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Newcastle Herald Letters to the Editor: Wednesday, August 21, 2019

August 21 2019 - 12:30am
DEVELOPMENT DRIVE: Reader Ken Rubeli says it is time to call in the 21st century town planners and get smarter about housing to ensure the future is less wasteful.
DEVELOPMENT DRIVE: Reader Ken Rubeli says it is time to call in the 21st century town planners and get smarter about housing to ensure the future is less wasteful.

HOUSING development may be booming to the north-west of Lake Macquarie ('Lake boom', Newcastle Herald, 19/8), but developers are driving it, not sound planning. What's done is done but henceforth can councils take charge and focus new housing close to railway stations and other public transport routes? Can there be green corridors for recreation and wildlife? Can there be clever, smaller houses that use space smartly, capture heat from winter sun through appropriate orientation, and have a roof design for optimum photovoltaic powering and solar hot water installation? Can housing developments include low-cost terrace-style units, including units for solo- or couple-occupation, and units for public-housing rental? Could there be trees scattered through the development for shade, for birds, for simple relief from bricks and roofs and roads and pavements? Could there possibly be space for small shopping precincts within walking distance of homes? The 'Lake boom' is way behind the times. Our suburban sprawl is an old-fashioned Australian waste of space and energy. Call in the 21st-century town planners, and design for a housing future that is a lot less resource-wasteful than our present and past.

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