Photos Reveal the Soaring Cost Facing Australia’s Rapidly Expanding City: “An Unbearable Price”

It had previously been ranked the world’s ‘most liveable city’ For seven consecutive years, however, a more somber aspect of Melbourne will now come into focus on an international platform. With the city’s population growing, the demand for housing increases as well; nonetheless, specialists are cautioning about this situation. Urban sprawl is causing significant devastation. on the environment.

As the quickest expanding metropolis in Australia, Melbourne stands poised to overtake Sydney’s populace, as indicated by governmental projections. committing to build 800,000 new homes by 2034 to manage the influx.

However, an examination of the urban peripheries indicates substantial harm to wildlife habitats, historic ecosystems, and culturally important locations, as disclosed by researchers from Monash University.

Professor Louise Wright, an Architecture Practice Professor at Monash University, informed Yahoo News about 27 new greenfield sites (unbuilt and untouched areas of land) scheduled for development within the coming ten years by the Victorian government.

"There has been significant growth," she commented.

At moments like these, during a housing crisis, it appears as though there’s additional license to adopt this greenfield strategy since it's faster and simpler. Politically, it certainly looks more favorable too, yet it comes with an incredibly steep environmental cost. In my view, it likely won’t be very beneficial for society either.

I believe it's an issue that these two aspects aren't connected; the idea that our treatment of the environment isn’t seen as intrinsically linked to our social practices and communal activities is concerning.

Endangered species' habitats are being ruined.

In Beveridge to the north, due to recent residential construction, less than one percent of the original Volcanic Plain Grasslands still exists.

The grasslands house an extensive variety of wildlife — with over 25 distinct botanical varieties within a solitary square meter in certain areas—including the uncommon and threatened grassland dragons with hidden ears .

Disturbing visuals reveal how development projects are removing the top layer of soil and substituting it with modest homes spread across tiny, uniform lots. Wright points out that many individuals view vacant land simply as an "empty field," thus they believe constructing on it isn’t problematic.

We often view these types of grasslands merely as fields of grass, yet they represent a remarkably biodiverse ecosystem that is under threat," she stated. "In fact, less than one percent still exists in Victoria. That’s quite an alarming figure.

In Sunbury, in Melbourne’s northwest, more estates are encroaching on Aboriginal cultural sites, including sacred ceremonial ‘bora rings’ — circular grounds surrounded by raised embankments that were used for initiation ceremonies.

And in Cranbourne in the southeast, the southern brown bandicoot is under threat by even more homes and domestic animals. Wright said there were many attempts to stop development on the culturally-rich site in Sunbury, but the outcry fell on deaf ears.

"There were many, many reports done on that site and produced in support of recognising the significance of that area culturally, and not developing it so that that could stay intact. And they have been ignored," she said.

What can we do differently?

Although a difficult task, Wright says there are "absolutely" ways we can handle the housing crisis without worsening the environmental crisis.

“We can’t continue to lose land like this,” she stated. "The issue is complicated since it’s preferable to intensify the zones we’ve already developed instead of utilizing undeveloped open spaces. In my view, the most effective approach would be to make better use of structures we currently possess.”

Wright mentions that there are "thousands upon thousands" of vacant structures throughout Melbourne. However, converting these buildings into homes might involve intricate processes and considerable delays. Therefore, it’s often seen as more straightforward to just “divide a parcel of land.”

The level of risk involved here is just too high for individuals, so I believe we should focus on reducing risks associated with such initiatives," she stated. "Several nations handle these kinds of ventures more effectively because their governments actively participate as partners in housing projects or share part of the risk burden. While there have been minor instances like this in Australia, overwhelmingly, the predominant approach remains primarily privatized.

We've been increasing density in existing areas across Melbourne rather steadily over the past 15 to 20 years, and this initiative needs to continue. The issue lies in the pace; it’s simply not fast enough.

She also emphasized that the families residing in the newly developed areas on the outskirts of Melbourne are not to blame.

"It shouldn't be up to an individual household to make an ethical decision about living somewhere that used to be a grassland or something. It shouldn't be a choice that they have to make. There should be other people making that choice long before the house gets there," she said.

Exhibition to showcase Australia's environmental crisis

Wright and two colleagues, Professor Catherine Murphy and Professor Nigel Bertram, are part of the only Australian team to travel to Italy for the Triennale Milano International Exhibition, a leading art, design and architecture exhibition.

Under the theme 'Inequalities,' the Monash group has created extensive video installations to highlight the environmental disregard happening across Australia.

The exhibition will be held from May 13 through November 9, aiming to increase understanding around poor land management practices and the imbalanced interaction between humanity and other life forms.

Wright stated, "The exhibit's structure revolves around advocacy, which means highlighting an issue to make people aware of it, thereby fostering discussions."

We'll keep pursuing this research and explore different methods for providing housing. Additionally, we might consider what changes are needed in the planning regulations to prevent such situations from occurring at all.

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This article originally appeared on Yahoo News Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-huge-problem-facing-australias-fastest-growing-city-such-a-high-price-033547779.html