Quick questions on Sydney urban dynamics: HSC Geography Urban Places

Greater Sydney covers 12,400 km2. From the Hawkesbury River in the north to the Royal National Park in the south, from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west.

Post-WWII expansion through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Returning servicemen housing schemes (the War Service Homes Commission), the rise of car ownership, and federal-state housing programs produced extensive low-density single-detached housing.

People moving out of the metropolitan area to smaller cities, regional towns, or rural areas. Sydney has seen significant counter-urbanisation since the 1990s and especially since 2020.

Since the 1990s, NSW state government policy has pushed for higher densities along transport corridors. Drivers: housing affordability, infrastructure efficiency, environmental outcomes, the limits of low-density expansion.

Some Sydney districts have suffered or do suffer from urban decay: - Industrial brownfields. Former Hickson Road wharves (now Barangaroo), Ultimo-Pyrmont docks (now renewed), White Bay Power Station (under planning). - Older inner-west industrial areas. Marrickville's former industrial fringe; Tempe. - Public housing estates. Waterloo, Redfern, Glebe public housing has suffered from disinvestment.

Major Sydney renewal projects (under construction or recently complete):

Working-class and industrial inner-city suburbs shifting to middle-class professional residents. Sydney inner-west and inner-south:

Sydneysiders moving to coastal towns. Long-established phenomenon now accelerated by remote work. Central Coast, Newcastle, South Coast (Kiama, Berry, Bega Valley) are major destinations.

Moving to rural or near-rural areas. Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, Hunter Valley. Often retirement-driven but increasingly working-age.