I've been following the troubles at the 'Three M's' estate in Rosemeadow, on Sydney's outskirts, with great interest over the past couple of weeks. It always fascinates me whether people are a product of their environment, or whether the environment is actually a product of the people.
This photo was taken in the centre of Redfern, where 41.6% of residents live in public housing, according to the 2006 census. Most live in high-density buildings with deceptively quaint names such as James Cook, Joseph Banks, Marton and Turanga.
These buildings, along with Northcott Towers in nearby Surry Hills, were bold social experiments from the 60s, where slums were cleared and residents were moved into new, affordable housing close to work opportunities in Sydney's CBD. Poorly resourced, with inadequate police and community facilities, these grand plans soon turned into a hotbed of violent crime, mental illness and illicit drugs. But in 2006, Northcott became first public housing estate in the world to be recognised as a "safe community" by the World Health Organisation. Brendan Fletcher's excellent documentary 900 Neighbours profiles the huge effort between residents and the wider community that resulted in their building being turned around.
The Three M's estate was developed about 15 years after the Surry Hills and Redfern projects, and was based on the idealistic Radburn Plan, first implemented in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. The concept was to separate traffic and pedestrians by flipping houses so garages face the street and the main house faces a communal parkland at the back, which in turn pioneered the cul-de-sac, that universally adopted symbol of suburbia. What it has meant in Three M's, however, has been isolation and a lack of security and privacy.
Yet other Radburn-based developments, such as Milgate Park Estate in Doncaster East, Melbourne, many parts of Canberra, and even Thurgoona, where I grew up, have not experienced the same social ills as Rosemeadow. So what went wrong at Three M's? Surely if a huge building like Northcott Towers can reinvent itself, it can't be too hard for three suburban streets?
Showing posts with label urban design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban design. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Thinking: Suicide Towers
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Reading: THE ENDLESS CITY
THE ENDLESS CITY is a very large book. Huge actually. Coming in at 512 pages and 2.6 kilograms, this is probably not the book to tuck under your arm and take to the beach for some summer reading. Still, it's so good it would almost be worth the effort.
Apparently, at some point in 2006 the world changed from being primarily rural, to a primarily urban population – that’s right, more than half of the world’s population lives in a metropolitan area. And in this instance, ‘metropolitan’ doesn’t mean a car-loving suburban utopia such as Melbourne or Dallas. It is more likely to mean living with 15 million of your closest friends in the dusty streets of Lagos, or sharing the Yangtze River Delta with 80 million others.
Written by 35 contributors, and edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic, THE ENDLESS CITY gives a global overview of population change, and then presents six case studies into how New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin are being affected by global population movements. In London’s case, it is struggling to cope with an exploding population from the EU’s country-members which currently stands at 27. Berlin, on the other hand, is one of only a handful of cities around the world that have a decreasing population, presenting some unique challenges for the former East German capital.
THE ENDLESS CITY also gives a unique insight into the almost universal power play between rich and poor in global cities. For example, the government-funded expressway in Mexico City that was built above an existing, but perpetually-clogged motorway, with the sole aim of ensuring wealthy suburban residents don’t have to drive through the ‘real’ city or navigate pesky traffic when commuting from their office to their suburban villa. To do this, the road has very few off-ramps for about 11 kilometres, meaning the poor still have to navigate the congested streets, while their rich amigos fly by overhead.
Apparently, at some point in 2006 the world changed from being primarily rural, to a primarily urban population – that’s right, more than half of the world’s population lives in a metropolitan area. And in this instance, ‘metropolitan’ doesn’t mean a car-loving suburban utopia such as Melbourne or Dallas. It is more likely to mean living with 15 million of your closest friends in the dusty streets of Lagos, or sharing the Yangtze River Delta with 80 million others.
Written by 35 contributors, and edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic, THE ENDLESS CITY gives a global overview of population change, and then presents six case studies into how New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin are being affected by global population movements. In London’s case, it is struggling to cope with an exploding population from the EU’s country-members which currently stands at 27. Berlin, on the other hand, is one of only a handful of cities around the world that have a decreasing population, presenting some unique challenges for the former East German capital.
THE ENDLESS CITY also gives a unique insight into the almost universal power play between rich and poor in global cities. For example, the government-funded expressway in Mexico City that was built above an existing, but perpetually-clogged motorway, with the sole aim of ensuring wealthy suburban residents don’t have to drive through the ‘real’ city or navigate pesky traffic when commuting from their office to their suburban villa. To do this, the road has very few off-ramps for about 11 kilometres, meaning the poor still have to navigate the congested streets, while their rich amigos fly by overhead.
If you're interested in politics, geography, design, or just the world in general, this is a must-read and beautifully produced book. Try to buy it locally, however, as you can bet Amazon will charge through the nose to cart this epic tome from Seattle to Sydney.
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