A leading architect and transport planner say the city’s dependence on cars needs to change.
A leading architect says Perth needs to move away from its dependence on cars and housing developments should reflect this.
Woods Bagot principal Kukame McPierzie was asked about the issue as part of a Property Council of Australia WA Division panel discussion today.
Woods Bagot designed the award-winning Morley to Ellenbrook railway line featuring five new train stations.
Mr McPierzie responded to a question from the audience about train stations being designed with significant spaces set aside for cars to park.
“We have to think about cars,” he said.
“We design our roads for cars, we design our crossovers, and now we also design our lots for cars.
“We have rooms for cars, and if we think around actually what we could do with that space otherwise.
“You could put trees, you can put bedrooms, you could put other dwellings; we really have to think seriously [about it].”
Mr McPierzie, who is also the national vice president of the Association of Consulting Architects, sits on the City of Joondalup’s Design Review Panel (DRP).
“We’ve got a lot of medium density coming in [though the DRP], and the challenge is always, 'how do I fit all the cars in?'," he said.
“They always start with the cars, and then they put the buildings around it, and then they try and get the yield.
“Then they have got a small courtyard that they try and justify as being amenity.
“If you took away or had a bit more flexibility on the car piece and maybe said, ‘hey, there’s an incentive here, if you provide better amenity or better diversity of dwellings, that might start to unlock it.
“We’re really hooked in on the car.”
The panel discussion took place at the launch of the Property Council’s latest report into transit-oriented development in Perth.
The report stated that the state government had made some progress in that space by overriding the planning regimes in 10 local government areas to progress density.
But the report stated, more needed to be done.
“Many key precincts continue to face fragmented planning, infrastructure gaps and market viability challenges,” it read.
“Compounding these challenges is an extremely constrained labour market putting additional pressure on construction costs.”
Property Council of Australia WA Division executive director Nicola Brischetto pointed out the prevalence of urban sprawl in Perth at the event.
“We’ve already stretched 150 kilometres north to south,” she said.
“That growth model makes us more fuel dependent, at risk of adverse environmental outcomes and subject to costly infrastructure and service delivery.”
Planning Minister John Carey also spoke at the event, indicating that Cottesloe was a priority for the state government’s improvement plans to encourage more density.
“While some local governments have taken steps to update planning around train stations in most areas, the progress has been very slow, and in many cases, density settings remain far too low to meet Western Australia’s future growth,” he said.
“So the question we must ask is simple, does very low zoning density belong next to high frequency public transport?
"Some of the stations we currently have zonings of R 12.5 and R 20 of a little walk from a major train station.”
Cottesloe is one of those councils with an R12.5 zoning, which translates to an allowable density of 12.5 dwellings per hectare.
Mr Carey said the improvement plans around train stations would likely include a higher density inner core and medium density surrounds.
Mr McPierzie added that if the government was looking at changing zonings around train stations, it would be beneficial to incorporate car use into that conversation.
“If we’re talking around station precincts in these zonings, well let’s look at cars and actually relieve a bit of pressure," he said.
“A lot of younger people might not choose to drive, they might not need to drive. They might not need a car, or they might ride share.
“That’s a conversation I just feel like we’re still sort of skirting around the edges on and we’re not quite engaging with them, and I’d really like to see some change there.”
Arup transport planning infrastructure project director Ben Haddock, also speaking on the panel, said Perth was not along in its need to reduce generational car dependency.
“What you see here in Perth is our parents had a car, two cars and three cars, and therefore I want one,” he said.
“In San Francisco, 60 per of every trip in the city centre is a rideshare trip, and 60 per cent of those are fully autonomous.
“We are something like 2% of every trip here in [Perth CBD is a rideshare trip].”
Mr Haddock said Perth had a long way to go before it would replace generational car dependency, but it had to start somewhere.
“But actually the reality is, it’s about generational dependency, so the alternative has to be a better option than the owning car and sticking it on my driveway,” he said.
“And until we’ve got to that point, we’re going to struggle against that objective.”
