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1. Introduction
This report will identify the phenomenon 'Urban Sprawl' and
describe the reason why Urban Sprawl arose in the Sydney Greater
Metropolitan Region. It will outline the effect that Urban Sprawl has
on the environment, economy and society and why it became
completely uncontrollable. It will also outline the failings of the New
South Wales government to reduce the problems that Urban Sprawl
creates and describe alternative strategies to reduce the effect on
the environment.
2. History of Sydney
Australia is an extremely urbanised country. About eighty five per
cent of the population lives within fifteen kilometres of the coast1,
and most of these people live in urban areas with populations of
over one hundred thousand people. Together, these areas only
comprise about one per cent of Australia's total land area.
Generally, since the trend towards urbanisation began in the second
half of the last century, our cities have been constantly having to
catch up with the needs of their population2. The city of Sydney for
instance has consistently spread out pushing the boundaries of its
borders. This is shown in Image 1:
Image 1: Sydney's Urban Growth History
The Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region now extends from Port
Stephens in the north to Kiama in the south. Some townships in the
Blue Mountains, now also considered part of the Sydney Greater
Metropolitan Region, are between fifty kilometres to one hundred
and twenty kilometres west of the Sydney Central Business District3.
The population of Sydney is predicted to reach five million by 2020,
up from four million in just 10 years4.
The great Australian dream since the birth of this country is to own a
quarter acre block. As Sydney has grown, the ability to attain the
quarter acre block has become harder and harder due to prices and
the scarcity of land. The city has expanded due to its population rise
and the only place to purchase a quarter acre block is further and
further away from the Central Business District. Thanks to the car
such a dream is possible and the city has been stretched. Due to this
Sydney is now the third largest agglomeration in the world, with
only Tokyo and Brasilia taking up more area.
The state government has created a seven billion dollar twenty five
year initiative for new development in the North West and South
West called the Sydney Growth Centres to allow for more low
density housing to be built.
3. Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is where the dependence on cars creates low density
housing to the limits. The natural things preventing urban sprawl are
rugged stone terrain, water, flooded lowlands, dry arid deserts and
areas of valuable extractable resources (of which two of those
properties, dry arid deserts and water have been salvaged by man
i.e. Las Vegas and Dubai). Urban sprawl can also be defined as the
spread of urban areas into rural areas such as farmland, forests and
coastal lands that lie on the outer edges of cities5. In other words,
urban sprawl is characterised by development that increases the
distance between the city centre and its outer edge. The
measurement of urban sprawl is either described by the population
divided by the area or the spread of population without a defined
area6. Most activities such as shopping, going to school or work are
dependent on cars as these areas are single use areas divided up
into; commercial, residential, institutional and industrial zones. This
allows for the average citizen to purchase that Australian dream of
the quarter acre block, sacrificing living close to the city and having
to drive into work due to the lack of public transport.
4. Implications of urban sprawl
A. Environment
The implication of urban sprawl for the environment is that it suffers
as more space is required for the construction of houses. The
development of the industries and the ecosystem is distributed with
the habitat being destroyed. Urban growth leads to an ever greater
reduction in the biodiversity of areas surrounding cities and the
problems of pollution and sewage disposal are also made worse by
increases in population size.
Sydney's population has an extremely large ecological footprint
compared with other cities and countries around the globe. This
footprint is completely unsustainable, and reflective of the impact
we have upon our surrounding environments. Our ecological
footprint is seven and a half hectares per person. The global
ecological footprint is about two point three hectares per person.
In a study conducted in 2005, it was estimated that Sydney's
ecological footprint covered 49 per cent of NSW. It was also
predicted that if current rates of population and urban growth
continued without any drastic action being taken, the footprint
would cover about 95 per cent of NSW by the year 20317.
As Sydney is expanding further and further the infrastructure
removes the natural habitat for the native flora and fauna reducing
oxygen production and increasing the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. The infrastructure also produces pollutants and
contributes to the carrier of a major pollutant, automobiles. Motor
vehicles are responsible for 80 to 90 per cent of carbon monoxide
and lead emissions8. Although technological changes and
regulations have kept some emissions in check, ozone and nitrogen
dioxide have increased to unacceptable levels. These roads and
infrastructure also reduce ground water due to the impervious
unnatural material.
B. Economy
The process by which urban areas sprawl outward places increased
pressure on governments to keep up with the population's
infrastructure needs. Water, Electricity and Gas infrastructure that
needs more and more money to go further away from the source
has to be installed before anything can begin. Other needs include
access to amenities such as quality housing, transport systems,
roads, schools, hospitals and police and fire services. These are all
fundamental parts of our everyday lives and without them we would
be unable to maintain our generally high quality of life in Sydney.
Generally, these fringe areas are poorly served by public transport
and other community facilities. Urban sprawl also demands more
social infrastructure, such as community centres, youth centres,
parks and sporting fields, so that our urban areas can maintain their
social cohesion costing the government even more.
Urban sprawl also effects the rural farming community removing
land that was once used for crops to create residential properties.
Due to heavy dependence of people residing in sprawls on
automobiles, city planners are compelled to spend more money on
larger highways and parking spaces. The planning manuals since the
1940s dictate the design of a new suburb to provide 40% of space to
the car9. This locks new suburbs into car dependence and low public
transport viability. Every new suburb is based on the estimate that
households will use cars two or three times as much as older
suburbs. This is considered as an additional burden on the state
treasury as this reduces the area of taxable land.
C. Society
Social cohesion can be defined as the level to which people in a
society feel committed towards the well being of others, and to the
shared systems which form the foundations of the society. Urban
sprawl usually brings higher unemployment rates and subsequent
increases in criminal activity. This type of anti-social behaviour,
along with vandalism and a lack of respect for public property, often
symbolise a reduction in social cohesion.
These problems are heightened by the remoteness often felt in the
outskirts of the municipal, which tend to become abandoned. As
they have less access to the benefits of the municipality, suburbs on
the outskirts often reflect the lack of equity inherent in many major
metropolitan areas10
. Often they also have a higher level of poverty,
which is one example of how urban sprawl can lead to increased
levels of social inequality.
Although the 'great Australian dream' is to own a quarter acre block,
houses in the sprawls are big with large backyards that tend to
separate neighbours. Hence social interactions among neighbours is
much less in these regions than the cities.
5. Positives of urban sprawl
Although there are many negatives the general population still
prefers the quarter acre block and that one positive reason has kept
Sydney growing for decades. This was shown in the Sydney Morning
Herald (18 June 2002), titled 'Answering the Cusp call of the Urban
Sprawl11
' by Jonathan Pearlman, where Jonathan interviewed the
Arcuri family of five. In this article Robert (father) describes how his
son has a 'better social life' than him and even though they are living
in the south west suburb of Austral his son can 'pick up the phone
and have five friends over within ten minutes'. Robert also explains
that the people who reside are 'good people', which are positive
examples of social interaction; negating the theory that living on the
outskirts of the urbanisation reduces social cohesion.
6. Government reaction
In the nineteen seventies , the discussion on urban sprawl was
characterised as opportunity mixed with caution. By the nineteen
nineties, household equity issues and housing affordability focused
the urban consolidation debate. In the new millennium, the focus of
discussion is city sustainability12
. Although the ‘ecological footprint’
of urban sprawl is disgraceful, urban consolidation is yet to be
comprehensively addressed. This is due to the attachment to the
great Australian dream and fear of change.
The NSW government is now trying to decentralise the city into key
centres (Sydney, Parramatta, Liverpool, Blacktown, Bankstown and
Penrith). Cultivated as ‘the City of Cities’13
it is hoped to reduce the
movement of traffic to these central cores. There is more
infrastructure with regards to roads, but public transport, especially
the North West rail link to Epping is uncertain, and has not been
confirmed.
This situation of environmental sustainability and transport is not
being improved and to make any positive change public transport
has to be integral in any urban planning. The article 'Answering the
Cusp call of the Urban Sprawl' gives clear examples of this where
Joanne (mother) describes how the shopping centres are close and
that the 'M5 has provided easy access to the city'14
. But both
locations need a car to travel to and from Liverpool shopping centre
located thirteen kilometres away. Nearly all activities need a car to
get to. It seems like the problem will not be resolved by the State
government.
Image 2: NSW Government: 'City of Cities' initiative
7. Alternative strategies.
Already Perth is proving to Australia that urban sprawl can be
controlled. With one and a half million inhabitants and the fastest
growing city in Australia, the Western Australian Government has
recognised the problems and have many initiatives to solve it. They
understood that to reduce the effects of urban sprawl, it is only
feasible when operating with an overall plan and that the significant
car dependence has to be reduced. They have doubled the length of
their urban railways to reduce the reliance on the car and revived
their bus fleets. There is a high regard to communicate these new
forms of transit which also invites the population to ride their bikes
or even walk.
“Sustainable transport is not just a case of developing
better technology. We must also develop ways of overcoming
car dependence" Peter Newman - Environmental Scientist and
Professor at Curtin University15
.
Perth has used alternative strategies to control the expansion of a
city.
Sydney in ten years time will be over four times the size of that but
the concepts behind the Western Australian government can be
utilised for the city. One thing that cannot change is the urban zone
as the government has invested too much money in it to scrap the
proposal. So the 'City of Cities' is a step forward in the reduction of
transport to the closest central business district.
First thing that has to occur is the investment in these regional cities
to make sure those cities can be self sufficient and become hubs for
new business districts. This process that the New South Wales
government is investing in is vital to the positive growth of Sydney.
Secondly due to the fact the state government is very unreliable
with regards to the North West train line, investment in public
transport to and from these secondary hubs is vital to the reduction
of private transport (this could either be the proposed light rail or
expansion of buses or both). A high regard must be put on
advertising to communicate these new forms of transit. Also
advertisement to the population to ride their bikes or even walk
should occur.
These two steps will reduce urban sprawl but the density of Sydney
as a whole will be still very low. The positive effect of having
multiple cities is that they can become more dense and clusters can
grow around them. Sydney now has to be thought of as five
different cities and the one thing the government must not do is
spread any further. The foundations are set for Sydney to become a
more dense city with a web of connections throughout.
1 Skwirk, "Urban Growth and Decline," Skwirk, http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-16_u-140_t-
417_c-1465/nsw/geography/issues-in-australian-environments/geographical-issues-human-
elements/urban-growth-and-decline (accessed 30 May 2012) 2 Ibid.,
3 Ibid.,
4 Josephine Tovey and Kelsey Munro, "Boom town: Sydney tops 4.5m," Sydney Morning
Herald, March 31, 2010, national edition 5Pearson Resource Centre, "World Urban Sprawl," Pearson
http://www.hi.com.au/resource/rfactsa.asp?kla=13&subtopicid=3619 (accessed 30 May
2012) 6 Reid Ewing, "Measuring Sprawl And Its Impact: Volume I" (Rutgers University), 4.
7 Skwirk, "Urban Growth and Decline," Skwirk, http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-16_u-387_t-
945_c-3545/urban-growth-and-decline/wa/// (accessed 30 May 2012) 8 Environmental Context, "Population and Environment in Australia: Urban Problems,"
Environmental Context
http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/STS300/limits/studies/urbanprobs.html (accessed 30 May
2012) 9 Chris Spindler, "What's behind Sydney's urban sprawl?," Green Left, Spetember 6, 1995,
online edition. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/10810 (accessed 30 May 2012) 10 Skwirk, "Urban Growth and Decline," Skwirk, http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-16_u-387_t-
945_c-3545/urban-growth-and-decline/wa/// (accessed 30 May 2012) 11
Jonathan Pearlman, "Answering the Cusp Call of the Urban Sprawl," Sydney Morning Herald,
June 18, 2002, national edition 12
Jackie Ohlin, "A Suburb Too Far? Urban Consolidation in Sydney," Briefing Paper No 4/03
(March 2003): 2. 13
NSW Government, "Metro Strategy Introduction," NSW Governments Metropolitan
Strategy, http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au/dev/uploads/paper/introduction/index.html
(accessed 30 May 2012) 14
Jonathan Pearlman, "Answering the Cusp Call of the Urban Sprawl," Sydney Morning Herald,
June 18, 2002, national edition 15
Sustainable Cities, "Perth: Beating Urban Sprawl," Sustainable Cities: A Part of Danish
Architecture Centre http://sustainablecities.dk/en/city-projects/cases/perth-beating-urban-
sprawl (accessed 30 May 2012)
Image Citation:
Image 1: NSW Government, "History of Sydney's Growth," Metro strategy NSW Government http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au/dev/uploads/paper/introduction/BACKGROUND%20A
NALYSIS-8.html (accessed 30 May 2012)
Image 2: Image Shack, "Sydney's Growth Centres," Image Shack: Media Hosting Company
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/92/figure2largecq1.gif/sr=1 (accessed 30th May
2012)
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