27 May 2015
The proposals from the Upper House of the NSW Parliament to give a special focus to the 265 hectare urban renewal area of South Sydney must drive a new approach to planning, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The initiative of the Shooters and Fishers Party in the NSW Upper House to establish a new governance structure across the 265 hectare Sydney Employment Lands in South Sydney could drive the renewal of this vast area,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “The urban renewal area of 265 hectares is 12 times bigger than Barangaroo and it would be one of the largest urban renewal sites in Australia.”
“The current proposal by the Council of the City of Sydney restricts residential buildings to two small pockets but has excessive requirements on these developments to produce affordable housing. Land owners in the area believe it will not be economically viable to develop their sites. With 20% of current property vacant, a new approach is needed that works with the marketplace to create new types of jobs along with 6 to 8 storey apartment buildings. Around the world heavy industrial jobs are phasing out of the inner city while new jobs in the areas of the creative industries and high technology are moving closer to the city centre. The South Sydney precinct is an ideal area to champion a new approach where work and living are located together.”
“A recent book by Enrico Moretti, a Professor of Economics at the University of California, titled ‘The New Geography of Jobs’ explains how industrial precincts around the world are in decline as new types of jobs focussed on innovation, technology and creativity take over. The land in South Sydney is an ideal location to generate a new type of urban suburb where people walk or cycle to work and cafes & restaurants serve both the residents and the workers.”
“The Urban Taskforce believes this large precinct can be redeveloped with 30,000 new dwellings and 50,000 new jobs. With Sydney’s undersupply of new housing forcing up the price of housing, it is important that new precincts that can accommodate significant numbers of new dwellings are found. The current transition of uses in the South Sydney area is a once in a generation opportunity to create an innovative precinct in the spirit of “Silicon Valley” in California. To drive this urban renewal will require a forward looking governance structure focussed on the future.”
See the Urban Taskforce flyer on ‘Urban Ideas for Sydney’s Growth- A New Mixed Use Cosmopolitan Suburb for South Sydney’: http://urbantaskforceaustralia.cmail2.com/t/ViewEmail/r/F1C64562DD8D06A02540EF23F30FEDED
