A meeting held by angry residents protesting about a proposed " development " in their suburb is now a common sight in Sydney. The push is underway to fit the inevitable expansion of over a million more residents into this city and the people already here are resistant to change.
The suburbs feeling the most pressure are those served by both our expanded road system and rail improvements. It has been made clear that these transport hubs will have to expand living density because the city can not ever expand outwards. The most economical option is to adopt the " vertical village " culture and expand the numbers on each hectare of land with high rise towers.
The latest suburb to experience what they see as a threat to their way of living are the residents of Lindfield on the north shore. The local ordinance at present limits developments to a maximum height of eight stories, but an existing 1.3 hectare parking lot in the middle of the suburb has excited developers who envisage the creation of a " town hub " which would contain supermarkets, eateries, shops, open spaces and even a town library.
The sticking point is the prospect of that height limit being raised - and the new height proposal is for seventeen stories. Lindfield residents are trying to gain the support of nearby suburbs Gordon, Turramurra and St Ives because they will eventually have similar problems
. It is evident that the leafy north shore has service facilities such as water, power and sewers already in place to facilitate a greater service load and the economics of upward expansion are compelling.
A seventeen story building is not a " skyscraper ". In todays world it is a modest structure compared to what is being built in world capitals and it makes sense to concentrate our population where transport access can serve their needs. That old concept of each family living in a free standing home on a quarter acre block of land has become a very expensive option which is ever shrinking within the inner city.
The fight to stop change is really a NINBY reaction. Most reasonable people accept that living ratios have to become more condensed, just so long as that happens somewhere else and doesn't change the culture of where they live. The pressure becomes intense on local councillors to resist change and that issue usually becomes political.
Inevitably, councils will lose the option of applying floor ratios and height restrictions within their municipalities. That would seem the only way that living densities can be geared to the provision of transport routes on a city wide basis. Whether the battle in Lindfield is won or lost, eventually change will overcome those areas where logic dictates that increased living densities are essential.
No comments:
Post a Comment