Capitalising the Capital

Fixing Canberra's Sprawl 



As given in my last post, I lived in Canberra for 5 years and enjoyed every single day. Yet due to a growing population and poor planning, Canberra has sprawled out from its City Centre to create unnecessary suburbs, infrastructure and an added environmental impact.

So what should they do?

The obvious and most likely strategy would be to increase the density within the inner areas of the City.

This could be done a number of ways.

• There could be incentives for developers to build residential apartment buildings (Green buildings, of course). This would create high quality, sustainable apartments in the most central part of the City. There would be less need to drive, and greater access to amenities. 

• Set boundaries on the outer areas of Canberra. This would ensure that the only way to develop or to create more homes would be to build up in established areas.

• The introduction of the light rail that will go down Northbourne Avenue from the City to Gunghalin could be used to great advantage. Residential development could be based around the rail stops, ensuring greater access and less sprawl. 

Artists impression of Canberra's proposed light rail (http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/light-rail-may-halt-canberras-urban-sprawl-in-its-tracks-20121101-28ne4.html)

While these three scenario's could invariably work, and work well, I feel that they would not be the 'best-fit' solution to Canberra.

What makes Canberra different to any city I have ever lived in or visited, is its proximity to nature. I could ride my bike out of my house, and within 10 minutes of solid riding I would be on my own in the country side. The leafy suburban feel of Canberra makes it perfect to safely raise a family in wide open spaces with plenty of things to do.

So if I were to put in place a strategy for Canberra, knowing the city as well as I do, I would draw from all three of the above strategies to create an ultimate one.

1.       I would ensure that the city stopped growing outwards, with sets of zoning limitations, to ensure that urban sprawl was halted.

2.       I would encourage density within established areas of Canberra, such as the city, and some of the inner city suburbs. However, there is no drastic need for high rise apartments. Simple 3-4 storey apartments, which are well designed and constructed, would be more practical for Canberra's purposes.

3.      While lastly, putting in place an efficient light rail system, to tie in with the bus network, will create greater accessibility and lessen the need for cars. A public transport system that went across Canberra would be ideal.

While I am slightly bias towards Canberra, I feel that if it were completely urbanised with high density residential housing, it would lose its charm as a laid-back, relaxing place to live.

For my next post I want to explore bike paths, cycling to work and why is it not in place in more cities.

For more info on the light rail, check this out: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-19/canberra-light-rail-receives-60-million-funding-boost/6148320

and this

http://www.actlightrail.info/2015/02/can-light-rail-work-for-canberra.html


And apparently, it is one of the best places to live, as per here http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/canberra-wins-oecd-ranking-for-wellbeing-20140628-zsma8.html

Canberra?

Canberra's Urban Sprawl Design Problem 


I have discussed Sydney and its urban sprawl problem on a number of occasions within this blog and Sydney is an enormous, bloated city that has a whole cross-section of issues that have been building up for decades. These issues have come into being because of poor urban planning,  split Local Government locales and restrictions, NSW Government incompetence, community backlash, developer pressure and physical restraints.


The general Australian populace would think that Canberra is a very compact, small city, but they would be surprised to know that it is also a victim of Urban Sprawl.


Context


I lived in Canberra for 5 glorious years. I spent 3 of those years entrenched within ANU's campus life as apart of a Residential College and 2 years in the suburbs staying in a share house of modest proportions. I thoroughly enjoyed living in the capital, with its wide open spaces and a quiet town feel.

Interestingly, our smallest city, in both population and land size, has expanded outwards with low-density housing and it has created a number of issues.

Firstly, what have they done?

 History 

Canberra, for the unenlightened, was meticulously planned by Chicago planner Walter Burley-Griffin in the early 1900s. The city is split into two halves, divided by the lake in its centre. There is an axis that runs from Mount Ainslie, down to the War Memorial to Parliament House, with another from Parliament into the City centre. (As shown in the picture below and on this website http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs95.aspx)

When I lived in the suburbs, you quickly realise that each suburb has a cluster of shops, with the streets circling around it. So the inner section of Canberra is beautifully planned, with the natural environment as much apart of the design of the city as the built environment.




Canberra's population has expanded rapidly as it has become a viable, safe place to live. This has seen entire suburbs springing up on the periphery of the city. Suburbs such as Gungahlin, Tuggeranong, Wright and Woden have sprawled Canberra outwards with row upon row of low density housing.

While the outer suburbs have spread, the City has remained almost comically under developed. Huge expanses of space and 3-storey residential blocks litter the City Centre. While there is planning legislation that dictates that no building shall be higher than the top of Parliament House, there are large tracts of land close to the lake, and around the City centre that could be developed into residential apartments.


Is this such a problem though? Canberra is such a small city that it shouldn't really matter how large it is?

Unfortunately, Canberra's sprawl has still had a large impact upon the environment and the sustainability of the city. This has included:

• Car use: Canberra still remains a fantastic city to ride your bike, with its great selection of bike paths. Yet suburbs are now so spread out, that it becomes almost impossible to ride everywhere. Making car travel necessary. This need to use a car is further compounded by the terrible public transport in the ACT, which consists of inconsistent buses. (Side note, in my 5 years as a student, I either rode my bike or drove my car. I had 2 bus trips. 2! In 5 years!). This obviously creates a bigger impact in regards to air pollution. 

• Cost of Infrastructure: Canberra's road system is nearly the best in the world. In a lecture for Urban Design, the guest speaker commented that Canberra's roads are so impressive they could carry an extra 2 million cars. This elaborate road system is an enormous strain on resources, and the unnecessary extra construction is a waste of money. 

• Land Use: Canberra is built into a basin, with a number of mountains ringing the city. The sprawl from the City has used and destroyed a large amount of bush and farm land, again altering the sustainability of the surrounding environment. 

So Canberra still has some significant work to do if it is to remain a highly liveable, environmentally healthy city. So for my next post, I want to stay with my beloved city of Canberra and discuss what could potentially be done for the sprawl that is currently prevalent.


For some interesting articles on Canberra, check out:

http://design29.naa.gov.au/

http://www.tomw.net.au/cnbst3.html

Rumble in the Concrete Jungle

Shanghai: A case study of density.....and pollution 


As I looked at Sydney and its sprawl in my last post, I wanted to look into a city that has done the opposite, and gone upwards at an amazing rate. This city is Shanghai, and its high rise apartments and high density living was something that stuck with me after my visit.


In January of 2014 I went to visit my girlfriend who had been learning Mandarin at a local school in Shanghai.

I had never had a burning desire to travel to China, but with this opportunity I decided to go.

My first thought when I arrived in Shanghai was the sheer amount of people.

There were people everywhere!

I felt constricted and confined whenever I walked down the streets to grab some food or to even look around. My second thought was the size of the city. Skyscrapers loomed upwards everywhere I looked, not that I had much of a chance to stop and stare because I would be shuffled along in the great moving mass of people.

My third and last thought was of the air pollution. It was terrible. Smog and pollutants hung heavy in the air and only a week after my arrival I felt slightly sick and not 100% healthy.

So for me, Shanghai was jam-packed, tall and heavily polluted. 

In general terms, Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population of around 24 million people and a density of around 9,400 people per square mile. The population has grown immensely in the last 30 years, going from 11 million in 1982 to 24 million in 2014.

With the rapid population growth has come rapid industrialisation. I found the most amazing statistic regarding China's construction rate. In 2005 there were nearly 7,000 buildings of 11 stories or more, which had been constructed in just 15 years.

So mainly due to necessity, China has built upwards into a very high density city. This has allowed an exceptionally large populace to live in the city and it has made Shanghai a thriving commercial hub for China.

However, my biggest concern when I was in Shanghai and what is the biggest issue facing the city is their air pollution. The fumes from the millions and millions of cars, plus the dust and debris from all the construction has made the city highly toxic. An interesting article on the subject can be found here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10586296/Shanghai-considers-arming-residents-with-anti-pollution-masks.html

and here:

http://qz.com/155101/todays-air-pollution-level-in-shanghai-is-insane/



The World Health Organisation, on their website, recommends that there should be no intake of PM 2.5 particle matter (particles in the air that are the most hazardous) more than a level of 20 (on an index), with any levels over 300 considered highly dangerous. Shanghai sits in the mid-200s, and has had days of over 550!!!!!

(Interestingly, these are the worst countries for air pollution, have a look http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/countries-with-the-worst-air-pollution-ranked-by-world-health-organisation/story-e6frfqai-1227040198863)

I remember there was an iPhone app that showed the current pollution for each day, some days were in the 300s. I was shocked, considering Australia sits below 10 on that index.


In summary, Shanghai has chosen to go upwards with a construction blitz to house enormous population, yet that has made the city a highly polluted and toxic one.

I highly doubt if they can fix the problem now, and soon we will most likely see the effects of their extreme high density living.

So after Shanghai, I want to go back to Australia and look at a city that I lived in for 5 years. The wonderful Capital Canberra.