Oscar Davie
‘Australian Overview’ is our new monthly segment following major planning-related news across Australia. While this blog has a New Zealand emphasis, this segment aims to orientate readers with an understanding of significant schemes/projects in Oceania. In doing so, we hope to provide our readers with a holistic understanding of planning in our corner of the world. It doesn’t take long to realise much can be learnt from our thriving neighbour – amongst the fastest growing countries in the OECD. The featured image is Sydney’s projected skyline by the year 2050 when the city is anticipated to house upwards of eight million people (high projection). It sets the scene for this segment and its wider relevance to planning in Oceania.
Western Sydney Airport Rezoning:
A new airport for Sydney has been on the cards for decades, with a final decision made to provide an airport in Western Sydney with twice the capacity of the city’s current airport in Botany Bay. It should be noted the Western Sydney Airport isn’t exactly ‘fresh’ news in the planning community, however, the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment’s initial land-use plan (released earlier this month) is an Oceanic first. An indicative image of the airport and planned ‘Aerotropolis’ is shown below.
The rezoning will aid the creation of Australasia’s first purpose-built ‘aerotropolis’ and could potentially act as a template for other cities to follow in due course. Nine precincts around the planned airport are zoned, with two outlined for immediate rezoning. The ‘Aerotropolis Core’ and ‘Northern Gateway’ precinct rezoning will be completed by the end of 2019, with rezoning of other precincts occurring in a staged manner to support sustainable growth patterns. The artist’s depiction conceptualises a neighbourhood in the planned city (below).
The airport and purpose-built ‘aerotropolis’ will create 200,000 jobs and provide 60,000 dwellings. The area will be linked with greater Sydney through proposed rail and road infrastructures.
We invite our readers to keep up to date with this exciting project through the regularly updated Australian government website made specifically for the Western Sydney airport here.
Perth’s ‘Sprawl Culture’ is Increasingly Realised:
In a country where space is no premium, suburban sprawl has typically been the preferred form of urban development. Historically, 70% of Perth’s growth has been greenfield. With the city still coming to terms with a population surge following the mining boom, this is increasingly noted as a problem. Perth could surpass 5 Million people by 2050 (high-growth scenario), amplifying the importance of solving this issue before it’s too late. Images below depict classic low-density development in Perth’s outlying suburbs.
Recent analysis this past month concluded failure to meet unenforced infill housing targets sets precedent for sprawl to continue in this rapidly growing city. Planning professionals privately voiced concern to WA Today news outlet regarding the insufficiency of current intensification framework. The following map depicts the potential extent of Perth’s urban sprawl by 2050 – with a maximum projected population of over 5 million.
If this issue is of interest to you we’d invite you to read the current ‘Perth and Peel’ growth plan from March under the Western Australia Government’s Department for Planning linked here.
Melbourne Hits Five Million:
Official data recorded Greater-Melbourne surpassed five million people on the 1st of September. The milestone was met with excitement and apprehension from planning officials who noted it was only eight years ago that Melbourne had reached four million people. This is record-breaking growth for the Victorian capital, which is set to overtake Sydney as Australia’s largest city within the next decade.
It took 175 years for Melbourne to reach four million people. The latest addition of one million was achieved in just eight years. This begs the question – should New Zealand be looking at how Australian capitals approach milestones unseen before in Oceania?
Interested? Take a look at Melbourne’s tremendous growth story and the Victorian Government’s goal summary for the year 2050.