Urban Growth & Decline
Australia is a highly urbanised country where over 85% of the population live
in cities and large towns. These urban centres are subject to urban growth
and decline, which are largely due to a number of socioeconomic factors. One
of these centres, the Pyrmont-Ultimo area in Sydney, had experienced such
changes over the last century.
Situated on a peninsula to the west of Sydney’s CBD and Darling Harbour, the
inner suburb is a manmade environment used for service and residential use.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Pyrmont was an important port and
industrial area, and sometimes called ‘Sydney’s backyard’. This area had a
population of around 30,000 people at the time, and was one of the most
grown suburbs in Sydney. Such urban growth had brought increased
employment opportunities and more community services in the area, however
had caused problems to rise such as inadequate infrastructure, traffic
congestion, accumulation of waste and high price of properties as well.
The growth and flourish of Pyrmont stopped during the 1950’s, as Sydney
began to decentralise. The decentralising policies in the 1970’s, which aimed
to relieve pressure on the larger inner suburbs, had further contributed to the
deterioration of Pyrmont, and led to dramatic decline in the population as the
livability of the suburb decreased. This had resulted from the relocation of
closedown of large factories and goods yards, which had moved to outer
suburbs for greater expansion space.
Such trend is also seen in the population as urban sprawl and suburbanisation
began, where many moved out for a more spacious home, as traditionally
postulated. This however can result in waste of land, overuse of scarce water
resources, insufficiency of infrastructure, and therefore a greater cost to
expand and upgrade infrastructure in the outer suburbs. Urban consolidation
is therefore brought about to combat such problems, as it makes greater use
of areas with existing infrastructure and increasing population density by such
means as building medium- and high-density housing, therefore lessens the
need of building new infrastructure in the expanding suburbs. Some in the
society had objected to urban consolidation however, in fear of issues such as
traffic congestion and overcrowding, mostly those who do not want the policy
to take place in their suburbs and are sometimes referred to as having the
NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome. Nonetheless, because of the benefits
urban consolidation promises, the policy, also by the means of urban renewal,
has taken place in many suburbs, just like in Pyrmont in Sydney.
In 1991, the federal government launched a ‘Better Cities Program’, which
aimed to improve economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental
sustainability of Australian cities, and included an urban renewal program of
Pyrmont. The City West Development Corporation, and later the Sydney
Harbour Foreshore Authority, was established to coordinate this program. The
redevelopment aimed to combat Sydney’s urban sprawl and achieve a mixed
use, high density, medium-rise residential area by means such as increasing
housing densities and providing affordable housing, upgrading public
transport system, and providing quality community sites (for example parks
and urban squares).
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Affordable housing was provided to intervene the high price of dwellings in
the area which results from the attraction of living close to the CBD, so that
the property prices would not be beyond the reach of low- and middle-income
earners, which would result in the loss of social equity. However, provision of
affordable housing face a number of difficulties, which result from dramatic
increase in property prices as a result of the urban renewal and gentrification
policies in the area. Some object to affordable housing based on concerns of
issues such as theft, vandalism, loss of value, or class distinction and
snobbery. Some also claim that many properties are rented by young or
overseas-born people who tend to stay for the short term, and therefore have
no real commitment to the area.
Provision of parkland and open space is an integral part of the redevelopment
program, but often a source of conflict between developers, residents, and
planning authorities as well. An example of such conflict evolves around the
use of former Water Police site at Elizabeth Macarthur Bay at Pyrmont, where
the organisation Friends of Pyrmont protested against the decision of the
SHFA to hand over the site to developers. They argued that the site is a piece
of public land and therefore should not be handed over to developers for
short-term gain, especially when the site is of cultural and heritage
significance; the development was also feared to bring traffic congestion as a
result of new residents, as well as high buildings which would cast large
shadows over Harris Street. The development is also believed to reduce the
amount of open space per resident in Pyrmont, which is already about half of
City of Sydney Council’s own planning figure. On the other hand, arguments
supportive of the development included that the site had been planned for
development since the first Cox/Lend Lease plan of 1991, and there is a need
to limit urban sprawl by urban consolidation programs like this. Some are also
concerned that a large sum of money would be needed if the land is to be
purchased for a park, which would ultimately be paid for out of taxes. This
conflict ended through the process of community consultation and at last, in
June 2004, the newly elected City of Sydney Council agreed to use the site
for the creation of a park. Such agreement demonstrated the importance of
corporation between state and local governments, as well as residents, in
working towards public benefit.
Urban growth and decline mainly result from changes in the population, as
well as government policies that are applied to the areas. The trends are
closely associated with the lifestyles chosen by the population, the
distribution of whom is largely determined by the processes of urban growth
and decline.
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