Do we focus too much on housing when we discuss density?

Housing is the most substantial form of land use in our cities, yet a significant amount of our lives are spent at work/school/etc. It is the density and land use of these destinations that shape decisions like the type of transport we choose, and determine our accessibility to vibrant social places.

The trend over the last decade or so has been the densification of our housing, and we are right to consider how we do this well. Yet perhaps of greater concern should be the trend to decentralise and suburbanise our jobs into relatively low density office parks on the suburban fringe. These places are completely devoid of public spaces, public life and diversity of choice. They are car centric places that cater only to mostly large corporate investment. They are devoid of all the benefits; environmental, social and economic, we espouse when we discuss density done well.

The draft Sydney metro strategy highlights the need to move jobs west, and identifies the development of more business parks. Perhaps we should be considering how we attract office space investment out of low density suburban office parks and encourage investment and urban renewal of our existing urban centres, especially in western Sydney.