A Case Study of Sydney Part. 1
Sprawl by Arcade Fire.
One of my favourite songs and it is about Urban Sprawl! You can listen to the song as you read the rest of the blog.
Urban Sprawl is a phenomena that has become apart of nearly every large city, with a centralised core and low density suburban housing spread out to all areas. For Sydney, the City is the central hub and this has ensured that it is incredibly difficult to commute to, and access the city, as there are residential communities nearly 60km away in Campbelltown, Penrith and Liverpool.
Firstly, what is Urban Sprawl and how does it come about?
Sprawl can be characterised by these 10 aspects, given by Neuman (2005).
1. Low residential density
2. Unlimited outward extension of new development
3. Spatial segregation of different types of land uses through zoning
4. Leapfrog development
5. No centralised ownership of land uses among local governments
6. All transportation dominated by private cars
7. Fragmentation of government authority of land uses
8. Great variances in the fiscal capacity of local governments
9. Widespread commercial strip development
10. Major reliance on a filtering process to provide housing for low income households
The spread and prevalence of sprawl is due to cheap, open land, property developers, efficiency of transportation and the desire to raise families in green, less dense areas (Neuman, 2005).
While Neuman (2005) writes of the fallacy of a 'compact city', which I discussed in my last post, in his paper he also mentions the paradox of urban sprawl and it is this love/hate nature with urban sprawl that I want to discuss.
The issues with urban sprawl are well known, it is more costly for infrastructure and utilities (sewerage, water supply, electricity), it uses agricultural land and due to the larger distances covered, increases pollution and traffic congestion.
So while high rise apartments may save space, money and time spent travelling, people still want to live in the leafy suburbs. There is more space, less crime, greater educational facilities, cheaper land and greater livability. So the paradox of urban sprawl is that while its problems are well known, it still remains a highly desirable place to live.
So we have the opposites of a compact, high rise city and the sprawling urban form. Currently in NSW, State Governments have in place urban renewal and urban consolidation strategies to ensure a more compact city, yet at the same time, there are policies and strategies for URBAN SPRAWL!!!!
Figure 1. Sydney's expansion outwards into its hinterlands and agricultural land The North-West and South-West designated growth areas are set out in the NSW Govt Metropolitan plans, which is essentially planned urban sprawl.
While concurrently, Green Square, Barangaroo and a host of other initiatives to make Sydney more compact are in motion.
Sydney, especially, is a perfect case study of the issues with urban sprawl. Such is the difficulty in accessing the centre of the City, a number of regional CBD's have been mooted, to ease the pressure on the roads.
So to sum up, the NSW Govt. has hitched a wagon to both sides, the compact city and to urban sprawl.
What is going on?
As I said in my last post, it is not the infrastructure of the city that is sustainable, it is how the infrastructure is used that ensures sustainability. Urban Sprawl in its current usage, is inefficient and unsustainable. I will explore its dangers and its issues, in my next post with a a greater discussion of Sydney.
Check out the paradox of NSW Govt. Policy in:
The 2005 City of Cities Plan, as explained by Bob Meyers http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/7167/Meyer_Final.pdf
and the 2013 Draft strategy, as discussed in an Urban Analyst Blog
http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/new-south-wales/1714-draft-metropolitan-strategy-for-sydney-to-2031-released.html
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