Transit-Oriented Development in Sydney

foreign right now I'm in Chatswood a major business and residential center located around 10 kilometers north of Sydney it's home to numerous high-rise Apartments several major shopping centers including Westfield Chatswood a massive pedestrian Plaza and an incredible array of restaurants Chatswood also has an insane number of milk tea stores like I think there's one on every corner firstly this video could just be titled Chatswood the milk tea capital of Sydney welcome to Chatswood the milk tea capital of Sydney here you'll get to taste a host of milk tea flavors like Taro matcha lychee Wasabi okay enough of that noise one thing makes Chatswood truly special Chatswood is home to a massive train and metro station and it's the perfect example of a suburb in Sydney that has succeeded in capitalizing on its railway station it has built everything around the station everything a resident could ever want shops food entertainment housing all located in one central location Chatswood is an example of transit-oriented development Transit oriented development or Tod is development that localizes itself entirely within walking distance of Transit with the direct aim of encouraging public transport usage is it any Wonder then that chatswood's public transport usage in 2016 was almost double that of Greater Sydney as a whole but unfortunately as you're about to learn Chatswood is the exception in Sydney not the norm and in trying to change that Sydney is learning that not Everyone likes Tod this is the story of Tod in Sydney [Music] continue now shout out to my monthly curfew supporters just a century ago public transport usage used to be high significant even quite simply there was no alternative workers had to get to factories people had to get to work and the private vehicle was still far too expensive for the average worker so Sydney truly was a public transport city houses with smaller and clustered around Railways and we can see this when we look at the oldest parts of Sydney like the men triangle Lotus erect mini stations either an encircular dwellings around them so that the laborers make an opinion to look at muted to their tasks toil with diligence and bring forth generous profits but around the 1950s the mass production of the motor car finally made cars affordable and Australians flocked to them cars offered freedom and flexibility they didn't rely on a schedule you chose that schedule and you chose where you were going as a result car ownership in Australia increased five-fold from 1945 to the 1970s and public transport usage fell steeply in suit urban planners realized that they didn't need housing to stick to railway corridors anymore cars meant people could access employment and amenities without Transit accessibility so we basically just dumped houses wherever we could oh okay so you reckon there's a station around about there very well let's put a house here and here and here and here you get a house and you get a house and you get a half and you get a house focus on the train stations oh shut up going with the cold war or whatever it is we were doing in the 70s I mean we're crying out loud look no further than my Council The Hills district it exploded in population late last century even though there was no heavy rail line there no wonder we had one of the highest car ownership rates in the state but hey at least Sydney does have Railways at least we're not the city of Columbus America which despite having a population of 2.1 million has exactly zero Railway stations wait no sorry sorry that doesn't make sense I must have misread that Columbus has zero Railway stations ah sorry let me try that again Columbus has zero Railway stations Columbus have zero Railway stations Columbus has zero Railway stations what the f but you see Simply Having Railway stations isn't enough you need to try and encourage people to use those stations after all we may not have known the problems with cars last century but we know them now and those the problems they are definitely problems say hello to Tod we like Tod Tod like Chatswood successfully discourages car usage tid is development that capitalizes on proximity to a railway station with the deliberate intention of encouraging public transport usage but it isn't enough to just aimlessly build stuff around a station anyone can do that and if you do you've just given birth to a monster Transit adjacent development or Tad Tad is development that is in close proximity to Transit stops but fails to capitalize on it Tad is bad tad is sleazy Tad sucks out of Sydney overwhelmingly displays Tad instead of Tod look no further than theftin Sefton is a suburb on the T3 bankstown line which despite having its own railway station only had 18 public transport usage on census day 2016. that is below the Sydney average and more than half of Chatswood I mean come on they have a railway station what's their excuse around Sefton station we see tired abandoned storefronts low density shops and warehouses spread out over a great distance that clearly demands cars over pedestrians and empty pieces of land not even a five minute walk from the station walking around here you wouldn't even know there was a railway station here if you were facing away from it but the worst thing is the freestanding houses which hit you almost immediately upon leaving the station owning a house has been the defining feature of the Australian Dream for decades and full disclosure that's perfectly fine but unfortunately freestanding houses are perhaps the perfect antithesis to Tod a melbourne-based study concluded that those who lived within 800 meters of a train station had significantly increased odds of actually using their station separate houses spread people out over a large area pushing them further and further and further out from Railway stations until they're beyond that 800 meter distance like incefton this makes the station too far away to walk to which sadly compels commuters to drive to work instead the tale of Sefton is a tale repeated across many a station around Sydney look at the public transport usage rates of these neighboring suburbs on the T3 all below the greater Sydney average so many suburbs had freestanding houses built around their stations as though developers barely even noticed the stations were there yeah bloody Oak mine let's put a bunch of houses around there ew what is that big line going through the middle of the map oh that's the railway right eel White yo can we just get rid of it and put some houses there instead when the average Australian can't afford a house in the year 2023 I'll be the richest man alive so if freestanding houses are the antithesis to Tod what is the uh probe thesis well chatswood's already answered that question for us density you see the key is to localize as many people as possible into that 800 meter Zone making it easier to walk to and therefore encouraging them to use the station and we do this with medium and high density living in case you're not convinced I plotted the public transport patronage of every suburb of the train station against the percentage of their dwellings that are units and well there's a pretty clear correlation here suburbs with more units have higher public transport usage because they concentrate more people into that crucial 800 meter Zone okay wait before we take my graphic gospel we must recognize that there are so many other variables at play here let's compare chats within Sefton again chatsworld has a large bus interchange which increases public transport patronage accepting this or not charitable is serviced by three railway lines except it is only serviced by one Chatsworth has about 50 trains to Central in pikawa Sefton only has 12. and Chatsworth is closer to Central than Sefton so no we can't directly attribute units to high patronage and freestanding houses to low patronage still even if this isn't a strong correlation there's no denying that there is a correlation with that said it's time to pay a visit to the suburb in Sydney that has the highest public transport patronage I'm now in walleye Creek which had the highest public transport usage in all of Sydney in 2016. the railway station here only opened in 2000 with the airport line in an area previously occupied by industrial activities this provided the opportunity for intensive Tod its population is now over 10 000 residents all anchored around its station in high density Apartments all these apartments are within an 800 meter radius of the station making residents far likelier to actually use the station when it comes to encouraging public transport usage density is King units are King but you can't just build units randomly Urban Planet of the past neglected to put amenities such as shopping centers schools parks and the like close to one another assuming people would be happy to drive everywhere that's why Sefton feels somewhat tired after all now the concept of mixed Youth Development has arisen with mixed-use developments everyone has access to everything that they need within a short distance of their home mixed-use development can be seen here in walleye Creek with a major commercial District filled with shopping and dining options as well as two hotels and a beautiful Waterfront Park so many other suburbs across Sydney including roads Hurstville Bondi Junction and Hornsby are instances of successful Tod all of which also have high proportions of units around their local stations there's definitely a need now more than ever to be prioritizing tid the greater cities commission wants us to build a city in which most residents live within 30 minutes of a major city center achieved purely by public transport and walking Sydney's population is increasing and we need somewhere to house everyone with an additional 28 500 dwellings needed every year in Sydney if we're going to keep up but we're simply not building fast enough a housing Supply shortage is being blamed for the housing and Rental crisis yes yes there many other factors at play than just supply and demand but those factors are outside the scope of this video point is medium and high density is the best way to increase Supply at a fast enough rate that we can house everyone and drive down house prices and we can't simply identify anywhere unless we overload roads with traffic we have to densify around stations the New South Wales government has recently committed to building a cutting-edge Transit line with state-of-the-art stations and Innovative truly livable developments around these stations that will allow residents to get to their jobs and back home to their families faster than ever before and hey the good news is that we seem to already be building around stations with half of all new dwellings built within the past 15 years being within one kilometer of a train station this is a win for urban planning for connectivity for livability and for Tod but there's an important obstacle standing in our way nimby's [Music] NIMBY stands for not in my backyard and in recent years we've seen many residents living around proposed developments particularly in the inner city fight to keep these developments from being built while they're far from the leading cause of the housing crisis economists assert that they're definitely part of the problem take the upcoming Crow's Nest Metro station Tod was always on the cards here in order to bring more jobs and residents into close proximity of the station but significant Community backlash over the years has changed those plans first overstation development was decoupled from the station meaning it won't open with the station then its maximum height was reduced from 27 to 21 stories yet despite all these incessant changes the council and residents have continued to object plans largely due to a fear that Crow's Nest would become a dark uninviting tower-filled dystopia but look I actually think this is a valid fear because density is not always done well in Sydney welcome to carlingford a lot of Apartments have popped up in carlingford around its former railway station and upcoming Light Rail stop but that's it no shops no offices no restaurants there is open space but it's literally just grass formally intended for the never constructed carlingford Railway extension nothing inspired like the Waterfront Park of walleye Creek or the many shopping centers of Chatswood not even a playground I feel as though nimbies such as the residents of Crow's Nest fear that their suburbs will become just like this part of carlingford uninspired bland lifeless areas with residential towers and nothing else poorly planned developments like carlingford tarnish many people's perceptions of high-rise but see that reputation is so often undeserved look at Chatswood and walleye Creek I found a very telling quote from a concerned Crow's Nest resident we didn't have this problem back in the 1950s the city was growing fast we were just spreading out at the edges a few Palm Tree Farms got turned into new housing this concerned resident represents the cultural obstacles we face this is the nimbyism that I believe personifies much of Sydney this misunderstood idea that there exists somewhere else to build somewhere mystical somewhere far away on Sydney's edges somewhere else somewhere else somewhere else where exactly though somewhere else somewhere else somewhere else but that's the problem somewhere else namely the city's edges are the worst place to do it and most people just don't realize this because historically that's where we've always built new suburbs on Sydney's outskirts like Marsden Park Oren Park Wilton and North Kellyville where I am right now are all far from public transport Healthcare schools employment opportunities they're far from everything public transport will eventually be built here but building new rail is expensive and it won't be built for decades why build dwellings where rail might one day exist when we can build dwellings where rail already exists now of course there's nothing wrong with wanting to live in a large house in an unestablished area like North kale evil over an apartment in an established area many families prioritize space over connectivity after all but my point is that first home buyers shouldn't feel that the outskirts like North Kell Eagle are their only affordable option Tod in established areas like Crow's Nest should be a compelling affordable option as well which will be achieved by increasing Supply unfortunately housing is mostly governed by local government not State and this is where nimbies find their power local governments don't care as much about solving the housing crisis they just want to make their residents happy and if residents want to reject development local governments want to reject development this could be solved by the state government stepping in and more closely controlling development approvals the new housing Minister Rosa Jackson agrees that we need to build far more development in order to meet housing targets and she's already told nimbis to get out of the way planning Minister Paul Scully has already announced that the government will revisit Sydney Metro Tod plans such as at Crow's Nest and increase the density further if the state could just make it easier for developments to be approved we'll have one less obstacle to worry about in building Tod while nimby's are still common I think the tide will slowly turn yimbees like myself are growing a number and people are realizing that as much as they want to preserve the Cozy neighborhood they moved into decades ago it's time to let change happen lest their kids have nowhere to move out to in an unaffordable City running out of Housing and I don't necessarily think ignoring a concerned public is the answer I believe in changing their minds people will visit well-designed Tod like Chatswood like walleye Creek and this will be key to convincing them that Tod won't destroy their neighborhoods but rather will let them flourish so if you live near a public transport stop and you're concerned about upcoming development in your neighborhood by all means be concerned fight to make it better don't let it be a carlingford fight to make it more livable more sustainable but let it still happen I implore you to let it still happen recognize that there just aren't many places left to build in Sydney just because we have land on the outskirts doesn't mean we should be building there understand just how much neighborhoods all across Sydney like Chatswood like walleye Creek have all been allowed to Blossom because of Tod let your neighborhood do its part because the younger Generations like myself and generations to come need somewhere to live let Tod transform your suburb your region and allow more people to live in our great City we know the planning mistakes that we made last century and we know how to fix them together maybe we can but will need your help thank you for watching foreign [Music]

Channel: Building Beautifully

Views: 36,458

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Id: QATMxSQWyZ0

Length: 19min 19sec (1159 seconds)

Published: Tue May 09 2023