Re-zoning Australia’s cities

By re-zoning residential areas near city centres to higher density, Australia could benefit from reduced carbon emissions and improved economic efficiency. Reduced emissions would come from the lower use of cars and other transport for long distance commutes, as well as likely reduction in electricity usage. Economic improvement would come from the decrease in the amount of time wasted by the population on travel. The same would apply to other OECD countries, such as the US and Canada, where in recent decades cities have grown as large suburban sprawls.

High density living has been looked on for a long time as a cause of emissions, as cities are an immediately obvious example of humans having a major effect on their surroundings. This opinion is wrong, and changing – recent studies show that there are environmental benefits from living in highly urbanised areas. A report from the Harvard Kennedy School indicates that urban areas produce lower emissions than their suburban counterparts (for many cities in the US). A similar study from the International Institute for Environment and Development said that cities are unfairly blamed for a disproportionate amount of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and that cities instead should be part of the solution to the problem of climate change.

Developing higher density cities is particularly important for Australia, Canada, and the United States, which have the highest per capita emissions in the subset of highly developed countries. Their high emissions are partly due to their particularly low population density, which results in energy wasted from transportation of goods and supply of services over long distances. This wastage could be offset in part through encouragement of increased urbanisation, and aiming for high density urban areas instead of large tracts of suburban housing.

Low density living near the inner-city has been a carryover from times of lower population. When cities were smaller, and the inner-city was smaller, it was reasonable to have suburban houses close to the centre. The demand to replace these areas with higher density apartment complexes is present and growing; when areas are re-zoned, they are re-developed quickly. However, partly because of the political incentives against re-zoning (most residents don’t like apartment blocks being built next to their houses), and partly because of considerations of preserving houses built in a ‘traditional’ style, re-zoning proceeds much slower than is desirable.

Urban planners in cities characterised by large suburban sprawls would be wise to pursue long-term plans to increase inner-city density. The demand for inner-city accommodation will increase over time, due to increase in population and a rising cost of fuel – when the price of crude oil was high in 2008, there was a trend of paying a premium for accommodation with lower travel distance. As the cost of electricity increases from implementation of emissions trading schemes, there will also be a drive towards housing that requires less electricity. One example would be apartments, which generally use less electricity for heating/cooling and lighting.

Increasing the population of inner-city areas would reduce problems with the transportation system. Australian cities already have major traffic problems, which will be magnified if cities grow in area. These troubles would be eased by encouraging migration from the suburbs to the city, and discouraging additional outward growth. Higher-density living would also simplify planning for public transport networks. Part of the difficulty in encouraging the use of public transport is ensuring accessibility and timeliness of transport services, which is complicated when a city’s population is spread over a huge area of land.

Encouraging high-density living would take some time to have an effect, and it may not be politically favourable to immediately re-zone large areas. The benefits would be compelling, however, so effective plans for Australia’s cities should increase inner city density, and they should aim to do so sooner rather than later.