Livability

Is density a dirty word?

| olivialealwalker
This is the future we’re heading towards unless we change the way we deliver housing. Let’s not make the same mistake as America.
Image credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

My grandparents moved to Sydney’s North West because they wanted to farm and the particular rural lifestyle that goes with it. Over the last few years, there has been a massive shift in the area, with 5 acre lots turned into 300 m2 blocks. People still have a dream to live in a massive house with a backyard, but this dream has become unaffordable for many, and so they are creating demand in the suburbs of Western Sydney.

What this has essentially created is a suburban desert. Rather than a more affordable home, some sprawling, unconsidered developments are locking people into a less affordable lifestyle. There are no jobs nearby, so families need two cars to complete the hour long journey to work. There are no parks or shops to walk to, but even if you could, there is no protection from the sun on your walk, meaning people are feeling less healthy and more isolated. The homogeny of these developments means that people won’t be able to grow old in the same community they lived in, as there are no options to downsize.

The future that I’d like to see – density done well

Development that considers the local context, provides a diversity of offerings, is of a high quality, and with increased access to quality parks can be the future.

We know our population is growing, and we will need to build more homes. But rather than sprawling, disconnected spaces, imagine a future of medium density, quality communities where you can walk to most of the things you need. This model allows you to:

  • Have the space you need to kick a ball or walk the dog
  • Have a diversity of building types and sizes within a smaller area, meaning you can grow old surrounded by the same community
  • Walk to the shops or Saturday soccer, rather than having to jump in the car, and doing so on cooler, tree-lined streets
  • Going up, rather than out allows for better public transport services
  • With the right type of mixed use, work within your local community

There is certainly a place for suburbs, and I’ve seen them done really well. This is my vision for the future, because it means we can live in connected, healthy communities and not be disadvantaged when it comes to getting to work and education. Density doesn’t necessarily mean high-rise apartments, although every building typology has a place somewhere, but may be terraced houses as an example, each within walking distance to the amenities they need.

Let’s just do it

I know what it’s like to live in an area that isn’t connected and the impact that can have on everyday life. I also know what good development looks like, and how it can enable people to lead healthier, happier, more connected lives. Connection is both literally through digital and transport infrastructure and employment opportunities, as well as a feeling of being part of a community, which is incredibly important for mental health.

Those who say density is a dirty word are those who have had the privilege of living on a large block close to the city. When density is done well, it can build communities, enable people close access to work and all the recreation they desire. It also creates more space for parks, nature and to grow our food locally. Stop saying density is a dirty word and start thinking about smarter ways to deliver good outcomes for the residents who will inevitably live there.

Are you paying more?

| olivialealwalker
Nothing describes the emotional journey you go on when your skin sticks to the seats in these during Summer.
Image source: https://hiveminer.com/

I recall the commute, first to university, and then to work. I’d leave home before my colleagues had even woken, to start a two hour journey. Sometimes the second train lined up perfectly, and other times, as the door closed in my face, I walked head bowed to the snack station to give myself something to do for another half hour.

I recently drove to Sydney from the far side of the Blue Mountains at five in the morning. To my horror, by the time I reached Penrith at 6 am, the traffic generated by people heading to work had built to an unsightly level.

The only ones who benefit from long commutes are vending machines and fast food joints.

Financial cost

Western Sydney is seen to be more affordable, yet the urban sprawl that we’ve created is locking its residents into a financial disadvantage. Seventy-five percent of people in Western Sydney are forced to rely on private cars to get to work. For a family not located near public transport, owning two cars can cost an additional $20,000 per year.

Similarly, my Opal card bill was $3,000 a year, compared to $1,500 living closer to work.

Social cost

There’s a hidden cost to this. An extra hour per day travel means ten less hours a week to spend with your family. It’s the little things, like needing to leave uni early, rather than hang out with friends, and missing that social connection. Or leaving work at 5pm to get home by 7 in order to feed your children. That extra two hours a day is the time that others use to go to the gym or do the washing or relax.

What is the solution?

You may not need to do a long commute yourself, but you certainly know people that do. Fortunately, there are some solutions.

For business, providing all of your employees with flexible working opportunities has been proven to produce more productive employees. By allowing staff to work from home, those that live in Western Sydney can save four hours a day. Companies such as WeWork or OfficeHub can provide a mid-way solution. Could you provide a satellite office space in major Western Sydney hubs such as Penrith and Campbeltown?

For developers, consider your own definition of mixed use. In addition to retail and residential, creating spaces for people to come together and work communally ensures that investment stays within the local communities that you develop, and supports social cohesion.

For yourself, consider what the true cost of living far from public transport is for you and your family. Housing is expensive, but it is important to factor in the cost of your commute. If you find yourself on a long trip, read more The City I See!

Are green buildings bad?

| olivialealwalker
The Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Lab is one of the many beautiful Living Building Challenge certified projects.
Picture source: Living Building Challenge

Some parts of the industry have come a long way in green building design, and developed beautiful, functional and efficient buildings. We start with a building and look at ways to make it better, tacking on incremental improvements.

What if our approach was all wrong?

While this approach has served us for a long time, I believe it is time we shifted the way we deliver sustainable design. Rather than ask how can we make bad better, why don’t we ask what does good look like?

The Living Building Challenge

This is the question that the Living Building Challenge seeks to answer. The Living Building Challenge is the most vigorous, transformative certification available globally. Instead of moving the needle forward slowly, the Challenge has set its flag on the hill for what good looks like, and over 100 certified buildings have risen to it.

The Living Building Challenge is rooted in considering a building as a flower, which makes sense the more you think about it. A flower is beautiful, gets all of its energy and water from where it falls and it isn’t toxic. A flower adds more value to a site than it takes.

Likewise, a Living Building generates 105% of its electricity on site, connects people to nature and their food, protects habitat, sources materials locally, only uses non-toxic materials and is net positive for waste, as well as being educational and inspirational.

The core values, or ‘petals’ of the Living Building Challenge are below, each with a set of imperatives to achieve:

Petals of the Living Building Challenge, each with a set of imperatives that show what good looks like.
Picture source: Understanding the Living Building Challenge Course

Living Building Challenge 4.0 is launching in two weeks, and this is a great opportunity to get familiar with what good looks like. The Living Future Institute of Australia is your go-to in Australia: https://living-future.org.au/

White Roof Revolution

| olivialealwalker
Fairwater, Frasers Property Australia’s development in Blacktown, is the perfect example of my vision.
Photo credit: Frasers Property Australia

There is a phenomenon called the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’, where built up areas are significantly hotter than rural areas. In part, it’s caused by replacing vegetation with heat absorbing materials like concrete buildings and tar.

Due to the topographical shape of Sydney, Western Sydney suffers quite severely from Urban Heat Island Effect. It can be up to 10oC hotter than the city during a heat wave, and this has significant impacts on the community. For example, you’re 3 times more likely to die from the heat in Western Sydney than you are closer to the coast. You’re electricity demand is also 100% greater during heat waves, which means higher electricity costs and greater risk of blackouts (Guide to Urban Cooling Strategies, 2017).

I love Western Sydney, and this is not the future that I want. So I’ve come up with a plan.

The White Roof Revolution

Do you know the feeling of jumping into a black car on a really hot day, and wishing it was white? The same thing happens with our buildings. Dark-coloured roofs can be up to 30oC hotter than lighter roofs as they absorb much more of the sun’s rays.

Light roofs reflect more of the sun’s rays and absorb less heat than dark roofs, and as a result, they can be 30C cooler on hot days.

This matters for three reasons: comfort, cost and community.

Comfort: Your home can be 4.7oC cooler with a white roof than a dark roof – and that’s a big difference during a heatwave. It’s the really extreme temperatures that kill vulnerable people like our elderly, so 4.7oC really matters.

Cost: That same temperature difference can also save up to 34% on your air conditioning cost. With electricity prices so high, that can mean a lot to marginalised people.

Community: Where every roof in your street is black, this heat load impacts your ability to safely walk along the streets during hot days, increasing isolation and obesity.

Can you imagine walking through this suburb on a hot day? Black roofs effect communities ability to connect and be healthy (Holsworthy, Western Sydney).
Photo credit: Andrew Merry

White roofs don’t just benefit homes – they’re a solution for every type of building. DHL Supply Chain has painted Sky Cool, a reflective white paint, on some of their existing warehouses, and reduced their energy bill by 25%, saving more than $40,000 a year.

The vision

I want to turn every roof in Western Sydney white.

A lot of quality research has been undertaken to date, such as by the CRC for Low Carbon Living and Western Sydney Region of Councils. There’s a disconnect between the work done by institutions and government and the decisions that are made on the ground by developers, builders and ‘mums and dads’ who are making the best decision they can with the information that they have.

The solution could look like policy recommendations, guerrilla roof painters (like this group in New York) or a commitment from companies to only install white roofs in exchange for a discount. My aim is to understand how roof-colour decisions are made by undertaking interviews, and develop solutions driven by the problem.

Join me!

If you have any ideas related to this or want to get involved, comment below. I’d also love to hear your ideas for making the world a little better!

Why can’t they sell this apartment?

| olivialealwalker
This is the only block on the street that can’t sell – is quality the answer?

Since moving to Epping two years ago, the area has undergone significant change. What was once homes on big blocks has now become streets lined with six-storey apartments. In the space of 18 months, close to a dozen apartment blocks have sprung up in my front yard. I’m all for density done well, and given our proximity to the train station, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

We were in a boom time, and these apartments were selling like hot-cakes. All, but this one building – I took this photo a month ago, and it is still the only building on the block that is covered in real estate signs.

Why can’t it sell?

I’m not certain why this particular apartment building isn’t selling, when the others are doing just fine, but I’m guessing it has to do with quality. Even from the outside, the quality of finishes isn’t at the same standard as the others in the street.

Quality matters

In development, quality matters. It can be tempting to purchase a home based on its marble benchtops and ducted air conditioning, but these aren’t the things that matter. Considering the recent Opal Tower concerns (cracks in the concrete) or Grenfell Disaster (cladding caught on fire), you need to be able to trust where you sleep at night. When purchasing your home, make sure you look beyond the shiny exterior and find a quality home that has your family’s comfort in mind.

What should you ask for?

Quality can take many forms, but to ensure your home is comfortable, the level of insulation and the orientation of the building are incredibly important. Air conditioning can account for 40% of your electricity bill, so getting this right not only means you’re comfortable, but it means your finances are too. Support this with solar panels, to further reduce your bills, and the chance of being caught out during a blackout.

Quality is also reflected in healthy materials, such as paints and furniture that don’t release toxic chemicals into your home. GECA certified products are a great place to start because you know they’re safe (for you and the people who made them). Your mental health also benefits when your home connects you to nature, either through views, or natural surfaces.

If you’re building your own home, this government website is a really useful resource: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/

If you’re buying off the plan and want a third-party verified stamp of quality, look for certifications like Passive House or Green Star.

Quality is important, and this building here is facing the consequence of not delivering.

How to get fit (while helping the environment)

| olivialealwalker

You know those Snickers advertisements where it says you’re not yourself until you eat one of their delicious chocolate bars? That’s me, except I’m not myself until I go for a bushwalk. Exercising in the outdoors, without the distraction of my phone, releases all the good chemicals that my brain and body needs.

I’m so fortunate that there is a National Park within walking distance of my apartment, and I love it. It’s such a privilege to run past the beautiful big trees, the quick-flitting birds and the chorus of frogs. Unfortunately, there is evidence of humans everywhere – particularly after rain – the creeks throughout are choked in plastic, and an abundance of weeds crop up along the banks.

Take 5, Park’s Alive

If you haven’t come across it, the ‘Take 3 for the Sea’ program is enormous, and incredibly impactful. It encourages people to pick up three bits of plastic and bin them.

Why can’t we do the same for weeds? Introducing the ‘Take 5, Park’s Alive’ program!

The idea behind this is that people walking along trails in a National Park can pull out five weeds along their journey. There will be signs to inform what the weed is and how to remove it, as well as a designated area to leave it. By focusing on specific areas and specific weeds, it gives the regular bushcare volunteers a fighting chance to stay on top of the weeds.


By putting signs along trails, users of the space can contribute to National Park’s environmental goals.

The Park that I exercise through is full of joggers, walkers and bike riders. Many hands make light work! People want an opportunity to give back, but don’t often know how. ‘Take 5, Park’s Alive’ gives them the chance, while also meeting National Park’s educational objectives.

How can you get the community involved in your project?

Shifting shopping centres: what does this mean for people and pollution?

| olivialealwalker
Produce spilling into the main walkway creates a more intimate, market-like feel at Westfield Hornsby. As a side note, this photo shows they could clearly do with some more plants.
Photo credit: Scentre Group

There are certain stages that you go through as you move through your 20s – the 21sts (phew, survived those!), the weddings (four this year) and then the babies. With my best friend due to have her first baby, I headed down to Westfield Hornsby today to get vaccinated.

This centre is huge, and yet, it felt so personal.

With the way that the fresh food section was laid out, with produce spilling into the main walkway, and the bustle of activity, I felt like I was on the streets of Italy. There were playgrounds in every corner, and the buzz of noise permeates through the centre. There’s even a pet store with real kittens, so this big kid was satisfied! This centre had a sense of excitement – you didn’t know what you were going to stumble upon next, and so every store felt like a special secret.

What does the future of retail mean for sustainability?

The future looks different. The face of retail is changing, and if talk around the watercooler is anything to go by, people like to shop online. This growing trend makes me feel really uncomfortable for a few reasons.

Excess packaging

Every day, there are at least a dozen parcels delivered to work, waiting to be opened by the eager recipients who ordered them just three hours before (they’ll probably be returned and sent to landfill, but that’s another story). These glossy, plastic-wrapped ‘treat yo’self’ packages are only glossy and plastic-wrapped because they need to be delivered individually. It’s notoriously difficult for soft plastic to be recycled into something useful, and yet we’re not slowing down.

I don’t think this problem is going away, so I’ll give you an entrepreneurial idea for nothing: take-back re-usable packaging for clothes deliveries.

More pollution

These individually wrapped clothes are also individually delivered by individual drivers. What impact is this having on our air quality and traffic congestion? Drone delivery is next, but what will this mean for noise pollution and visual comfort? Thankfully, companies like Sendle provide a 100% carbon neutral delivery service.

Same-day delivery also means changes in the infrastructure required to move products. I expect we’ll see smaller warehouses closer to our high-density population centres. While this may drive up property prices, having more employment opportunities closer to home may be a positive outcome.

As a consumer, please think twice before you buy – it’s not just the purchase price, it’s the whole life-cycle cost of making and moving that product.

Breakdown of human interaction

While we play on our phones and order our shoes from home, I fear that the sense of isolation that is hovering over our communities may increase as we move away from congregating in shopping centres. To remain relevant, we need our shopping centres to be places that do spark joy and a place to mingle. Preferably over food. Everybody loves food.

As urban curators, how can we bring more excitement into physical retail centres, and retain a place for community?

People-first public transport

| olivialealwalker
One path to Epping Station – mostly undercover, they should count themselves lucky!
Photo credit: http://familypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Epping,_New_South_Wales

I make the ten minute journey to Epping Station, twice a day. Some days, it’s quite pleasant. It’s those 40oC days, or when the rain soaks through to your bones, however, that I and my fellow commuters offer each other looks of condolences. You see, while Epping Station is a junction of three major train lines which connect people to education, recreation and employment, the space outside the station has a great impact on its commuters.

How does Epping Station have it so wrong?

In the next four decades, the population of Sydney is expected to grow to 8 million (Greater Sydney Region Plan, 2018). As our population increases, there is going to be an increasing need to connect people to public transport services. The usual car-centric commute to work negatively impacts society through increased air pollution, poor health outcomes and traffic congestion.

Sydney’s urban sprawl means that Epping has a legacy of large house blocks and a mentality that everybody should own a car, or three. The roads have been designed, albeit poorly, with cars as a priority. As a result of this legacy, the walkability around Epping Station is drastically reduced.

Epping Station is surrounded by four-lane roads, and I make that awkward eye contact with people trapped in their cars on my walk, for there are no barriers between me and the road. There is no vegetation, and no protection from the elements – rain or too much shine. In addition, there’s no way through the park that bypasses stairs, meaning you’re a little stuck if you rely on wheels. Once you’ve trekked up the hill, you wait at the traffic lights. And you wait. And you wait.

What are the opportunities?

The solution to this seems so simple! By focusing on putting people first on the commute to public transport, we can remove some of the barriers to its use, and enjoy its benefits for society and the environment. I suggest that local councils:

  1. Map the ‘commute to your commute’ routes. What paths are people taking? Are they protected from traffic, physically accessible for all and have clear lines of sight (for safety)? Are they vegetated and protected from the elements, both heat and rain? What is the wait like at traffic lights? Once we understand the way people get to these sites, we can improve them.
  2. Block all vehicle access (except emergency) to the streets directly surrounding public transport hubs, to increase their safety; and
  3. Reactivate this newly created people-only space around train stations, with cafes, pharmacies and other things you need on your commute.

Long-term, there’s an opportunity to ensure density around these transport routes, ensuring the above principles are captured.

Sydney is a sprawled city and the outer-suburb legacy of the car-first mentality is reducing the uptake of our public transport services. By putting people back at the heart of public transport, most importantly for the journey to transport hubs, we can have better outcomes for human health, air quality, traffic congestion and the local economy. Come on City of Parramatta, let’s do this!

Thanks for joining me for my first post. Stay tuned for more musings!

Reference:
– Greater Sydney Commission. 2018. Greater Sydney Region Plan: A Metropolis of Three Cities. Viewed 2.3.19 at https://www.greater.sydney/