Dr Tom Alves

Tom's PhD was a case study on managing medium density developments

As policies to increase urban densities in existing residential areas have come into effect in most Australian capital cities over the past ten years, medium density housing provision has become a contentious issue for planners, councillors , developers and residents alike. State government planners have presented urban consolidation as a necessary policy direction for various economic, environmental and social reasons, associated with the negative effects of ‘urban sprawl'. These policies, combined with a property boom that has caused an unprecedented escalation of house prices in all major Australian cities, has also made multi-unit housing very attractive to property developers. The same enthusiasm cannot be attributed to local residents. State intervention in local communities has questioned the very nature of local democracy, and certainly has inspired some of the strongest levels of political engagement many local communities have experienced.

Despite frequent reference to medium density housing in the media, the academic literature specific to this form of housing in Australia is not extensive. Several studies have challenged the theories on which urban consolidation is premised, and there has also been criticism of the development process in Australia's cities, but there is scant critical literature that reflects upon what medium density housing means for local communities, and upon the problems faced by local government in managing the process. Most academic literature on the subject consists of studies of residents' responses to medium density housing but makes little comment on the broader social and economic context. Overseas studies are of limited value because the context of recent medium density housing development in Australia – the predominantly middle-class, middle-ring suburbs traditionally characterised by the single detached house on its own allotment – has not pertained.

This thesis seeks to examine the range of the planning, management and political problems posed by the provision of medium density housing at the local level, through a close examination of how local government functions in its intermediary role concerning this important and topical issue. Local councils are frequently caught at the centre of political conflict surrounding the consolidation of the urban environment, being both the locus of representative democracy at the local level, and the implementing authority for policies initiated by the state, from which they derive their statutory authority. This raises questions about the role of local government in the planning of Australian cities, citizenship rights and participation in local democracy, and the nature of local community and identity in the global economic context. Assessing the social and economic implications of medium density housing on a local community can provide understanding that may assist local and state governments to better manage the process of future residential development.

- Tom Alves, June 2005

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