A Greenbelt for Perth: A strategy for managing urban growth

The size and spatial organisation of cities is an important issue for urban policy. Urban sprawl is generating environmental, social and economic impacts which show it is not sustainable. Urban growth needs to be managed and contained. The greenbelt concept is important in this context. This thesis investigates the potential of greenbelts for urban growth management. The greenbelt concept is reviewed and its relevance to managing urban growth and promoting sustainability considered. Case studies are included of cities with greenbelts or similar strategies. The potential of a greenbelt for managing growth in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia, is considered. A greenbelt is a zone of land around a city set aside from urban development. It involves maintaining an urban growth boundary and managing rural land use around it. A greenbelt can be a strategy to limit sprawl, shape urban form and protect rural environs. To be effective a greenbelt must be integrated with other strategies to affect where and how development occurs and make cities more sustainable. Perth is a sprawling city experiencing urban growth problems and is headed toward continued expansion. Rural landscapes and natural resources are destined to become car dependent suburbia. To avoid tWs situation growth management is needed, guided by a positive vision of a sustainable city and region wherein the environment is protected and livability enhanced. A greenbelt could be part of that vision and an integral strategy influencing land use in metropolitan Perth. A greenbelt can set a growth boundary - a limit that challenges past growth patterns and requires more critical use of urban space. A greenbelt could help shift growth away from the fringe and focus development in defined areas within or beyond the city. The greenbelt is a positive idea for managing change for a sustainable future. It is a radical idea given current trends, but one that should be developed further. TWs thesis raises some issues for consideration