The imperative for urban consolidation is the need to house people in more
compact cities. In Australia and around the globe, proponents of consolidation
have struggled against cultural and economic forces which have seen
urbanisation lead to sprawl in our major cities.
It is now clear that environmental constraints upon the growth of Sydney, at
the urban fringes will drive the need to seek more sustainable solutions to
city growth. At the same time, social changes such as household size and
structure and immigration trends will continue to have a strong impact on urban
growth. Further, Sydney’s role as a Global City will exert its own
pressures for ongoing growth.
If that growth is to be sustainable, it will inevitably include strategies
of urban consolidation. Key to the success of these strategies will be:
- achieving consensus upon targeted consolidation;
- managing partnerships between government, community and
industry that contribute positively to models of quality urban consolidation;
- focusing policy outcomes upon ‘triple bottom line’
measures in environmental, economic and social terms; and
- bringing it all together locally in such a way that trade-offs
and benefits of urban consolidation are understood.
This paper explores these dimensions in some detail. It examines the potential
for urban consolidation in Sydney, concentrated upon the heavy rail network. It
also outlines the current interest in ‘smart growth’ as a strategy
for managing the containment of urban sprawl and promoting urban consolidation
within that process.
