Influence of the History of Urbanization on the Form and Character of Australian Cities - Assignment Example

Urban living essays Name Institution Date Urban living essays Question 1 Influence of the history of urbanization on the form and character of Australian cities The location, growth and development of Australian cities were greatly influenced by the early colonial settlements. The expansion of trade and manufacturing in these settlements in the 19th century further consolidated the pattern of urban settlement (Canberra, ACT 2013). After the Second World War, there was a period of serious national reconstruction and this greatly contributed to the expansion of the manufacturing sector. The growth was again fuel by the huge immigration program that was aimed at supplying the labour for building industry’s infrastructure. The subsequent economic growth and increase in population was a great boost for the expansion of the major cities in Australia. Population growth in these cities has continued to grow although at a much slower rate. Most cities like Wollolong and Newcastle reached a peak in the 70s. Other cities though have continued their growth (Canberra, ACT 2013). Growth of cities and form of these cities greatly depend upon their historical urbanization. Their growth continues to be shaped by the historical infrastructure, buildings, and land-use of their fore founders many years ago. Major Australian cities are located near sea ports that were established on river mouths by the colonies. These ports were ideal points for trade since major transport facilities were on water. The ports were the easiest way for the traders to access the outside world and link up with other trading forces at the time. In Perth, the Swan river was a major transport corridor and the efforts by land owners to access it ended up in narrow blocks of land stretching to the river. The rivers also greatly influenced construction of other transport infrastructure and in that way influenced the location of major centres of trade. Modern housing in the cities still greatly reflects the influence of historical designs. The location and orientation of major buildings are direct results of historical infrastructural design; evident is the obvious European heritage. There have been significant changes however, in terms of modern design and planning, innovation and effects of land availability. The rapid increase in ownership of cars changed the previous desire to settle close to rails and roads and people have become more independent even in their choice for homes and business establishments. Since the 1950s urban growth has thus been characterized by expansion over large areas. The Australian government involved in the enhancement of the infrastructure in the early years but this involvement was limited to inter-city transport and the roads. The cities were considered to be centers for trade rather than places of residence. The development in the manufacturing industry was a major contribution to steady population growth in the modern cities (Canberra, ACT 2013). Distance between Australia’s cities is large since most of them are located on the sea shores. The great distances have made commuting between cities difficult (Embrace Australia 2013). Most of the population therefore is concentrated around their cities. Question 2 Housing needs and preferences between different groups in Australian cities Different groups in Australia display different trends towards the desire to own and settle in a home. A positioning paper by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute indicate that housing aspirations are a function of housing and location preferences. Generally, in Australia, home ownership is the most dominant tenure (Baum & Wulff 2001). The number of home owners increased, reaching its peak in the seventies after a rapid growth from the effects of war when it was just about 50%. Baum & Wulff (2003) say that when asked about their housing desires, most Australians expressed preference for home ownership that renting and this prevailed across different age groups, social classes and households. More people prefer to buy a house than to rent. The desire to own a house however is not common in the young households. In fact, most of those who prefer to own a house also had plans to settle down and raise a child (Ahuri research and policy bulletin 2003). Aspirations for home ownership were high among baby boomer cohorts, those born between 1943 and 1961 than those of later years. Those between 25-34 years showed a drop in the desires to own homes with only 42% women and 49% men in 1986 from a previous 63%. According to the statistics, those who reported they considered having a child in the next three years showed about seven times likelihood of purchasing a home than those without intentions to have a child (Ahuri research and policy bulletin 2003). Again, families with more than one source of income showed more intentions of buying a house than those with only one source. According to a research by Merlo and McDonald, factors that greatly contribute to the decision own a home include age, household income, and the number of adults in the household employed. A recent study in 2012 discovered that while most households still desire owning a separate house, they were ready to make trade-offs in terms of location size and house type in order to achieve their dream (Urbanalyst 2013). The study also showed that common trend is people’s preference to find housing in inner regions from where they can easily access their work places. Future preferences are however expected to continue evolving in the coming years as the elderly population and other factors continue to influence the demand for housing in the Perth-Peel region. In the report, 15% of the people prefers a 4 bedroom house as a minimum requirement, 16% preferred a 2 bed roomed house while 2% a 1 bed roomed house. Three quarters of those interviewed said they would sacrifice house type and features and give preference to location. The low income earners had great consideration for public transport while they chose a location for their homes as opposed to the wealthier people who did not much consideration for the same. At the same time, 16% of those interviewed preferred to live in semi-detached houses but this percentage rose to 35% when household income was put into consideration (Urbanalyst 2013). Question 3 Ways in which the character of inner suburbs of Australian cities is changing The suburbs of the major cities have been of major importance in the context of “Australian character”. Great commentators and satirists have tried to explore the suburbanites’ values and characters to appreciate the “Australian way of life” or to point out the “divide between elites and battlers” (Greig 2005). There has been great interest in the political swing s in these suburbs since the 1996 election of the Howard Government. Critics have always presented the suburbs as a hermetically sealed social environment which clearly depicts the attitudes and or sensibility of the dwellers. In Brisbane, the inner suburbs are continuing to attract several people to settle after a long period of population decline. Some areas in these suburbs have experienced rapid growth, more than 25% in the last ten to fifteen years, a report by researchers from the University of Queensland says. This growth is propelled by young professionals, students and middle-aged between 20 to 54 years. According to Bob Stimson who led a team of researchers, one of the major drivers of this transformation in the suburbs of Brisbane is the growth in new economic jobs, information technology, health and education. All these drivers are easily accessed from the Central Business District as well as the business districts in its neighbourhood. Yet again this growth has been fueled by the kind of lifestyle in the inner cities that attract professionals, tertiary students and managers since this lifestyle satisfies their consumption orientation. The transformation began early in the 1970s when middle-class individuals came in and renovated the old tin and timber work cottages (The University of Queensland Australia 2001). The new developments change the original perception of the suburbs. McKenzie Wark argued that the outer suburbia had become culturally and economically isolated over the years and the “information gap” between the inner city and the suburbs had widened and in this sense, threatened to divide the country. Wark claimed that these suburbs were resistant to challenge but got restricted and stabled on their own “diet of information” (Greig 2005). In this context, the suburbs were considered to be cut away from new information and their culture described as resistant to new information. Mark Latham, a politician also described the suburb and the inner city as two “political cultures” that spoke different languages and lived differently with different sets of values. A report by the Grattan Institute acknowledges the rapid change in the suburbs and point out the importance of ensuring that the suburbs are built with flexibility so that as residents change their neighborhood is also able to change to suite their new needs. The inner suburbs continue to be modernized. The populations in these areas are now more knowledgeable and technologically advanced. Since the city centers continue to get more and more crowded, focus has shifted to these suburbs with more studies and evaluations focused to these parts of the society. Question 4 Why migrants often cluster in Australian cities Graeme Hugo, in his attempts to describe the settlement patterns of migrants in Australia pointed out that most migrants will prefer to live in the capital cities with a very small number being located elsewhere (Hugo 1995). He says that Western Australia has a large concentration of immigrants as compared to the total population. 29.5% of the population here was born overseas compared with a national figure of 22.85. A large concentration of such immigrants can also be found in the southeastern quadrant of Australia including New South Wales and Victoria. Although the cities of New South Wales and Victoria have recorded a low population growth, these cities have been the destination of many immigrants in Australia. The main explanation for this may be the fact that Melbourne and Sydney are strategic arriving points for immigrant and partly because most of the immigrants are chain immigrants who move into cities in order to stay close to their relatives and family who had moved in earlier (Hugo 1995). People from different nationalities have different characteristics. Interestingly, people born in Turkey have a great probability of moving to areas where there are many other Turkish compatriots (Australian censusstats 2012). This trend among most immigrants is a major contribution to the clustering of such visitors in Australian cities. The Cambodian immigrants are the second in relation to tendency to live where other compatriots live. In Springvale one of the suburbs in Melbourne has 23% Cambodian residents and about 15% Vietnamese (Australian censusstats 2012). It is important to note that generally, the smaller the population of migrants from a given originality, the higher is the chances that they will cluster together (Australian censusstats 2012). The trend has been observed to be common among those nationalities comprising less than 1% of Australian residents. This trend is shown in the figure below: Source: Australian censusstats, 2012. It can be seen from the graph that migrant sources are crowded when their population is small but eventually spread out as their population increases. The initial clusters to a great extent portray the cultures of these migrants and while clustering together, they feel secured as they live in a foreign country. As their populations increase within Australia, there begins to occur cultural and individual interaction and exchange with the natives and a sense of reassurance. The migrants then begin to feel at home and are able to spread around rather than sticking together. The degree of clustering of a particular group of migrants says a lot about the migration history of the group to Australia. Incoming migrations after the war occurred in series of waves. Each of these waves was characterized by different levels of mixing with natives or sticking in clusters. In Fairfield, 54.5% of the residents were born in foreign non-English speaking nations. This represents the largest concentration in Australia. According to Hugo (1995), the existence on such migrants has been also observed in more rich suburbs of Sydney like North Shore. This may be attributed to the fact that most of the Asian people settling in Sydney in the years between 1980 and 1990 had large financial assets and were equipped with great skills and therefore decided to settle in such affluent areas. . References Canberra, ACT (2013). Our cities in transition. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from Embrace Australia (2013). City guides. Retrieved on August 19th 2013 from Urbanalyst (2013). Study reveals housing preferences of West Australians. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/western-australia/1877- study-reveals-housing-preferences-of-west-australians.html> Australian censusstats (2012). Migrant clustering and cultural influence in Australia. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://www.ozcensusstats.com/2012/07/migrant-clustering- and-cultural.html> Hugo G. (1995). Understanding Where Immigrants Live. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/hugo_1.pdf> Greig A. (2005). The way we live. Griffithreview Edition 2:Dreams of land. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://griffithreview.com/edition-2-dreams-of-land/the-way-we- live.> The University of Queensland Australia (2001). Brisbane’s inner city renaissance. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://www.uq.edu.au/research/index.html?page=4169&pid=0#top> Baum S. & Wulff M. (2003). Housing aspirations of Australian households. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from< http://www.ahuri.edu.au/publications/projects/p20017> Ahuri research and policy bulletin (2003). Home ownership in Australia: the gap between aspiration and achievement. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from Baum S. & Wulff M. (2001). Housing aspirations of Australian households: Positioning paper. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from < http://www.ahuri.edu.au/publications/projects/p20017> Read More