Research Essay:

Sydney: Post Urban Sprawl Michael Dernee

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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)