Ugh. It seems that realistically we’re going to be wrestling with the suburban sprawl for quite a while.
Random thoughts: How much of this is the demographics of the population growth being dominated by young families (which is likely a fairly severe factor toward heavy car usage)?
It feels to me that the call to build out more and more public transport inevitably runs into costing and logistics issues (thus my top comment). The most logical way to ease traffic problems like this is to lean into 15 minute living, which requires higher density living in which a walk, bicycle or small electric vehicle can take you just about anywhere you want to go.
While there’s plenty of higher density development going on, I’m skeptical that it’s selling the idea well. How many of these residents are “shoe box” apartments in cuboid buildings which provide little natural sunlight or air flow? Look at a satelite image of european cities and look at the residential buildings … so often you’ll see that they have a doughnut shape and an inner garden, which provides natural light and airflow to most apartments, as well as more natural settings. Is car use being minimised in any of these areas? Likely not (as all the new residents need to drive places too!) … so the case for a car-less living is just not being made any where.
I’d like to see a move to make the CBD mostly car free so that people can see it. The other day I was walking down Elizabeth during/close-to peak hour, and the pedestrians were moving faster than the cars, which meant the total movement of individuals far exceeded that of the cars (which were all mostly single driver of course!). Take ICU vehicles off a number of streets completely except for special purposes, basically as is done now anyway, and allow pedestrians to use and enjoy the streets. And then get some smart urban planning in the picture.
Unfortunately, I honestly think it’s kinda over for Melbourne (and maybe Australian cities generally). Property prices are too high and precious, the legacy of the CBD + suburban sprawl is going to curse the city as it grows, the population growth seems an additional burden while trying to pivot, and its culture of urban planning and development seems just cursed (fed square, docklands, Flemington race course flooding, shoe-box apartments everywhere and various stories I’ve heard about corruption in some local councils in growth corridors).
Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 months ago
I have to admit, I did a double-take at “Australia’s biggest city” referring to Melbourne. But it does in fact appear to be correct, so long as you look at “significant urban areas”, and not the “greater capital city statistical area” or “urban centre”.
To be honest I’m not sure what each of these is supposed to mean. GCCSA is at least clear in that it’s the SUA of the main city plus a few others (Central Coast and Bacchus Marsh & Gisborne, respectively), but what is SUA vs UC? Clearly neither is as limited as “city council area”, but beyond that? 🤷♂️
Anyway, this is certainly not a problem unique to Melbourne. It’s been quite a while since I’ve made it down there, but the perception I get is that yous have a lot better options for public transport than we do up in the sunshine state. And at the very least,
Is incredibly relatable here, too. It’s a problem across the entire country, as well as in other anglosphere countries around the world. We desperately need a wide-spread cultural and political change when it comes to transport and city planning. That means more and more frequent public transport. More public transport routes that aren’t solely designed to get into and out of the CBD. More and better active transport routes. Better zoning laws to enable more people to live closer to where they want to go. And it also necessitates not spending billions upon billions of dollars on road-widening to keep making cars more and more appealing.
This article was much better than I was expecting, honestly, touching on non-CBD routes, congestion charging, and building more in areas with pre-existing good public transport. But it was all so very surface-level. More articles like this, for Melbourne, for other Australian cities, and at the national level, is great. But even greater would be more articles that allow themselves to really delve in present a clear vision for a better future.
zik@aussie.zone 7 months ago
It overtook Sydney about a year ago: www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65261720
Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 months ago
Conveniently, that article also answers one of my questions.
It’s not super clear how Melton, with this definition, catapulted Melbourne ahead. My best guess is that there was one suburb needed to connect the rest of Melton into Melbourne which has only just reached the threshold, which allowed the entire urban centre of Melton to be added?