Harmony in density a manners matter

I am a long-term advocate for the Greater Perth region to curb its urban sprawl and create more housing within the existing footprint.

With that in mind, I have been living the great downsizing experiment for the past 18 months and, overall, it has been a positive experience.

We live in a former industrial site that has been transformed over the past 20 years into an award-winning medium-density precinct.

What’s not to love about living on a low-maintenance block 400 metres from the beach in an amenity-rich environment with a critical mass of locals that enliven the nearby hospitality precinct?

The state government, like most across the country, is seeking to rein-in urban sprawl and address housing accessibility and affordability. Planning policy reforms aim to facilitate more infill development and housing density targets have been introduced for local governments.

In response, larger blocks have been subdivided or approved for apartment development.

My 22 years of being an advocate lead me to conclude that, as a community, we have barely shifted our views on infill.

The concerns of those opposed to the push for infill are more often about height than the number of units a block can be subdivided into.

Outside of the city centre, we prefer apartments short and squat rather than tall and thin. Sadly, the old chestnut ‘We don’t want to be like the Gold Coast’ still gets regular rotation when conversation turns to height regulations.

Of course, that’s not what’s being proposed anywhere in Perth, so the comparison is, and always has been, hyperbolic.

However, height is a political issue and the current ground zero is in the seat of Cottesloe. Incumbent David Honey recently took to social media posting a doomsday-like mock-up of the beachfront with high-rise and was quickly labelled a NIMBY (not in my backyard).

Pre-selection hopeful and Property Council boss Sandra Brewer will need to paint a more believable picture.

For those who wish to live on terra firma, smaller block sizes have become the norm; so regardless of whether you are living on the fringe or in an established suburb, the quarter acre block is a relic of the past.

The reality is that most of us are living closer to our neighbours than we once were.

What has become obvious during my time as a downsizer is that harmonious living in denser settings is more achievable when neighbours are well-mannered and courteous.

To be courteous means to be polite, respectful, or considerate. Courteous neighbours are personified by the newly arrived couple next door to me.

Within days of moving in they had introduced themselves and made clear their intention to be good neighbours. They introduced us to their dog (who rarely barks), asked us to be mindful that their bedroom is close to our outside entertaining area, and offered to water plants, put bins out or collect and hold our parcels if needed.

Unfortunately, not all our neighbours are courteous like they are.

Among my bugbears are: garages full of stuff rather than cars, which end up parked on the street; dogs who bark when the owner is home and incessantly when they are out; loud music played at dawn with the windows open; and pool pumps that come on in the middle of the night.

So, although density is not a dirty word, at times it can be challenging living in it.

In apartment buildings there are sets of rules for residents as prescribed by the body corporates. Gated communities in the US operate under the same principle.

With tens of thousands of residents, these communities have an overseeing cooperative with the same kind of responsibility as a small local government.

Aside from rules put in place for a civil society to live by, being a courteous neighbour should be a no-brainer.

Yet local councils across Greater Perth deal with a multitude of neighbour-lodged complaints when expectations of living alongside each other are not met.

As an occasional user of our local council’s complaints process, I know it to be fair and efficient.

Living in close quarters harmoniously requires courteousness among neighbours and for common sense to prevail. Surely not a difficult ask.

• Marion Fulker is an adjunct associate professor at UWA