Old-style suburbs returning to rescue city
Old-style suburbs returning to rescue city
By Darren Goodsir Urban Affairs Editor
July 23, 2005
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Forget cul-de-sacs that make walking and driving a navigational drama. Take away large above-ground car parks, closeted communities and sprawling, energy-intensive homes that encourage rich residents to stay behind their doors.
In fact, ditch almost every planning principle that has been in vogue in Sydney for the past 15 years. Tomorrow's neighbourhoods, say the planners who are plotting hundreds of new suburbs for 160,000 people, will draw on features from some of our oldest towns and villages in an effort to bring back life and safety. And they will aim to replace what has become an insular, fortress mentality for many residents.
It is a back-to-the-future policy that aims to re-create village squares amid a mix of developments. Schools would be near shops, and walking encouraged over driving.
The Which Sydney Suburbs Work report, released last week by the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, has guidelines for how new towns in the north-west and south-west will function. It notes bad planning, mainly in towns developed in the 1980s near Baulkham Hills. It explains how mistakes will be avoided.
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The State Government has set aside the sites for up to 30 per cent of the 600,000 homes it believes will be needed in the next 25 years. In some cases, the study is breathtaking in its simplicity, demonstrating how the city's recent sprawl - which has been built often with little or no support services - has seen rows of chillingly similar homes, but communities devoid of life and vibrancy.
The absence of proper planning has also promoted crime.
What is needed, the report concludes, is a return to grid-style suburbs, with multi-storey apartments near the town centres and transport links. More traditional homes - but smaller and less energy-consuming than recent houses - would lie beyond the centres.
Jobs, and a mix of home sizes and styles, are also considered essential. This mimics traditional suburbs in the inner and middle ring areas of Sydney.
The report concluded that a swathe of more recently built suburbs were a shambles and socially insular. They lack a mix of residential, retail and commercial services contributing to people needing to travel regularly outside their neighbourhoods.
This robbed suburbs of character and presence, and promoted excessive car use and a decline in the time residents spent communicating with each other.
The premise is that the solution can largely be found in the traditional pattern of suburban development, the report said.
"In many areas, the network of pedestrian and cycle routes, constructed between houses and across parks to facilitate access to shopping, open space and other services, have provided opportunities for crime, and are not safe to use, particularly at night.
"Often, newer suburbs have more open space than older suburbs, however, parks in these areas often tend to be located on difficult to develop, leftover land. They are poorly located, of a lower quality and less accessible."
The reports for the new land release areas have been placed on public exhibition until October 7.
A new Growth Centres Commission has been established to co-ordinate the building of suburbs. The former head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Alan Cameron, leads the new body. It will also aim to ensure that services and a mix of job, transport and housing styles are developed.
By Darren Goodsir Urban Affairs Editor
July 23, 2005
Page Tools
Related
What switches a project to fast track - signals coming up
Forget cul-de-sacs that make walking and driving a navigational drama. Take away large above-ground car parks, closeted communities and sprawling, energy-intensive homes that encourage rich residents to stay behind their doors.
In fact, ditch almost every planning principle that has been in vogue in Sydney for the past 15 years. Tomorrow's neighbourhoods, say the planners who are plotting hundreds of new suburbs for 160,000 people, will draw on features from some of our oldest towns and villages in an effort to bring back life and safety. And they will aim to replace what has become an insular, fortress mentality for many residents.
It is a back-to-the-future policy that aims to re-create village squares amid a mix of developments. Schools would be near shops, and walking encouraged over driving.
The Which Sydney Suburbs Work report, released last week by the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, has guidelines for how new towns in the north-west and south-west will function. It notes bad planning, mainly in towns developed in the 1980s near Baulkham Hills. It explains how mistakes will be avoided.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
The State Government has set aside the sites for up to 30 per cent of the 600,000 homes it believes will be needed in the next 25 years. In some cases, the study is breathtaking in its simplicity, demonstrating how the city's recent sprawl - which has been built often with little or no support services - has seen rows of chillingly similar homes, but communities devoid of life and vibrancy.
The absence of proper planning has also promoted crime.
What is needed, the report concludes, is a return to grid-style suburbs, with multi-storey apartments near the town centres and transport links. More traditional homes - but smaller and less energy-consuming than recent houses - would lie beyond the centres.
Jobs, and a mix of home sizes and styles, are also considered essential. This mimics traditional suburbs in the inner and middle ring areas of Sydney.
The report concluded that a swathe of more recently built suburbs were a shambles and socially insular. They lack a mix of residential, retail and commercial services contributing to people needing to travel regularly outside their neighbourhoods.
This robbed suburbs of character and presence, and promoted excessive car use and a decline in the time residents spent communicating with each other.
The premise is that the solution can largely be found in the traditional pattern of suburban development, the report said.
"In many areas, the network of pedestrian and cycle routes, constructed between houses and across parks to facilitate access to shopping, open space and other services, have provided opportunities for crime, and are not safe to use, particularly at night.
"Often, newer suburbs have more open space than older suburbs, however, parks in these areas often tend to be located on difficult to develop, leftover land. They are poorly located, of a lower quality and less accessible."
The reports for the new land release areas have been placed on public exhibition until October 7.
A new Growth Centres Commission has been established to co-ordinate the building of suburbs. The former head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Alan Cameron, leads the new body. It will also aim to ensure that services and a mix of job, transport and housing styles are developed.
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