Perth’s urban sprawl has been ranked the 69th largest by geographical size in the world, placing just behind London which has a population five times bigger.
According to Limnios Property Group managing director James Limnios, the latest edition of Demographia World Urban Areas report casts a spotlight on the blight of the city’s urban sprawl which he said had remained uncontained for years.
The newly released report is the only annually published inventory of urban areas with a population of more than 500,000, with nearly 1,000 cities analysed.
“The survey also showed that in terms of population density, Perth’s density is nearly half that of Sydney that was ranked 48th in geographic size globally,” Mr Limnios said.
He said Perth now had the reputation as the longest city in the world as the huge hidden costs of urban sprawl continued to be ignored.
“The infrastructure-related costs of building further away (from the CBD) can be up to $75,000 more per dwelling,” he said.
“And this additional building cost does not include environmental costs such as rising (carbon monoxide) emissions by more cars travelling longer distances as well the removal of irreplaceable bushland in the out. er metropolitan area.”
According to Mr Limnios, Perth already had one of the lowest infill targets in Australia, set at 47 per cent, and yet the city was still not achieving this.
“The latest Urban Growth Monitor shows that net infill rate, which accounts for demolition activity, for the Perth metropolitan and Peel regions only, was approximately 29 per cent in 2021, down from 44 per cent in 2020, 43 per cent in 2019, and 38 per cent in 2018, he said.
He blamed incentives such as the first-homebuyer grant for the explosion of new residential developments in the outer Perth area at the expense of new infill housing closer to the city.
However, UDIA WA chief executive Tanya Steinbeck said on its own, the geographical size of Perth did not necessarily point to a problem given there were a range of factors that were influencing the city’s urban growth.
“Perth’s urban development has spread in a linear pattern from north to south over the years. Growth has been restricted by the coastline to the west and the scarp to the east with environmental and other constraints further fostering that long, linear development pattern,” she said.
She added Perth’s urban growth and the areas where development could happen were guided by the State Government’s planning and infrastructure frameworks aim, Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million.
“There is no doubt that increased urban consolidation in Perth is required for environmental, economic and social reasons,” she said.
“As our population ages and household sizes shrink, industry and government need to work together to ensure we are delivering a diversity of housing options to suit different needs and budgets.
“I think it is also important to note that we are already developing our urban spaces more sustainably and efficiently in both new and existing areas.”
