The creation of sustainable communities in Western Sydney master planned developments: a new institutionalist perspective

Abstract

Our cities are constantly evolving, which includes the way we plan for new residential developments. With growing reliance on suburban master planned developments within Australia, there has been escalating concerns across academic, policy, and public discourses over the extent to which sustainability considerations are adopted. There has been a growing concern in the planning profession to address quality-of-life outcomes that support human wellbeing, which has been broadly understood as creating ‘sustainable communities’. Informed by extant literature and my knowledge of the roles that governments and developers have within master planned developments, I provide a suite of objectives that I call sustainable community principles. These sustainable community principles include the adequate provision of open space, social infrastructure, housing, and employment opportunities, alongside creating connected and climate resilient communities. Drawing on the Western Sydney region as an area of investigation, the aim of this research is to assess if sustainable community principles have been taken up across time, and to provide an institutional analysis as to 'why' or 'why not', with specific analysis given towards what happens between master planning processes and the on-the-ground implementation of these principles. Within today’s hybrid neoliberal planning framework, which has been reinforced by the New South Wales Government, sustainable community principles have remained elusive in the delivery of many new developments in the region. In other words, a ‘business-as-usual’ approach of suburban development occurred for many developments, with individuals being further away from resources and opportunities. This trend is further reinforced through significant power imbalances between state and market driven actors and organisations. Developers were often shown to pursue higher profit margins at the expense of sustainability considerations. Local governments suffered from having decreased master planning powers and stretched resource constraints to break the status quo and provide sustainable community principles themselves. It is the New South Wales Government that should play a greater role in the provision of sustainable community principles, safeguard local government powers, and demarcate developer involvement in planning decision-making. Further salient lessons are provided within this study for planning professionals. This institutional research can be replicated for other states and jurisdictions both within Australia and internationally, where the issue of the sustainability of developments is of concern.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Louise Crabtree-Hayes (Supervisor)