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