suburbia is sparsely populated

ATTRIBUTE #1 - Suburbia doesn't fit in many people per unit area.

Of course it doesn't  - the houses are relatively far apart from each other and the blocks of land are relatively big. 

Why does this matter? This attribute becomes a problem when there are lots of people who want to live near the same place, like a city.  

Housing in a way that is too sparse means that fewer people can live in desirable places and that fewer places are desirable. 

There is a 'fair earth-share' issue here and we all have a right to a portion of our planet.  Shaping Suburbia believes that it is not acceptable for any of us to wash our hands of this challenge that affects the next generations of citizens and home buyers.  It is all of our problem to house enough people for our growing cities.

2008 was the first year when more than half of the worlds population lived in an urban environment. As our living conditions increasingly urbanise, there will be growing pressure on cities to cater for more people.  For Australia that figure is approximately 80%.  

Sydney's population is projected to be 6 million buy 2036, an increase of 1.7 million since 2006 (NSW Government Planning figures, derived from NSW Treasury projections).  Imagine Sydney's traffic if even half of this growth was on the edges of the city.

More compact cities tend to be more equitable more sustainable and cost less to live in.


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