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Perth low density stuns planner

Perth low density stuns planner

An urban planning expert has branded Perth the lowest density major city he has seen, as the State's land development agency boss warned developers might have only one chance to get high density right.

David Gordon, an urban planning professor from Canada's Queen's University, laid bare the challenge the WA Government faced in meeting its infill housing targets when asked at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia function yesterday to rate Perth's density.

"Perth's the lowest density major city I've ever seen," he said.

Mr Gordon said the good news was that Perth had land near major roads and railways that could be developed. He said it was not always necessary to "disturb stable residential communities" to do infill well.

"You've got miles and miles and miles of main roads just strung with dreck, low density shopping centres half abandoned, car dealerships, industrial areas . . . these are fantastic opportunities for infill and growth," he said.

"You don't have to disturb stable residential communities in order to do infill in Perth. You've got lots of opportunities to do that."

LandCorp chief executive Frank Marra said developers often only got one chance to get high density living right and one bad design could alienate a community.

"I think we need to make sure that we continue to sell the benefits - and not just the benefits to the individual - as to what will come from more medium and high density housing, which is usually combined with great amenity," he said.

"But I also think we need to go a bit further than that and make sure we have really good examples.

"The community really latches on with poor outcomes that might have occurred in the past."

Mr Marra said the term high density had a stigma that had to be overcome, potentially through "rebranding".

The Government's draft Perth and Peel@3.5 million planning report, released this month, set a target of building 800,000 new homes by 2050, 380,000 through infill.