Managing medium density housing development: a municipal case study

This thesis presents research into the process of medium density housing development and its management by state and local governments. The issue is an important one considering the contemporary form and structure of Australian cities. For at least thirty years, issues and policies concerning what has been known in Australia as 'urban consolidation' have been hotly debated. While these ideas are frequently linked in State urban policies to the need for higher density housing, the problems and issues pertaining to its actual provision suggest that most likely it has more to do with market factors than planning policy. A case study of how medium density housing development has occurred and been managed in an inner/ middle ring Melbourne municipality is used to examine the process of multi-unit development and residential consolidation: what it means for the community, the problems for government in managing the process, and the outcomes. Investigated at local government level, the provision of medium density housing raises important issues concerning the management of sustainable and democratic local communities; yet does so in a context where the pressure of globalisation upon urban economies and city governance (with which medium density housing provision seems intimately bound) makes this increasingly difficult. Looking beyond traditional debates about appropriate urban form and density and into the process of medium density housing development in an urban municipality, we are quickly moved to consider questions of citizenship, democratic participation and the contemporary roles of planning and local government in the Australian urban context. The question of medium density housing provision and the problems raised in managing its development thus provide a unique means to examine the intersections and relationships between several important themes of relevance to contemporary Australian cities and their governance.