Giving outer-Sydney a facelift: some opportunities for urban development

Yet those who live in them praise these houses as family-friendly even though the street might not be the focus of life as it is in the older, higher population suburbs. Any lack of community life, however, might not be a problem in an age when families are increasingly inwardly-focused. The home cinema, DVD movies and, to a lesser extent, the Internet has replaced the conviviality of the corner café.

Solving Problems, Opening Opportunities

Sydney's outward expansion has brought problems, yet the proposed developments, combined with enlightened policy, could provide opportunity.

Problem - The Loss Of Agricultural Land

The growth of urban-fringe development consumes land that once produced food and other agricultural products for the city.

Sydney's rural fringe supplies the city with its fresh vegetables and fruit as well as poultry, cut flowers and the seedlings urban residents buy in nurseries. Sydney is fortunate that its fresh food does not travel far from market garden to table. Fresh food is nutritious food and the "local food" ethic has started to invade the city just as it has in other cities - the growing number of urban farmers markets is a sign of this.

Further loss of urban fringe agricultural land to residential and industrial development could thwart the developing market for local foods and is likely to result in higher food prices as fresh food is imported from places more distant.

A solution would be to take a new approach to land releases for residential development by assessing the agricultural potential of land. That of high potential could be preserved for farming by new zoning laws. Land of low agricultural potential could be released for development.

Problem - Poor Environmental Performance

The energy and water conservation performance in newer housing tracts leaves a lot to be desired. This is also true of some recent apartment development, however the most recent developments exhibit architect sensitivity to energy performance. Some feature moveable sunshades to cool the apartment and reduce the use of air conditioners. The seven-level Kogarah Town Square apartment/mixed use development shows a new direction in medium density design. It features passive solar design, the generation of electricity from a roof consisting of photovoltaic panels (energy is sold to the grid as part of a "green power" scheme), water conservation, a public plaza lined with cafés and other small business and a redesigned streetscape with shops, outdoor seating and deciduous trees for summer cooling and winter sun access.

Energy performance has been addressed by the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority which some years ago inaugurated a scheme by which local government could legislate energy efficiency into their development policies. Earlier this year the NSW government promised to make such regulations universal.

One area of energy performance that is in urgent need of address is how to reduce the use of private transport in new, urban fringe developments.

Problem - Lack Of "Third Place" Amenity

The concept of the "third place" was developed by US academic and sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, in his book "The Great Good Place" (1989; reprinted 1999; Marlow and Company, New York). It is something people from Europe are familiar with but in which Australian and US town planners have been derelict.

According to Oldenburg, the home is the "first place" and the workplace the "second place". Third places are locations of informal social interaction. He identifies the type of places in the subtitle of his book as "cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other hangouts at the heart of a community" - all of these being critical to a sense of community and place. Perhaps some public parks and community food gardens could be added to Oldenburg's list.

Third places must be cheap to visit and welcome their informal social role. They draw a diverse population, foster contact, support a local economy, are safe, preferably accessible on foot and by public transport, support small scale entrepreneurship, are locally owned and generate a community identity.