‘Access to high-quality public open space is a key ingredient of healthy, liveable cities. This has long been recognised in government planning policy, based on a large body of academic research showing that accessible green spaces lead to better health outcomes.
‘However, cities are home to more than just people. We also need to accommodate the critters and plants who live in them. This includes the species who called our cities home before we did.
‘Greening cities that are becoming denser is a major challenge. Green spaces and density are both good for health outcomes when designed well. However, higher-density development can place added pressure on green space if not well planned and managed.’
-
- Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable »
- How urban bushland improves our health and why planners need to listen »
- Beyond Medicare levies: joining the dots to create places that are good for our health »
- This is why health has to be at the heart of the New Urban Agenda »
- Our legacy of liveable cities won’t last without a visionary response to growth »
- Why daily doses of nature in the city matter for people and the planet »
- Creating liveable cities in Australia: a scorecard and priority recommendations for Brisbane »
- Planning liveable cities: a place-based approach to sequencing infrastructure and growth »
- Living ‘liveable’: this is what residents have to say about life on the urban fringe »
- How do we save ageing Australians from the heat? Greening our cities is a good start »
- Thousands of city trees have been lost to development, when we need them more than ever »
- Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being »
- Remaking our suburbs’ 1960s apartment blocks: a subtle and greener way to increase housing density »
- What if urban plans gave natural systems the space to recover from the cities built over them? It can be done »
- Urban sprawl is ‘not a dirty word’? If the priority is to meet all kids’ needs, it should be
Why coronavirus must not stop Australia creating denser cities
Max Holleran writes in The Conversation (14.5.20) about the need to continue to increase the living density of our cities, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Stay-at-home orders have meant many people are happy to live in dispersed suburbs with free-standing, single-family homes. Quarantine feels less daunting with a backyard, plenty of storage space to stockpile supplies, and a big living room for morning stretches. Before the crisis, though, Australia was slowly moving toward urban density.
‘More apartments with communal amenities, rather than privatised space, were being built, creating less dependence on driving. It is easy to think these urbanites are now glumly looking out their windows towards the more spacious suburbs, wishing they had made different choices.
‘Yet, despite the impacts of restrictions, Australia’s future is in urban density and not the suburban sprawl of the past.’
- Why coronavirus must not stop Australia creating denser cities »
- As coronavirus forces us to keep our distance, city density matters less than internal density »
- What difference can a healthy building make? »
- Urban golf courses are biodiversity oases. Opening them up puts that at risk »
- Cities could get more than 4°C hotter by 2100. To keep cool in Australia, we urgently need a national planning policy »
- Temperature check: greening Australia’s warming cities »
- Slow down and embrace nature – how to create better cities when the pandemic is over »
- People’s odds of loneliness could fall by up to half if cities hit 30% green space targets »
- Our cities are making us fat and unhealthy – a ‘healthy location index’ can help us plan better »
- Australia’s cities policies are seriously inadequate for tackling the climate crisis »
- Urban patchwork is losing its green, making our cities and all who live in them vulnerable »
- Urban planning is now on the front line of the climate crisis. This is what it means for our cities and towns »
- Green streets: why protecting urban parks and bush is vital as our cities grow and become denser »