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.
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Articles on Higher-density housing
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Before the pandemic, the country was making great strides towards creating more compact, sustainable and liveable cities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As increasing diversity and density come to characterise our cities, how can we build harmonious communities within apartment complexes?
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.
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Top contributors
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Scientia Associate Professor, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Senior Lecturer in Urbanism, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer in City Planning, UNSW Sydney
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Senior Research Fellow, Healthy Urban Environments (HUE) Collaboratory / City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney
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Adjunct Professor, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney
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Professiorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Emeritus Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology
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Head of Urbanism and Associate Professor of Urban Studies, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney
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Professor of Housing & Social Policy, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology
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Adjunct professor of architecture, University of Adelaide
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Professor of Planning and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, Director Australian Urban Observatory, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University
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Senior Research Fellow, Healthy Liveable Cities Group, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, RMIT University
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Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute
