Gus Carfi is the Executive Chairman of Polar Enviro (previously known as SmarterLite Group), a Melbourne-based private group that is pioneering new generation Infrastructure Technology for Safety and the Environment. An incredible focus for Roads, Traffic Communications and Exit & Egress for Buildings / Facilities.
The future of density in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney is being discussed a lot these days. Communities are demanding governments address the lack of affordable housing, which is having real social, economic and environmental impacts.
Opposition to density and the mischievous positioning of it as only cramming people into high rise towers gets too much attention. However, as pointed out in recent articles in this publication, there is growing community understanding and support for a model of density that reduces pollution and improves health.
So, as we debate density from a housing perspective, we also need to talk about the importance of matching any increased density with better walking and riding infrastructure. This cannot be an afterthought; it has to be front and centre of planning changes being debated across the country. Otherwise, we risk ignoring some important lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, including people’s desire for outdoor activity.
Some commentators suggest momentum is building to fund, approve and rollout more walking and riding infrastructure. Yet the UN Environment Program’s call in 2016 for governments to spend 20 per cent of transport budgets on these measures are not front of mind in debates about density.
No country on the planet is spending that much but there are encouraging local and international developments worth noting.
Many councils have ambitions to rollout more walking and riding infrastructure, for example, my hometown City of Melbourne has a plan for $7 million worth of bike lanes in the next 12 months. I hope that delays in approvals do not stymie these ambitions.
The French government has announced it will spend $4 billion to double bike lanes by 2030, including $821 million to subsidise the purchase and maintenance of bikes. The government is also changing road rules and training 850,00 young children to ride bikes.
More recently, the UK Department of Transport has been served with a first round of legal papers asking for a judicial review on recent cuts to spending on infrastructure to promote walking and riding and how these cuts can be justified given the UK government’s emission reduction targets.
The approach in France is a mix of carrots and sticks but the situation in the UK is a potential warning for governments who ignore the huge contribution that walking and riding can make to reduce emissions and positively shape the model of density people want.
What both have in common is the conclusion hundreds of millions of people who live in cities came to during COVID-19 lockdowns across the world: governments and communities cannot address climate change, reduce congestion, improve air quality and enjoy better physical and mental health without a smarter approach to density that includes significant investment in walking, riding and open space.
Like in most other cities around the world, how Australians now live, work, and play is changing. A coalition of groups, including the Heart Foundation, RACV, Bicycle Network, Municipal Association of Victoria, Victoria Walks and universities outlined what this meant in Victoria during the pandemic in their Streets are For Everyone Joint Statement. Similar findings were replicated across Australia.
Preferences for safer streets, neighbourhoods, bike paths, parks, and gardens are no fad. This version of smart density offers a model where we can sustain people, place and the planet. Our future depends on this, and lockdowns reinforced how uneconomic and unfair continued urban sprawl can be.
Walking, riding and open space projects are smaller, less complex, and more affordable compared with mega infrastructure projects that seem to get all the attention. The former require less specialist labour, equipment and materials. These projects can also increase the use of recycled content from waste streams like glass and other ways to improve their environmental performance.
No Australian capital city can claim to have the best model of density. It would be foolish to roll out a single model of density across the country but there are some common threads we can all learn from.
Models of density that either cram people into high rise towers with poor amenity and access to private and public spaces, or building further out on the fringes of our cities without adequate infrastructure and services do not work, as highlighted by the National Growth Areas Alliance among others.
Communities, governments and the business sector must come together to prioritise the policies and programs needed for better walking, riding and open space infrastructure. We’re running out of time to get density right, and this type of smart density will receive widespread community support.
Perhaps the best way to shift thinking is to stop calling walking, riding and open space infrastructure “soft infrastructure”. Instead, let’s all promote it as smart, hard infrastructure, the kind we need to handle climate change, affordable housing and other challenges.
Lockdowns were challenging but they showed city dwellers there is a more sustainable way to live, work and play. We also experienced first-hand a vision for what smarter density looks like.
So let’s get cracking and shift our collective focus to safer neighbourhoods and hubs where better walking, riding, public transport and open space are considered critical rather than as optional extras.
This article was originally posted on The Fifth Estate. Read it here.