Australia needs to rethink the way it builds its cities to create more social equality and better liveability, a report from the Australian Council of Learned Academies has found.
Commissioned by Australia’s former chief scientist Dr Ian Chubb and presented by Minister for Cities Jamie Briggs, Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility is the eighth in the Securing Australia’s Future series of reports.
The report on urban transport outlined 26 key findings, which will be used to formulate recommendations.
Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility found that Australian cities are “vulnerable”, with unsustainable, sprawling environmental and geographic footprints and an over-reliance on cars, which are in turn reliant on high emission fossil fuels.
During the launch, Chubb referred to the report as a “wake-up call” that needed to be heeded if Australian cities were to remain some of the most liveable in the world.
“By 2030 it is expected that 60% of the world’s population will live in cities, up from 50% today,” Chubb said. “In addition, it is predicted that the world’s car fleet of about 1.2 billion vehicles will double by 2030.”
The report found that while inner city living is becoming denser, those living in the outer city risk being marginalised, leading to what the report termed “transport poverty”.
The report states that:
“An increasing number of people are living further away from central business districts and employment hubs. Fringe developments are characterised by low housing and low employment density, limited (if any) mixed use development and poor access to public transport. Together this increases distances between where people live and where they need to travel for work, shopping, socialising and recreating. In these motorcar dependent neighbourhoods, residents are at risk of transport poverty.”
The report’s expert working group chair Dr Bruce Godfrey says designing polycentric cities is one way to improve urban transport.
Unlike monocentric cities, where people on the outskirts of urban sprawl rely on cars to travel to a centrally located area for work, study and recreation, polycentric cities are designed to bring people closer to opportunities, through creating several city centres and a more complex spatial structure.
Applying polycentric principles to urban planning means populations become less reliant on cars, are closer to opportunities and the pressure on transport networks connecting the rest of the city to the CBD is eased.
Monocentric design and urban sprawl not only have implications for transport efficiency, productivity and the environment, but also social equity, Godfrey says.
“At the heart of our report we were really trying to take a people centered approach – we still have to get in cars, most people don't happen to have competitive modes of transport to choose from,” he says.
“One of the effects (of urban sprawl) is of course that people get pushed to the outer boundaries of the city but then they have to travel long distances. There’s the issue of access – you have to travel long distances to access anything. If you happen to be elderly, infirm or disabled, if you live in those regions you really don't have any choices.
“If you don't have good mobility and good choices it’s really hard to access things and that’s an equality issue. It’s very difficult if they want to access tertiary education or if you want to access work.”
One strategy that can contribute to an effective polycentric urban plan is increased population density, although Godfrey admits many Australians are attached to the idea of a big backyard.
“You’re talking about a social change, you’re talking about a mindset change. We’ve got people through both the older and the younger age groups who are quite happy to live in apartments, but we’re dealing with a national psyche,” Godfrey says.
The report found polycentricity could be achieved by focusing on accessibility, rather than simply increasing the length of urban transport infrastructure or increasing the movement of people or goods.
Other strategies include the utilisation of mixed-use areas in place of rigid zoning.
The full report can be viewed
here.