Living Well in Greater Density
- NSW Shelter NSW June 2010
- 74 pp
Residents of Australia’s major cities are increasingly living in higher densities. Concerns about the negative impacts of urban sprawl as well as the need to accommodate rapid population growth have led to state, and more recently Commonwealth, governments promoting more higher density developments in strategic areas (e.g. along transport corridors) and identified urban renewal sites. While there has been much academic debate about the relative pros and cons of the urban consolidation agenda, there has been less discussion about how to make urban consolidation work from the perspective of residents. Higher density living has the potential to lead to a number of negative impacts on quality of life and resident satisfaction. This is evidenced through complaints and issues identified by social housing tenant groups, tenant advisors, as well as peak body organisations operating in the private sector. Some of these issues have received significant attention in the mainstream media and have also led to actual and proposed changes to related legislation (for example the Strata Schemes Management Act NSW 1996). In this report we provide a review of Australian and international literature on issues faced by people living in higher density.