Parcel Amalgamations for Urban Consolidation: The Role of Statutory Planning Mechanisms
Nick McFarlane
The need for more housing provision in established areas is widely acknowledged. Victoria’s housing statement (2023) sets a target of building 800,000 homes over the next decade, with a focus on providing a much greater percentage of housing in established areas where people have good access to transport, jobs and community facilities. Against this backdrop, Nick’s work presents a strong argument for urban consolidation policies to move beyond blanket upzoning practice, towards more targeted intervention in strategically optimal locations. His work challenges planners and policy-makers to more closely consider how current practices may inadvertently re-direct development intensity to unintended locations. Its findings demonstrate the importance of understanding the impact planning policy can have on speculative development and increasing costs to ensure new planning policy works in in favour of the public good. This work makes an important contribution debates on ways to best increase affordable housing.