ENVS10007 A02: Neighbourhood Research Essay

University of Melbourne ENVS10007 Urban Environments Semester 2, 2016 Tutorial 1, Wednesday 10 AM Raul Marino

Nicole Wei Min Ren 836139

HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Neighbourhood Research Essay

1. Impact of urban sprawl on physical appearance and layout 2. Impact of physical layout on energy consump on and environmental characteris cs 3. Impact of migra on on urban restructuring 4. Planning a be er environment for Brunswick 5. References 6. Appendix

Melbourne and its suburbs such as Brunswick and Heidelberg are formed physically and culturally by forces both local and na onal, and are constantly evolving. Each is essen ally a palimpsest of its own history and transforma ons (Davison, 2006). Migra on, the urban sprawl and recent economic restructuring will inevitably influence the suburb’s socio-economic processes and cultural characteris cs.

Whilst future urban planning should strive to preserve the character of a neighbourhood, it is also a necessary process to help the suburb adapt to changing trends and provide solu ons to local problems.

Impact of urban sprawl on physical appearances and layout Since the mid-20th century, the economy has played a huge role in the gradual transforma on of Melbourne into a more modern city. Australia’s labour force introduced new job opportuni es as the automobile industry began to expand worldwide (Coffee, Baker, & Lange, 2016). The produc on of cars has made it cheaper to afford private transporta on (Stone & Mees, 2010) and in that me, the convenience of private transport developed the idea of a ‘doughnut city’ and popularity in suburban living has increased drama cally, thus resul ng in the beginning of car dependency.

A doughnut city means that the city’s centre becomes ‘hollow’ as people have shi ed towards the outer suburbs in search of larger and more affordable housing (Coffee, Baker, & Lange, 2016). With a greater percentage of the houses in Heidelberg being owned by the resident compared to Brunswick despite a rela vely small difference between median weekly income of their households (Appendix. Figure 5.3), it is an indica on as to why houses in Heidelberg are be er maintained and more presentable.

Outer suburbs were also developed later than the inner city, resul ng in a clear difference in physical appearance and layout. Heidelberg’s streets seem to be be er planned as its residents are more reliant on private car transport to get around (Appendix. Figure 2.4). Its main street has been designed to emphasise open public space, with pedestrian-friendly roads and wider sidewalks to ease both car and foot traffic flow. A few streets away from the main road, the private sector flaunt double-storey detached houses with large front and back yards, whilst the borders of public and private in Brunswick are blurred.

Brunswick’s history as a manufacturing base meant that it was built for the working class and there was no need to separate the sectors. Its streets are crowded with rows of yard-less semi-detached homes branching off Sydney Road. Some detached houses were even purposefully split to create two separate residences, allowing more families to reside in the neighbourhood.

Impact of physical layout on energy consump on and environmental characteris cs Due to the need to maximise space in houses, Brunswick has a greater area of imperviousness (Appendix.

Figure 2.4). As explained by Oke (1997), larger areas of imperviousness result in an inefficiency of evapora on, causing a build-up of humidity in denser environments and increased risk of urban stream syndrome where excess stormwater runoff could flood drains (Walsh et al., 2015). As a result, the trapped humidity leads to the ‘urban heat island effect’. Essen ally the ght environment acts as an oven and extra energy such as air condi oning is needed to cool the place down.

Meanwhile, Heidelberg’s greater vegeta on cover and levelled houses spread wide apart aid in channelling strong wind flow down the neighbourhood which maximises cooling for the area. However, Dodman (2009) suggests that overall energy usage in a city-like environment is actually more efficient than in the suburbs. As in the 2011 ABS Census data energy is more efficiently used in Brunswick than in Heidelberg, possibly due to the differences in transporta on energy consump on.

The expansion to outer neighbourhoods meant that people had to travel further to get to work in the CBD, where a greater percentage of jobs are located. Those who lived further away would produce more carbon dioxide emissions and consume more energy (Appendix. Figure 3.3).

As Brunswick favours the Green party whose policy includes ecological sustainability (“Our Policies”, 2013), public transport is maximised which dras cally reduces the carbon emissions to less than half of Heidelberg (Appendix. Figure 3.4). Heidelberg is strongly car dependent because its lacks convenient and efficient public transport such as the trams that connect Brunswick to the CBD. The reliance on private cars to travel long distances creates a transport disadvantage for the elderly and young people who are unable to drive (Dodson, 2007). For Heidelberg, with a Labour Party there is less emphasis on providing public transport and more emphasis on educa on as it is a neighbourhood for young couples star ng families (“The Australian Labor Party”, n.d.).

Impact of migra on on urban restructuring Within the last 30 years, the inner city has gone from a state of decline into flourishment and has since been an increasingly dense loca on for migra on (Coffee, Baker, & Lange, 2016). People migrate for several main reasons, to work, study or earn money to be sent back to their home country.

Despite the congested suburb with its narrow clu ered sidewalks, people will con nue migra ng into Brunswick because of its culture and diversity. Since social jus ce is a main policy of the Greens party, migrants will be welcomed and accepted into this neighbourhood (“Our Policies”, 2013). The openness and hospitable character of the community can be felt merely by walking around. Conversa ons are held in foreign languages and a variety of Asian, Greek and Italian stores add to the diverse atmosphere of Brunswick.

Migra on has also had its impact on the urban restructuring of a suburb. It is a form of transna onal urbanism which Latham et. al (2009) emphasises, as migrants are required for the maintenance of a two economies, essen ally connec ng their home and host country together. In the case of Brunswick, it is the Asian, Greek and Italian stores that add to the economy of the suburb.

On the other hand, despite the Labour party’s welcoming of migrants, their main values of educa on and family are less relevant towards them. Heidelberg is also too far from the CBD and the community is not very inclusive, because they are focussed on raising families instead of working or studying (Appendix. Figure 1.4). The diversity of na onali es and atmosphere was lacking and any form of urban restructuring does not seem to be taking place soon.

A difference in values is also because a majority of Brunswick’s popula on are university students due to its proximity to the CBD and universi es. This results in gentrifica on where the younger popula on is beginning to replace the older one, a rac ng new stores and hipster cafes.

It is therefore evident that migra on can greatly influence a large part of the neighbourhood’s social characteris cs. There is no doubt that the community will ul mately affect the future development of the suburb.

Planning a be er urban environment for Brunswick Due to its proximity to the CBD, Brunswick is largely affected by its popula on growth. Hence, it is becoming more crucial to strategically plan communi es and explore how to facilitate changes. However, in the a empt to keep up with the rapid growth of the CBD, Brunswick faces problems such as a lack of public space and roads that have not been previously planned to accommodate recent technological advancements such as the tram network.

Future planning of mass residen al must be wary of crea ng monotony. As Jacobs (1961) emphasises, diversity is incredibly important to maintain a healthy and lively neighbourhood. She also argues that street neighbourhoods are areas with dis nc ve communi es and character, which is why it is ever so

important for Brunswick’s crea ve and diverse culture to be preserved as gentrifica on and renova ons of old warehouses on Dawson Street occur. Although it is expected that as the suburb transforms, its culture and values will inevitably alter with it.

In a more technological age, it may be ideal to introduce apps or online services which will allow residents to propose possible sugges ons and improvements towards the council. This way, Brunswick has greater opportuni es to quickly adapt and redefine its character and values to appeal to the younger genera ons of Melbourne.

In terms of residen al housing, ci es such as Hong Kong seem to have perfected the ideal urban layout and infrastructure on a rela vely small area of land, whilst s ll keeping a pedestrian friendly transporta on network (Shelton et. al, 2011). Future plans of Brunswick could look at expanding its ver cal volume and introducing elevated walkways to help ensure the accommoda on of a rapidly growing popula on and to provide a pedestrian friendly network system (Shelton et al., 2011). A ver cal expansion can also provide unique opportuni es for new businesses such as hipster cafes or restaurants to assimilate into the new culture and enhance the gentrifica on that has already begun.

Conclusion Global, na onal and local movements like migra on, the automobile industry, and poli cal par es can greatly influence the kind of socio-economic characteris c and environment of a neighbourhood.

Ul mately, urban planning is crucial for the maintenance of a suburb in order to keep up with the influx of migrants. By drawing inspira on from Hong Kong, Brunswick should be able to provide unique experiences and opportuni es for those who migrate there.

REFERENCE 2011 Census: 3056, Vic. (2011). Censusdata.abs.gov.au. Retrieved from h p://www.censusdata.abs.gov. au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/POA3056?opendocument&navpos=220 2011 Census: Heidelberg. (2011). Censusdata.abs.gov.au. Retrieved from h p://www.censusdata.abs. gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/SSC20616 Coffee, N., Baker, E., & Lange, J. (2016). Density, sprawl, growth: how Australian ci es have changed in the last 30 years. The Conversa on. Retrieved from h p://theconversa on.com/density-sprawlgrowth-how-australian-ci es-have-changed-in-the-last-30-years-65870 Dodson. J. (2007) Transport Disadvantage and Australian Urban Planning in Historical Perspec ve. In G.A. Currie, J. Stanley & J. Stanley (Eds.), No Way to Go: Transport and Social Disadvantage in Australian Communi es (pp. 11.11-11.10). Clayton, Vic.: Monash.

Dodman, D. (2009). Blaming Ci es for Climate Change? An Analysis of Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories. Environment and Urbaniza on, 21(1), 185-201.

Forester, C. A. (2004). Australian Ci es: Con nuity and Change (3 ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Holden, E., & Norland, I.T. (2005) Three challenges for the compact city as a sustainable urban form: household consump on of energy and transport in eight residen al areas in the greater Oslo region. Urban Studies, 42(12), 2145-2166.

Jacobs, J. (1961). ‘The Uses of City Neighbourhoods’ and ‘The Generators of Diversity’ from The Death and Life of Great American Ci es. New York: Modern Library.

Latham, A., McCormack, D., McNamara, K., & McNeill, D. (2009). Key Concepts in Urban Geography. Los Angeles and London: SAGE. Newton, P., Tucker, S., & Ambrose, M. (2000). Housing form, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Achieving sustainable urban form, 74-83.

Oke, T. R. (1997). Urban Climates and Global Environmental Changes. In R. D. Thomson, & A Perry (Eds.), Applied Climatology: Principles and Prac ce (pp.273-286). London: Routledge.

Our Policies. (2013). Australian Greens. Retrieved from h p://greens.org.au/policy PhotoMaps by nearmap. (2014). Maps.au.nearmap.com. Retrieved from h p://maps.au.nearmap.com/ Shelton, B., Karakiewicz, J., & Kvan, T. (2011). The Making of Hong Kong: From Ver cal to Volumetric.

New York Routledge.

Stone, J., & Mees, P. (2010). Planning Public Transport Networks in the Post-petroleum Era. Australian Planner, 47(4), 263-271.

The Australian Labor Party. Australian Labor Party. Retrieved from h p://www.alp.org.au/about Walsh, C., Roy, A., Feminella, J., Co ngham, P., Groffman, P., & Morgan, R. (2005). The Urban Stream Syndrome: Current Knowledge and the Search for a Cure. Journal Of The North American Benthological Society, 24(3), 706-723.

APPENDIX 1. Housing 2. Transporta on 3. Energy Consump on 4. Water 5. Socio-economic Demographic 6. Culture

HOUSING HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

A large variety of housing in Brunswick consisted of rows of narrow semi-detached houses or detached houses split into two (Figure 1.1). Walls have chipped paint, whilst windows are dusty and yellow with age making it seem like the residents do not care about the maintenance of their home. The edges of these houses come as close to the curb as possible some mes leaving less than a meter of walkway space. This creates a rather claustrophobic atmosphere with the houses closing in. The purpose was for the lower socioeconomic popula on to u lise as much space as possible.

The residen al neighbourhood in Heidelberg has a vastly different atmosphere to Brunswick. Houses stand tall and proud with their fancy Classical Greek elements (Figure 1.2) and long driveways with intricate gates that seem to be more for show than for protec on. The residen al areas are also much further away from the main street than Brunswick.

Some mes closer to the main intersec ons tall large brick walls help reduce noise and provide privacy (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.2

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.3

Figure 1.4 collects data from the 2011 ABS and compares the percentage of different household composi ons in both suburbs. In Brunswick majority of the household consists of a lone tenant, whilst Heidelberg residen al majority is couple family with children. This large difference in lifestyle could account for the tenure pie charts showing that 47.5% of Brunswick’s dwellings are rented compared to 34.1% of Heidelberg’s ("2011 Census: 3056, Vic", 2011; "2011 Census: Heidelberg", 2011).

Brunswick also has a rather industrial background and in Dawson Street large rundown warehouses and 2-storey buildings line the street. Strong and solid brick walls do not give an inviting atmosphere, however closer to Sydney Road the cleaner and more street furniture such as bike racks and benches are present.

Figure 1.4

TENURE

Figure 1.5

Figure 1.7

Figure 1.6

Although both neighbourhoods have the same average household size of 2.3 people ("2011 Census: 3056, Vic", 2011; "2011 Census: Heidelberg", 2011) the area per person is dras cally different. Using nearmap (2014) the calculated floor space area per person is 89.27m2 for Brunswick and 121.04m2 for Heidelberg.

Figure 1.7 shows a detached house in Brunswick that has been split into two ‘separate’ residentals.

TRANSPORTATION HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Brunswick is closer to the city and therefore it is easier to access by tram. However, the main road felt more congested and claustrophobic as the lanes of cars and trams were ghtly packed with the tramlines in the middle. This suggests that the tram has been a later addi on in an a empt to adapt to the increasing public transport network.

Even in the residen al streets where tenants do not have a garage, cars are parked on the road leaving only one lane for traffic going in both direcons (Figure 2.1).

In Heidelberg the roads are much wider with carparks lining the side and several lanes of traffic heading in both direc on (Figure 2.2). Traffic here flowed much easier. This big difference is most likely a result of urban planning for a suburb further away from the city and therefore would be more reliant on private transporta on to travel around.

The types of cars driven in Heidelberg also indicated the socio-economic status of the suburb. Majority were large SUVs like Mercedes-Benz and BMWs.

Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Figure 2.3 and 2.4 depicts the transporta on method residents of each suburb use to get to from home to work using the data collected in the 2011 ABS. In Brunswick, travelling by private car, tram or bike are the most common forms of transport. On the other hand, in Heidelberg 70% of the popula on prefer private transporta on.

It indicates that despite living in suburb with more congested and crowded roads, a large majority of people in Brunswick s ll prefer to use a car to get around. It also indicated in the 2011 ABS sta s cs that the average motor vehicle per household in Brunswick is 1.1 compared to Heidelberg’s 1.5. Many residental roads appear like Figure 2.7, with rows of neatly parked cars.

Figure 2.7

Figure 2.8 The most popular form of travel in Heidelberg.

Figure 2.6 pictures someone walking and someone biking in Brunswick.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Brunswick is a very dense community with convenient access to several different kinds of private and public transport including the train and routes.

It is also a tram ride away from the city making day to day travels into the CBD easy and environmentally friendly. The smaller housing also takes less me and energy to heat or cool, hence per capita energy consump on and carbon dioxide emission is lower (Figure 3.1).

It seems that everything about Heidelberg is very vast, from its roads to the houses people live in.

All this space u lises a great amount of energy in order to heat or cool and energy is very efficiently lost in the form of heat. Although a few houses have solar panels (Figure 3.2) and/or rainwater collec on tanks installed, as a suburb ‘a few’ may not suffice to minimize the rate energy consump on per person. Essen ally, Heidelberg has a greater energy consump on rate than Brunswick.

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.3 shows the energy consump on per person for hea ng and cooling a house. Warming up a house u lises the largest amount of energy as heat is easily lost through gaps and lack of insula on (Oke, 1997).

Figure 3.3

The results of household energy consump on are dependent on the housing type (Newton, Tucker, & Ambrose, 2000, p.81). From the graph (Figure 3.3), both energy demand and annual energy consump on per capita is higher for Heidelberg despite both having an average of 2.3 people per household ("2011 Census: 3056, Vic", 2011; "2011 Census: Heidelberg", 2011).

As per Dodman (2009) the energy used in the city is more efficient than in the suburbs, sugges ng that a denser popula on results in be er energy efficiency. As illustrated by Figure 3.3 and 3.4 the lower density community, Heidelberg, consumes more energy and hence produces more carbon dioxide emissions.

Figure 3.4

Akin to Oke (1997), Brunswick is a much denser suburb than Heidelberg and it has a lower energy consump on rate for both housing and CO2 emissions. Although Heidelberg is a greener suburb, 48% of Brunswick is rather sustainable in terms of travelling. This helps to greatly reduce the energy consump on and CO2 emissions per capita.

Through observa on in Heidelberg, there have been mulple large 6 or 8 seater SUVs with only one or two passengers. People in Heidelberg are able to financially afford greater energy consump on and therefore consuming a lot of energy is of greater convenience than cu ng it down. It is necessary to challenge people in the community through educa on and to mo vate them, as change is dependent on the human a tude and behavior (Walsh et al., 2005).

Figure 3.5 A row of cars outside houses in Heidelberg, most likely because they do not have anymore space in the garage.

WATER

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.3 shows the calcula on of the area of impervious surfaces and storm water runoff from nearmap, then through in-tutorial exercises the overall water consump on per person and for watering gardens per person was found. The lack of private gardens and vegeta on cover to maintain of Brunswick is significantly lower than Heidelberg and hence the water consumpon per capita is rela vely low (Figure 4.4).

HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Front yards are some mes small or non-existent in Brunswick. People are able to peer over a very low wall straight into the front yard, o en filled with wilted vegeta on, clearly not well maintained.

Along the roads or residentals there were minimal trees and vegeta on. Space would rather be given to the built environment – housing or roads. With higher impervious surfaces than vegeta on cover, the roads are designed to channel storm water into drains in order to prevent flooding. The drains however, are not so well maintained as in Figure 4.1 it is clogged with leaves.

Heidelberg is very clearly a green suburb. Down residen al streets there seems to be an emphasised importance of greenery. Compared to Brunswick, there are a much larger variety of plants that decorate the garden. Street curbs are lined with li le green lawns and rows of trees (Figure 4.2). All the large houses there also have accompaFigure 4.2 nying large front and back yards that are a lot more maintained and looked after. These gardens act as a natural filter for rainfall whilst along impervious surfaces such as the roads, have large drains for storm water runoff.

Brunswick Heidelberg

Average size of impervious areas (m2) Average size of plots (m2) Imperviousness Stormwater flows per sq. meter

421.70

232.26

694.06 0.61

574.13 0.40

322.85

214.69 Figure 4.3

Having a huge amount of vegetaon on a big scale such as ci es, ul mately helps saves energy consump on as the trees and plants absorb radia on and reduce the urban heat island effect (Oke, 1997), cooling down the place and refraining the need to spend energy on maintaining a comfortable temperature.

However, in the scale of a suburb it does not help to such extent. However, such gardens and large green spaces the maintenance of these natural filters are costly in terms of water consump on and financially.

Figure 4.6

Figure 4.4

Figure 4.5

Figure 4.5 An example of Brunswick’s lack of vegeta on cover and high impervious surface area.

Figure 4.6 The front yard of a house in Brunswick, seeming to be rela vely well maintained.

Figure 4.7 The front garden of a house in Heidelberg.

Figure 4.8 Some mes vegeta on is used for privacy.

Figure 4.7

Figure 4.8

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHIC

HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Although through observing the rundown quality of Brunswick and a large percentage of elderly people on the streets, the mean age of Brunswick is 33 and Heidelberg is 37. This could because the area is beginning to aim its services towards the younger genera on with new hipster cafes (Figure 5.1) in hopes of replacing the elderly genera on and gentrifying itself. A sort of urban restructuring to enable the suburb to stay alive in a society of ever-changing trends (Forester, 2004).

A huge socio-economic demographic difference seems to be witnessed with Heidelberg having large shining SUVs, usually only with one or two people in 6/8 seater cars. A sense of the demographic is also grasped through the decora ve street lamps and the clearly much larger houses spaced far apart from each other.

Figure 5.1 A hotel - tourists also visit Brunswick sugges ng it is becoming a service industry.

Figure 5.2 A private all girls school that spans two en re blocks.

Figure 5.3

Figure 5.3 uses data from the 2011 Census and the graph shows that people in Brunswick as a household, earn less than those in Heidelberg. However the median personal income differs only by a few hundred. This suggests that perhaps there is not much of a big socio-economic difference between working individuals in either suburb.

Figure 5.4 is a stacked graph that indicates the percentage of people in primary, secondary and teritary educa on alongside those who are full- me, partme employed or unemployed.

The figures show that there is a greater por on of people in teritary educa on in Brunswick, indica ng an up and coming genera on, whilst there are more primary school students in Heidelberg, consistent with the census data (2011) of more couples star ng families in Heidelberg.

Figure 5.4

However the employment bars also show that percentage of full/part- me and unemployed people in the labour force are very similar.

Despite Heidelberg seeming to be a much younger genera on with couples star ng families. The ABS (2011) indicates a median age of people in Heidelberg is 37 and Brunswick is 33. So perhaps we are already beginning to see a genera on shi in Brunswick and a growing genera on in Heidelberg. The data collected and displayed from the 2011 census seems to suggest that perhaps aside from the physical appearance of the suburbs, the socio-economic differences are not as dras c as they initally seemed to be.

CULTURE HEIDELBERG

BRUNSWICK

Brunswick is one of Melbourne’s most culturally diverse suburbs. It’s a place where although the sidewalks are narrow and clu ered with items on sale, there is a much livelier and inclusive sense of community. Hints of its past remains in the ornate heritage listed facades (Figure 6.1) that used to be apartments upstairs and shop downstairs, several fabric shops along Sydney Road indicate its previous nature as a strong clothing and tex le manufacturing base, and Melbourne’s quarried bluestone pavement.

Heidelberg is long way from the CBD, taking almost an hour to reach there. Entering the neighbourhood down Burgundy Street, it is clearly a rela vely recent development that has been planned with a larger emphasis on wide open public spaces such as the sidewalks compared to Brunswick. Pedestrian friendly considera ons have been taken, benches dot the edge of the pavement (Figure 6.2) and the convergence of the street at certain loca ons makes the main road easier to cross from side to side.

Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2

The cultural diversity of the two suburbs are dras cally different. In the 2011 census, data shows that 35.5% of households in Brunswick speak 2 or more languages compared to 26.7% of households in Heidelberg. It is impressive considering Brunswick has almost 5 mes more households than Heidelberg with around 2,500 dwellings ("2011 Census: Heidelberg", 2011). Such diverse culture is also reflected in the types of shops along Sydney Road: Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Chinese etc. These shop buildings (Figure 6.1) were once the epitome of the working ‘blue collar’ class; each were of similar size and layout with a door way flanked by two glass windows that now display goods of the store. Some mes cafes had seats outside or stores had placed cages or trolleys outside with different things on sale. This all contribute to the character and clu ered sense of the streets in Brunswick.

Unlike Brunswick, as Heidelberg is further from the city, it is inefficient to have various stores of similar trades and so there is a lot of variety. There are only one or two Asian groceries but apart from that there are not many foreign trades. Its streets although vast are not that invi ng, making one feel slightly alienated by its society.

Brunswick has a much more invi ng atmosphere. The mix of languages, religion and race adds to the ever growing community.

From a single spot along the road, spires of four different churches were visible (like in Figure 6.4). These churches are all built back from the pavement to allow gatherings in front. The values of the inhabitants of Brunswick are clear. These different buildings allow for migrants or interna onal people to feel a link back home whilst s ll in Melbourne, “two places at once” in a way (Massey, 1999).

Figure 6.3 is of a Greek Brotherhood Community Center

Census data (2011) also showed that Mandarin is one of the most spoken language in Brunswick, indica ng the recent influx of mainland Chinese students who are studying in the Universi es near the CBD and hence, it is of a convenient loca on. This shows the poten al and perhaps beginning of Brunswick revitalising itself and gentrifying with the help of hipster cafes and tramlines straight to the CBD.

Figure 6.4