How skyscrapers and high-rises are transforming Australia's suburban skylines

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Out from a leafy green canopy in Melbourne's east looms a sleek, silver skyscraper, jutting into the suburban skyline.

It is a development that has divided local residents — but the fault lines are becoming visible across Australia's capital cities.

The property ideal of a home on a quarter-acre block with a big backyard was once a mainstay of Australian life, but many are now trading it in for the convenience of high-rise living.

But while some say high-density development is the best way to cope with Australia's urban population boom, not everyone is happy about how high-rises are transforming suburbia.

A majority of Australians (61 per cent) think population growth is a problem for Australia, according to the Australia Talks National Survey.

'A big cruise ship'

Oliver and Marian Chin say they can't wait to move into their new apartment — located in the 36-storey Sky One tower in Box Hill.

At 122 metres high, the recently completed development constructed by the Golden Age Group is now the tallest structure outside of Melbourne's CBD, overtaking Whitehorse Towers which stands at 115 metres high and lives just around the corner.

Another Box Hill development project, Sky Village — a residential and entertainment complex featuring two 18-storey buildings — is already in the works and being pitched as a "New Chinatown" offering "spectacular views" of Melbourne.

The couple, originally from Taiwan, wanted to downsize from their home in Balwyn, and said their new apartment and location in Box Hill was "second to none".

"Now I feel very satisfied with this building. And my friends are joking: 'Well, we are moving into a big cruise ship'," said Ms Chin, 68.

For the Chins, the move is a chance to foster community, with many of their relatives and family members also residing in the building.

Mr Chin, 72, said as he grew older he wanted to be closer to "handy" amenities like local hospitals, libraries, shopping centres and Chinese grocery stores.

"I don't want to rely on other people. If I live here, I can fulfil that."

Fears leafy suburbs will become concrete jungles

But some residents like Angela — who asked that her full name not be included — aren't happy about having their neighbourhoods so drastically transformed by skyscrapers.

She said she purchased a home in the Box Hill area to soak up the fresh air of the "leafy east" — but with rapid development, the suburb she idealised is unrecognisable.

"It's not what we bought into," she said.

"[There was] fresh air and the kids could play outside and it was comfortable. It's not anymore."

Angela said she was not against development, but having multiple buildings above 30 storeys was "too much", and was not done in consultation with residents.

"It's happened very quickly — too quickly. And I don't think they've planned it very well," she said.

"We don't have the roads. We don't have the infrastructure to support that."

More positives than negatives?

The question of population density and high-rise housing in rapidly expanding suburbs is not confined to Box Hill, with both Sydney and Melbourne expected to tip 8 million people by 2050.

More Australians are living in apartments now than ever before, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 census, which found the number of occupied apartments rose by 78 per cent in the past 25 years.

Buildings stretching 120 metres into the sky in suburbs like Ryde and Parramatta in Sydney — with development rates of 57 per cent and 38 per cent respectively — are transforming skylines.

Whitehorse City Council Mayor Sharon Ellis said several high-rise developments had been approved in Box Hill, and more were in the pipeline.

"Look, there is always resistance to any change and any development in any area, quite frankly," she said.

"Parking is one of the problems that people are more concerned about."

But she said with change came benefit, and that developments could foster growth, boost employment opportunities and improve the lifestyles of residents.

"We had a leaning towards single dwellings on a quarter-acre block in the past, but the reality has hit home that that isn't feasible," she said.

Peoples' needs have changed, Cr Ellis added, saying younger people gravitated towards apartment buildings — though some reports suggest young families and millennials do not prefer apartments, and want a backyard.

Jago Dodson, director for urban research at RMIT University, said while "we have seen a rise and younger people living in apartments," it was important to look at the reasons why.

"We need to understand whether that's a question of choice — if they're doing it because they definitely want to live in an apartment, or if there's a question of constraint in the sense that they are unable to afford a standard detached dwelling," he said.

Calls for infrastructure to keep pace with population

Gary Ma, general manager of property developer Ironfish Melbourne, which jointly built Whitehorse Towers in Box Hill, said some 70 per cent of his clients were of Asian background.

He said he was not worried his projects would alter the character of the suburb, or would create a monocultural, rather than multicultural, space.

"You can't stop people liking certain things because we have a different culture," he said.

"Box Hill has come a long way," he said, referring to the increasing property prices across the suburb.

He said he was "extremely confident" in planting a high-rise in the "up-and-coming" suburb.

Mr Ma added that constructions like this involved "a lot of thought and planning from the council".

But Professor Dodson from RMIT University said developers often held the reins.

"My feeling is that state governments don't really have a very strong handle on the way that development is occurring," he said.

"I think they've left too much to developers to determine, and we're certainly not seeing the level of infrastructure provided around the new high-rise developments that we need to in terms of open space."

Professor Dodson said the mismatch of expectations between those seeking low-rise living and those wanting high-rise apartments could be "confronting", but said he would be cautious about making assumptions based on cultural or ethnic lines.

"There's some broader kind of cultural change occurring now that we're associating with particular migrant groups — that doesn't necessarily mean that those are the groups that are driving that change."

He added that the people who bought the properties weren't always the ones living in them, as some made the purchase to bolster investment portfolios.

While it's easy to think that a shift into high-rise living is a natural consequence of population boom, that wasn't the full story, Professor Dodson said.

"We've got to realise that the way we plan our cities is a conscious choice," he said.

The Australia Talks National Survey asked 54,000 Australians about their lives and what keeps them up at night. Use our interactive tool to see the results and how their answers compare with yours — available in English, simplified Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.

Then, tune in at 8:30pm on November 18, as the ABC hosts a live TV event with some of Australia's best-loved celebrities exploring the key findings of the Australia Talks National Survey.

Read the story in Chinese: 阅读中文版本

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