Compared with Melbourne and Sydney, the Brisbane backyard has been resilient. But what is in store for this cherished Australian icon. And do we really care?
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.On a radiant northside morning, real estate agent Trent McDermott walks 26 groups, mostly young couples, through a modest timber home and out the back door to a vanishing Australian dream.
“Myself included – when I bought a home I looked for the backyard. I wanted the house as far to the front of the block as possible. This is what most people want.” The idyll is so entrenched in the Australian psyche, performers whirling Victa lawn mowers pirouetted into the shape of the Olympic rings at the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 games.But McDermott said younger people were increasingly shunning backyards. Some weren’t interested in having children. Others had been priced too far from work.“Then you’ve got professionals,” he said. “They might be time-poor, or the kids have moved out – and they don’t want the maintenance.
More recently, a new mantra of “densification” sought to absorb population growth while untangling inherent problems of unchecked urban sprawl.But Osborne said these policies had been implemented haphazardly by state and local governments, leading to a generation of development that had prioritised speed and profits over sensible urban design.
“[Diminished green space] does not appear to have been encouraged by planning policy and procedures, [but] it was definitely not prevented by them,” he said. “The policies offered very little resistance.”“During COVID, when we were working from home, I think a lot of people realised how inappropriate their houses were,” said Rachel Gallagher, a PhD research student at the University of Queensland.
“For people buying a suburban house, the focus has become one of investment,” he said. “A particular house form that maximises floor area at minimum cost has evolved in response. Little priority is now given to planted space around the house, as it is not seen as an investment.” For adherents of the traditional backyard, this spelled trouble in the shape of duplexes, terraces and apartments.Courtesy Brisbane City Council
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