How the house and car nexus is destroying biodiversity

"Australian houses are among the largest in the world, averaging 236 square metres of living space"

"Local urban greening outcomes are subjugated to state government housing priorities."

"Driveway area has increased on average by 57% from 29m2 to 46m2."

"Front garden area has reduced on average by 46% from 102m2 to 55m2."

"Redevelopment has reduced canopy cover by 62% at the lot scale."

"Middle-ring suburban Sydney is experiencing a quiet yet profound transformation. As redevelopment accelerates, larger houses with expansive footprints and additional driveways are steadily replacing traditional front yards and gardens. This study examines 370 properties across Northern and Greater Western Sydney to quantify these changes. In areas where older, low-density homes have been replaced by newer, larger detached dwellings, the average front garden area has declined by 46%, while driveways and other impervious surfaces have increased by 57%. Most notably, front yard canopy cover has fallen by 62%. These patterns are not due to a lack of policy, but to a planning system in which local controls have become discretionary under ongoing state-level legislative reforms. Broader social trends toward larger homes and greater car ownership further reinforce this shift. The cumulative effect is leading to a substantial loss of private green space, contributing to higher urban heat, reduced biodiversity, and diminished connections with nature. Urban planning reform is urgently needed to embed minimum standards..."

Death of the front yards: How the house and car is replacing residential gardens >>
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275126001617

#cars #roads #housing #driveways #sprawl #expansion #MumAndDadDeveloper #UHI #UrbanHeat #gardens #backyard #GreenSpace #UrbanGreening #wildlife #biodiversity #trees #children #SmallLandclearing #UrbanPlanning #FossilFuel #dependency #failure #regulation #suburbia #Australia #culture

Image: Housing cars

Turning gardens into roads - Supersized driveways are shrinking suburban front yards

"...In 30 years time we’ll suddenly wake up and go ‘Where have all our front gardens gone?’..You end up with this hard infrastructure – houses and driveways – that have this incremental dominance of the landscape."

"Tree canopy coverage was reduced by 62% as older houses were demolished and rebuilt."

"In contrast, the footprint of driveways and other artificial surfaces increased by 57% to 46 square metres."

"...Greater car ownership and households increasingly having multiple vehicles had also contributed to the loss of private green space.The loss of private green space contributes to higher urban heat, reduced biodiversity, and fewer connections with nature..." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/18/where-have-all-our-front-gardens-gone-sydneys-super-sized-driveways-eat-into-yards

Driveway 'accidents' >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/search?query=driveway%20accidents

15-minute city
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city

#cars #roads #housing #driveways #UHI #UrbanHeat #gardens #backyard #GreenSpace #wildlife #biodiversity #trees #children #SmallLandclearing #UrbanPlanning #FossilFuel #dependency #failure #suburbia #Australia #culture

Image: NSW 'garden' and private toddler playground in suburbia

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#MoviesWorthWatching . . .

Two more #movies that I've just watched on #Tubi that I think are also worth watching:

1) #Driveways (2020) co-starring #HongChau, the petite tough talking Asian woman (who ate Matt Damon for lunch in #Downsizing in 2017) & #BrianDenehey (who plays out of type as a soft spoken & empathetic retired vet). The central character is a young socially awkward boy (Hong Chau's son) who attaches himself to the retiree. More generally it's about growing old, dying & how life goes on nonetheless.

2) #Learning to Drive (2014) co-starring #PatriciaClarkson & #BenKingsly. Is focused on a middle aged White woman who is trying to cope with getting dumped by her husband for a younger woman & an East Indian man who is her driving teacher. However, more broadly, the movie is about how "learning to drive" is a metaphor for how the women needs to get her life back together & how doing so also helps her teacher cope with learning to relate to a woman he just met in an arranged marriage.