prompts the question: how do we improve the standard? Researchers at Swinburne and Monash universities in Melbourne and at the Australian Urban Design Research Centre (AUDRC) at the University of Western Australia have proposed solutions. </p>
<p>The Monash project, <a href="http://www.ovga.vic.gov.au/images/Infill_Opportunities_-_Design_Research_Report_-_FINAL.pdf">Infill Opportunities: Design Research Report</a>, prepared for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, explores how considered design strategies can contribute to better-quality infill redevelopment in the middle-ring suburbs. </p>
<p>The strategies include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>going above a single storey, with the height shifted away from site boundaries to reduce overlooking and shadow-casting of neighbours;</p></li>
<li><p>allocating usable private courtyards to each unit;</p></li>
<li><p>providing good solar access, cross-ventilation and outlook; and</p></li>
<li><p>developing a car-parking strategy that can change over time.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In addition, the idea is for the units to have a degree of inbuilt flexibility so they can adapt to changing household circumstances. While this work remains diagrammatic, it nevertheless demonstrates that, with a clear focus on how design can enable amenity to be optimised, suburban infill can provide attractive housing options.</p>
<p>There are infill projects being built in Perth that demonstrate what is possible when real design intelligence is at play. </p>
<p>For example, LandCorp’s stage 1 development of <a href="http://www.knutsford.com.au/">Knutsford</a>, 1.5 kilometres from the centre of Fremantle, provides a mix of well-considered housing types. These feature good indoor-outdoor relationships and clever spatial strategies to enable a high degree of internal flexibility.</p>
<p>This housing is being offered to the market at very reasonable prices. In stage 1, 23 units were completed, with 33 being built in stage 2, all designed by Spaceagency.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134570/original/image-20160818-12312-1k1nv0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The streetscape of stage 1 at Knutsford, designed by Spaceagency, is free of driveways, with access at the rear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Frith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need more good examples like this, with a greater diversity of housing types. The potential that is implicit in higher-density housing – the opportunities for social engagement, sharing of facilities, fewer cars, richer urban potential, better public space and urban realm – needs to be made explicit. </p>
<h2>Time to revisit the display village</h2>
<p>For more than 50 years, display villages have been used to promote and sell detached project housing. These displays have enabled buyers to see what they are buying and to understand the potential of the broader setting of the house. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1249&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134572/original/image-20160818-12298-alttaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1249&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The quality of design helped stage 1 of Knutsford to sell within months.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Frith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, display villages promoted, through built example, the houses that eventually formed suburbia. In the same way, a display village for higher-density housing units could promote options that are not currently on offer in the housing market. </p>
<p>Potential buyers would be able to experience and understand the qualities of the housing on display. A higher-density display village would demonstrate how, with intelligent design, these units can be spacious, adaptable and work effectively with outdoor space.</p>
<p>For Perth, such a display village would provide a valuable means for industry to innovate with housing types and forms of construction. A government imprimatur and the willingness to underwrite the first projects should ensure this outcome. </p>
<p>The village would offer design diversity in terms of type and form, construction innovation including modular and prefabrication techniques, use of new materials, and the ability to test new strategies for utilities and waste. </p>
<p>It would showcase design for low energy use on a precinct scale and for reduced car dependency. It would take advantage of Perth’s climate and allow a fluid relationship between indoors and outdoors, creating a sense of space, light and air.</p>
<h2>Infill can add value to suburbs</h2>
<p>Government and industry would plan and promote the project. Government would provide the land and industry would build the housing. The display housing would be open to the public for a period of time, then sold to individual buyers. </p>
<p>Affordability remains a major obstacle to broader acceptance of higher-density housing. This is because selling prices per square metre are considerably more than those of a detached new house on the suburban fringes. The display village could explore alternative forms of land and house delivery and ownership.</p>
<p>Higher-density housing isn’t necessarily a threat to the traditional Australian notion of suburbia. It need not be seen as a denigration of the values that recognise suburbia as having a particular quality that helps establish the idea of an Australian way of life based on the detached house and its backyard. There is a vast existing stock to ensure those values will remain in place. </p>
<p>The development of well-designed, high-performing and higher-density infill housing will, in fact, protect existing suburbs from the poorer-quality infill that is occurring, while allowing the benefits of an enhanced public realm to be shared.</p>
<p>The WA government has a major challenge in meeting its infill targets. It can help meet this challenge by initiating a government-assisted display village of quality higher-density housing. It would be the first state government in Australia to do so.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation is co-publishing articles with <a href="http://www.alva.uwa.edu.au/community/futurewest">Future West (Australian Urbanism)</a>, produced by the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts. These articles look towards the future of urbanism, taking Perth and Western Australia as its reference point. You can read other articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/future-west-30248">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey London has in the past received Australian Research Council funding for housing-related research.</span></em></p>Government and industry need to demonstrate the benefits of well-designed higher-density housing. Rich residential display projects may be the ideal catalyst for creating smarter cities.Geoffrey London, Professor of Architecture, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.