Humanities

Assessment 2: Urban Sprawl

By: Cain Scoby-Smith
The concept of urban sprawl is based around the movement of
people, an example is when a city cannot hold its population and is
forced to move outwards, destroying the native wildlife and
vegetation that used to reside in its place. Once this land has been
corrupted it can never be reversed back into its fertile state, in
the early stages of the colonisation of Australia, native and spiritual
aboriginal land was destroyed by what we define as Urban Sprawl.
Reasons why urban sprawl is occurring in Perth can have only a
small amount of answers, but some of the most prominent are,
urbanisation and the mining industry, because in the rapid growth in
people, the government is forced to expand outwards into unused
and fertile land as to accommodate the new residents. For example,
900,000 new homes are going to be built to accommodate the
predicted population of 2061, this just shows how fast the
population is growing and why urban sprawl is growing as well.
The lives of people living in Perth are more profoundly affected than
even they might expect, because of the new population the reliance
of cars will rise, creating more pollution. The increase In population
is also said to heat up Perths metropolitan area, heat related deaths
are said to increase by double the amount, this is called the urban
heat island affect, where a city or metropolitan area is significantly
more warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human
activities. This not only affects humans, but the surrounding
environment as well, by 2050 the amount of waste is said to rise
from 6.7 million to 9.7 million due to urban sprawl, as we all know,
this would have a great negative affect on not only the surrounding
environment, but the whole world as well. Urban sprawl has also
greatly affected Australias native wildlife, since the settlement of
Australia to today, 12 mammal species and 46 bird species have
gone extinct due to destruction of land.
We must know that the effects of urban sprawl are not irreversible,
however we can try in our best efforts to slow down its negative
effects, four ways I see of doing this are:
Reduce the amount of buildings being built.
Use environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels like:
a) Solar power
b) Hydro power
c) Wind power
Reduce the reliance on personal vehicles and increase
the reliance on public transport

Build up instead of out (Hi-rise apartments instead of

individual homes).

(The increase of Perth from 1900 2013)

(Heat island effect)

(The reality of Urban Sprawl)

Bibliography:
WAtoday 2015, Perth urban sprawl takes its toll, Fairfaxmedia, Perth,
accessed 12 November 2015, <http://www.watoday.com.au/wanews/perth-urban-sprawl-takes-its-toll-20150807-gituhv.html>.
Perth Now 2015, Future Perth: 900,000 new homes without the
urban sprawl,Sunday Times, Perth, accessed 12 November 2015,
<http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/indepth/future-perth-900000-new-homes-without-the-urbansprawl/news-story/981d87d85299615e6608fac7fb947d0d>.
Mraz, J & Bedson, C 2013, Urbanisation, in Geography Alive
8, Jacarada, Milton, QLD, accessed 12 November
2015, Jacaranda, Facts on File.