VICTORIA – New laws promote high rise corridors

HIGH rise apartment blocks along leafy transport corridors will be given a green light if new planning laws pass State Parliament, critics say.

Amendments to the planning scheme to be considered by Parliament today will encourage developers to build bigger and higher density buildings next to bus, tram and train lines.

The strategy to create new employment corridors in areas from Avalon Airport to Werribee, Caulfield to Dandenong and Ringwood to Box Hill are also included.

Planning Minister Justin Madden describes the changes as “minor”, to encourage more intense development in areas with good amenities.

The Opposition, which supports the parts of the legislation that allows the expansion of the urban growth boundary, says the push to high-rise living along bus routes could lead to “unliveable” growth plans like Sydney’s in the 1980s.

A spokeswoman for Mr Madden, Stacy Nivert, said amendments enshrined aspects of the Melbourne@5million planning document into Victoria’s planning scheme.

“We have been encouraging greater density housing in existing areas since 2008 when we first announced the need for 316,000 new dwellings in these parts of Melbourne,” Ms Nivert said.

Green wedge groups and planning groups plan to rally against the changes on the steps of Parliament today.

Opposition Planning spokesman Matthew Guy said developments of four or five storeys along suburban bus lines designated as major transport routes were a concern.

“We don’t want to turn Melbourne into Sydney . . . and as unliveable as Sydney, which is what these changes will do,” he said.

Matt Johnston
From: Herald Sun
June 22, 2010 12:00AM

Population reality delivers a boost for high density

DENSITY is not always a dirty word, according to international urban development guru Jeb Brugmann, who says Australia needs take a more creative approach to building cities that cater for a rapidly growing population.

Mr Brugmann, who will today address the Australian Davos Connection’s Cities Summit in Melbourne along with Kevin Rudd, said Australia must face the reality that the great dream of leafy low-density suburb living is “the most inefficient and inconvenient way of forming a settlement”.

Australia, like the US and Canada, was caught between an ideological preference for low-density living and a growing dependency on urban infrastructure, the Canada-based expert said. And the result was a housing crisis.

“We think that the good life or the `dream’ is something related to land ownership and having wide open spaces, so most of our development continues to be something that, on the one hand, reflects this cultural bias towards the the outback, and on the other hand reflects our dependency on urban life,” Mr Brugmann told The Australian.

He said the “epicentre” of the sub-prime housing crisis in the US was in “the new suburban areas” of California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, where any marginal increase in fuel and energy costs or in interest rates made outer-suburban McMansion living unaffordable.

“The sort of development that was going on in the United States was so inefficient from a user point of view . . . that any marginal tinkering with the cost structure and people couldn’t afford it,” he said.

Mr Brugmann said developed countries needed to see the concept of “density” as much more than just “a lot of people crowded together”.

“It’s not about regulating people into living differently, it’s about creating greater choices for people and establishing a demonstration of the fact of how great it would be for people to live in a different way.”

Mr Brugmann said that in Australia it was important for urban development policy to focus “less on how to kick-start the real estate market” through economic stimulus and more about creating robust forms of urban development in the long term. Rather than indiscriminately giving first-home buyers a grant, governments would be better off “giving the subsidy to the people who buy into the most creative, cutting-edge forms of urban development”.

Lauren Wilson
From: The Australian
March 29, 2010 12:00AM

Link – Very cool solar homes

http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/44991/very-cool-solar-homes

Sustainable Building/Renovating tips

Scouring the internet I was looking for some information on Streetscape for a project, I found this interesting website by the Australian Government about how to design and building more comfortable home that has less impact on the environment – economical to run, healthier to live and adaptable to your needs.

www.yourhome.gov.au

Bid to end low density housing

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/7444944/bid-to-end-low-density-housing/

Development Assessment Forum

The Development Assessment Forum (DAF) was formed in 1998 to recommend ways to streamline development assessment and cut red tape – without sacrificing the quality of the decision making.  More information is at http://www.daf.gov.au/

Darwin marked as Australia’s most sustainable city

Darwin and Brisbane have been ranked as the country’s most sustainable capitals while Perth is the least sustainable in an assessment of the carbon footprint of Australia’s 20 largest cities.

Shame on Perth!

More information about this story can be found here  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/15/2926835.htm?section=justin

New WAPC subdivision fees

Just thought anyone interested would like to know.  The Western Australian Planning Commission has just released new fees for subdivision application from the 1 July 2010.

Also all guides, subdivision development forms and lease/licence forms have been updated to advise that agendas and minutes of WAPC meetings will be made available on the PlanningWA website and applications may be subject to public access (Do we finally have transparency??)

Scenarios for the Burswood Peninsula redevelopment

The draft framework envisions the creation of two high-density and high-activity transit oriented urban centres constructed around Burswood and Belmont Park railway stations.

Each scenario seeks to enhance the tourism and recreational function of the area, in addition to optimising the State’s existing investment in regional transport infrastructure, including:

• the Perth to Armadale/Thornlie passenger railway line;
• the Graham Farmer Freeway; and
• Great Eastern Highway (which supports high frequency bus routes).

The development of Burswood Peninsula will occur over several decades.

There are two concept scenarios for this future development; the first is a more intensive urban scenario that suggests redevelopment of part of the Burswood Park public golf course and full redevelopment of the Burswood Dome site.

Scenario two is a less intensive option that reinforces the recreation and entertainment focus of Burswood by retaining both the golf course and the State Tennis Centre.

The public comment period for the Burswood Peninsula Draft District Framework closes on Friday 30 July 2010.

More information about this go to www.planning.wa.gov.au

New Urbanism in the US

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/AmericanMakeovertv/290123687855?ref=mf

http://www.americanmakeover.tv/

Great site about new urbanism.