PROFESSOR Michael Buxton at RMIT’s school of Global, Urban and Social Studies has come up with ALTERNATIVE solutions to solve the problems created by high population growth and overdevelopment …
THAT building entirely new cities wasn’t the best cure for its growing pains.
RATHER … to transform low-density suburbs on the urban fringe into connected neighbourhoods; and building up regional hubs such as Newcastle and Ballarat
–building new cities would cannibalise our pre-existing regional cities and place greater strain on our natural resources.
-if it does happen, the government should adopt the ‘Canberra’ model and compulsorily acquire the land for the future cities at rural land prices
CAAN:
IT’S about VALUE CAPTURE … GREED … they don’t care … they are bogans making a motza at our expense … so much more damage before the next elections.
People should be HAMMERING the opposition …
HOW THEY WILL ADDRESS THIS?
That is what people are not doing … are we stupid?
Australia must build a new ‘Canberra’ every year, says urban planner
SHARE
Australia must build a new ‘Canberra’ every year to ease congestion and improve liveability, an urban planner has said.
Soaring property prices are pushing ordinary working Australians further and further away from the city – eating into precious agricultural land.
Wayne Shields runs Peninsula Fresh Organics market garden at Baxter.CREDIT:CHRIS HOPKINS
‘And as the distance between farm and plate grows, prices will go up.’
And rampant population growth is making it near impossible to reshape suburbs fast enough to meet people’s needs.
The answer, according to RobertsDay co-founder Mike Day, is to build eight new cities along the proposed Sydney-to-Melbourne high-speed rail-line.
CAAN: Can you see where this is going? Who is behind this? Cough … cough … View * below!
Urban areas where the pedestrian reigns supreme and essential amenities are all within walking distance.
“The most important thing is this notion of rebalancing the settlement – we’ve got two mega cities of 5 million, projected to go to 9 million or 10 million,” Mr Day said.
“But what we’re not doing – we’re not laying out the urban fabric as effectively as our forebears.”
Growing pains
Australia’s population grew by more than 380,000 people in the 12 months to June 30, 2019.
https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0
That’s more than the entire population of the Northern Territory (245,900 people) and just a fraction below the ACT’s (426,700).
The number of people living Down Under now exceeds 25 million and is expected to rise to 49 million by 2066 – adding pressure on our ageing infrastructure.
Road congestion could cost the Australian economy $38.8 billion a year by 2031 if infrastructure spending fails to keep up with population growth, a new report has found. Australia needs to spend significant amounts on infrastructure to safeguard its high living standards. Photo: Getty
Mr Day said Australia must build 400,000 new homes a year to keep up.
And he told The New Daily we should build new cities rather than solely building up pre-existing suburbs.
Firstly because inner-city house prices are unaffordable for large swathes of the population.
And secondly because building on the city fringe leaves residents without access to jobs, schools, hospitals, and public transport.
People living in these areas must then regularly drive into the city, driving up emissions and extending commute times.
Cars must make way
Other planners argue that we should focus on connecting these new suburbs to essential infrastructure rather than building whole new cities.
But Mr Day said we should do both.
“The problem is we’ve designed for the car,” Mr Day said.
“And by separating uses, you’ve got to drive from one use to the other, to the shopping centre and the business park, and to the residential areas.”
The new cities should be built along the proposed Sydney-Melbourne high-speed rail line to make it easier to travel into the major cities, Mr Day said, while referring to the City of Melbourne’s 20-minute neighbourhoods.
They should have strong public transport links, be medium-to-high density and walkable, and offer plenty of local jobs.
And apartments should sit beside shops and other amenities so that people can swap the car for the bike or the footpath – reducing emissions and improving our health.
CAAN: Where have you heard or read this before? The subliminal messaging … programming us … Why? Because there’s a motza to be had by this lot … that’s why … and they import their housing market …
“The government is spending millions of dollars now on widening freeways and building tunnels, whereas most other cities in the world are reclaiming cities for pedestrians,” Mr Day said.
“We talk about the privileged mode being walking and cycling – and from a health and wellbeing point of view, we’ve got 12 per cent of kids now walking to school, 20 or 30 years ago, it used to be 60 per cent. Apparently we’ve got more obese kids than America.”
A joint University of Oxford and University of Hong Kong study supports Mr Day’s point. It found that inner-city residents across 22 British cities had lower levels of obesity and exercised more than people living on the city fringe.
*Mr Day’s firm is partnering with the private consortium Consolidated Land and Rail Australia (CLARA) on the first stage of the Sydney-Melbourne high-speed rail line, which CLARA says will cut travel time between Melbourne and Shepparton from three hours to 32 minutes.
*The federal government has paid $8 million for a business case but has not yet committed to the scheme.
*A Guardian Australia investigation:
*found that CLARA has no office, has just $422,000 in start-up capital, and has suffered a series of major setbacks.
CAAN: Nick Cleary’s CLARA appears to be all about ‘VALUE CAPTURE’ and even more property development with an additional 8 cities proposed between Sydney and Melbourne
And Bennelong MP John Alexander: ‘Alexander’s Solution, the Magic Bullet of creating a ‘Megacity’ of 15 MILLION People …
The LNP appetite is whet for even more …
SEARCH CAAN WEBSITE for more about CLARA, Nick Cleary, John Alexander
The downsides
MICHAEL BUXTON, a professor at RMIT’s school of Global, Urban and Social Studies, said that while Australia’s population was more centralised than most developed countries, building entirely new cities wasn’t the best cure for its growing pains.
Transforming low-density suburbs on the urban fringe into more vibrant, connected neighbourhoods was the way to go, he said. Along with building up regional hubs such as Newcastle and Ballarat.
He said building new cities would cannibalise our pre-existing regional cities and place greater strain on our natural resources.
“It would be bottom of my list,” Professor Buxton said of the strategy.
“But if it does happen, the government should adopt the ‘Canberra’ model and compulsorily acquire the land for the future cities at rural land prices, and not allow people to profit from it, through increased value in the land, which is the model that we use everywhere else in Australia.”
The level crossing removals are intended to eliminate the delays motorists experience while waiting for trains to cross the road. Ellen Smith/AAP
Then, of course, there’s the small matter of jobs.
Most high-paying positions are service roles based in our CBDs.
Mr Day conceded that governments would have to offer employers significant incentives to set up shop away from the rich talent pools of Sydney and Melbourne.
But Professor Buxton told The New Daily these subsidies could be better spent elsewhere.
“And should we be putting large populations away from the coast, and away from the settled areas, at a time of climate change?” Professor Buxton said, referring to our already stretched fire service.
“These bushfires have shown us that our fire management services find it very difficult, if not impossible, to defend medium-sized townships.
“It’s a big worry.”
SOURCE: https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2020/02/06/australia-cities-population-growth/
LIKE CAAN ON FACEBOOK!
https://www.facebook.com/Community-Action-Alliance-for-NSW-744190798994541/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
SEARCH CAAN WEBSITE for more Reports!
https://caanhousinginequalitywithaussieslockedout.wordpress.com/
COMMUNITY ACTION ALLIANCE FOR NSW (CAAN): HOUSING INEQUALITY WITH AUSSIES LOCKED OUT! 