Relaxing in Leuven

I’ve spent most of this week relaxing in Leuven. Riding to Mechelen, around 24 kilometres away, was a particular highlight. There’s a canal that runs between Leuven and Mechelen, and then beyond, so the riding is pretty easy. I did briefly consider riding back along the unsealed path along a nearby river that runs through Dilje, but time was short and my bike is rickity, so I rode back the same way.

At the same time as relaxing, though, I’m trying to make some headway on this site, as well as catch up on all the news and current affairs. Progress is slow on both fronts, although I am devoting considerable time to current affairs. Having the time to leisurely read the paper everyday over coffee is wonderful. The exact form that this site will take will emerge slowly. I’ve got small projects underway at the moment, and time will tell what fruit those projects bear. In the meantime, I hope you’ll bear with me.

Urban growth boundary & population expansion – Letter to the editor

I managed to get through school without writing a single letter to the editor, and felt none-the-worse for it. Recently, though, I’ve felt compelled to do something to execute my civic duty. In the absence of a concrete action plan (as yet), I have decided that letter writing will be the thing to do. My first attempt is a response to Abby McKee of Greensborough (The Age Letters, 24/6), who wrote:

Where do we draw this grey line?

WEEK after week, letter writers to The Age suggest that the solution to urban sprawl is to limit Melbourne’s population growth.

We are yet to be treated to suggestions about how this should be achieved. How do we decide who is privileged enough to live here? Those of us who were here first and don’t want to see unit developments from our big backyards? Perhaps you need a family connection? An employment sponsor? A minimum bank balance?

Those who wish to see population growth limited clearly see the advantages of living in Melbourne, or they wouldn’t be so desperate to preserve their personal living standards. I am interested to hear how they propose to deny these advantages to others.

My response, submitted The Age on Wednesday 24/6 at 7PM EST:

Abby McKee (Letters, 24/6) reasonably requests those who would prevent expansion of the urban growth boundary to suggest how population growth should be accommodated.

I have lived in Melbourne my entire life, and love the city. However the need for change is undeniable. The high social and environmental costs of outer-suburban expansion are clear.

Melbourne is a great place to live, but it can be improved. More importantly, the coveted Melbourne life-style can be recreated elsewhere. This is the key to accommodating population growth – providing genuine, socially- and environmentally-effective alternatives.

Melbourne needs to change its current CBD-centric thinking. Both within the existing boundaries, and beyond in potential satellite cities such as Geelong, our focus should be to create walkable or rideable ‘villages’. These higher-density ‘villages’ would provide all necessary services without the need for lengthy car trips, and act as a hub to connect to the city-centre when necessary. To achieve this in an affordable way, efforts should focus on the expansion of existing communities, by filling gaps in service provision rather than starting from scratch.

I would be perfectly happy to live outside of Melbourne if a little bit of Melbourne could be recreated elsewhere.

Admittedly, I’m not sure I directly address her central concern – how are limited places to be assigned. This is, however, a first attempt, and I was labouring under a 200 word limit. My point is rather that we should seek to limit demand to live in Melbourne, by providing alternatives, rather than pandering to the demand. If I had responded to Abby’s central point, though, I would have said that they would be allocated as they are now: by the cold hand of the market. Which is effectively to agree that, yes, they would be allocated according to bank balances (or one’s willingness to take on debt) and the forces of supply and demand.

Update: I held back on posting this because I don’t know what The Age’s policy is regarding re-publishing letters. I suspect it doesn’t matter, and in any case, given the time lapse, I think that worthier letters have now been preferred for print.

danielstudds.com

Predictably, this is the official website of Daniel Studds. It’s currently under development and I’ll be adding more content soon. Stay tuned!