Bright lights, big city: Perth people talk about our once-sleepy town becoming a major metropolis

Steph: ‘I love that the city is getting bigger and more interesting, but I never want it to be like London or Tokyo or even Melbourne’

I grew up in Kensington, I own a home in East Victoria Park and my partner and I love walking our dogs along the South Perth foreshore, so I’ve spent my life in the area. The changes are huge. Victoria Park is booming with all the new restaurants along Albany Highway. It’s now a major foodie destination. And there are so many new apartments around Mends Street it is hard to recognise the place. It’s not quite Melbourne yet, but we’re definitely heading in that direction.

I think the changes that are coming from the growth in population are fantastic. It’s becoming a more interesting and vibrant place. South Perth always had a reputation for being a bit sleepy, despite being so close to the CBD. But now with all these new apartments and a lot more people it’s so much busier. The riverside is such a great amenity so it is fantastic to see so many people enjoying it.

But not everything is great about the city growing. The traffic is now horrendous. You should come here in the mornings and see the cars line up on Mill Point Road to get onto the Freeway. It’s so intense! It’s the same all over the city. The rush hour now starts in the middle of the afternoon and continues long after the end of the working day. The transportation infrastructure is obviously not coping with Perth becoming a big city.

The booming population is also having an impact on services. I see it where I work. I’m a nurse in a surgical ward at Fiona Stanley Hospital. We do our best to provide first-class service, but with so many people needing care not everyone is going to be seen as quickly as they should. We have a lot of cancer patients needing surgery, but they have to wait longer because of the demand. And the cost of living means more and more people are accessing the public health system instead of the private, which is putting more pressure on us.

The influx of new people is also fuelling the housing crisis. I was fortunate enough to buy in East Victoria Park five years ago at a reasonable price. I wouldn’t be able to do that today with the rise in prices and the shortage of homes. I have a friend who would love to live as close to the city as I do, but she was forced to buy in the outer suburbs. It was all she could afford. I’m so grateful for the home I have, and I’m not moving anywhere!

I don’t want a child just yet, but I am worried that when it comes time there will be much more pressure because of the cost of living and the price and availability of such services as daycare. I want to be financially secure before I have a child, which is hard at the moment because of how precarious things are. I love Perth growing but it is forcing us to dial down our expectations.

My boyfriend and I have travelled extensively in the last couple of years and enjoyed spending time in some of the world’s biggest cities. But I never want Perth to become like those cities. I love that Perth is bigger and more exciting than it was when I was growing up, but I never want it to become like London or Tokyo or even Melbourne. It’s just the right size as it is now and has just the right pace. It’s like you’re living in a city but you’re not. It has a big-city vibe but still small and peaceful enough to have a great lifestyle.

“The great advantage of density is the sense of community,” Steve says. “You get people from diverse backgrounds interacting in the same place.”Credit: Mark Naglazas

Steve: ‘Everyone is concerned about the city becoming too big. But that’s not how we experience a city on a daily basis’

When we bought our first home in Bayswater in 1996 there was only one cafe in the Eighth Avenue strip in Maylands, Riffo’s, which was started by an old friend of mine from school. Over the next few years cafes started popping up along Eighth Avenue and on Whatley Crescent. I said to my friend, “What do you think about all the completion?” He said, “I think it’s great. The more places like this in the area, the better for all of us, because it becomes a real destination suburb.” Twenty years later and the Maylands Town Centre is one of the most diverse, vibrant and interesting precincts in the metro area.

The area will continue to evolve because of the Maylands Station and the pressure for higher density around transportation hubs. There’s been some pushback against increased density because of concerns about shadowing and overhang. But what increased density brings far outweighs the negatives. More people are able to walk to a train station as well as enjoy a mixed-use precinct, with its cafes and shopping and services. And this area has always had apartments and smaller blocks, so there’s a greater acceptance of higher density.

The great advantage of density is the sense of community. You get people from diverse backgrounds interacting in the same place. Lots of criss-crossing and cross-pollination. It’s one of the great attractions of large cities. People from Perth are always travelling to places such as New York and Paris and Barcelona to experience the excitement of so many people being in such close proximity and the cultural life it brings. If we do things right we can have the same thing here in Perth.

Of course, a bigger city brings problems, such as the chaos on the roads. There’s nothing worse than being trapped on a freeway for 90 minutes. But living so close to the CBD and near to a railway line means that the transportation problems haven’t really impacted me as much as it would if we were living in an outer suburb. It’s the best argument for infilling around transportation hubs as the city booms. I don’t have to use my car all of the time. I can use the train or get on a bus or ride my bike.

Growth also brings opportunities. If enough people raise their collective concerns we can find other solutions other than urban sprawl and building more roads. We can facilitate centres where mixed generations can live close to each other, where children can afford to live close to their parents and grandparents and enjoy cross-generational support.

I’d love to have my kids be able to live nearby. They may not want to, but their capacity to purchase property around here will be limited because of the lack of diverse housing available, which both forces a lot of older people to stay in their houses because they can’t find a smaller place in the neighbourhood they like. Growth brings benefits, but we need to be smarter in the ways we manage it.

Everyone is concerned about the city becoming too big. But that is not how we experience a city on a daily basis. Even in megacities like Tokyo or Mexico City you’re not dealing with millions of people, just those you interact with each day, which might just be a few hundred people or a few thousand. Perth is made up of lots of little urban centres or neighbourhoods where people interact. It might even be a shopping centre. Growth is measured by numbers, but that’s not how we experience it.

“I love visiting big cities around the world, but it is not what I want for Perth,” Jan says.Credit: Mark Naglazas

Jan: ‘We are just a few kilometres from the city so change is inevitable. I just go with the flow’

Even though I come from a farming family and have spent a lot of my life in Esperance I have strong connections to South Perth. In the early 1970s my mother and father bought an apartment on The Esplanade overlooking the city. They used to walk around the corner to the shops. It was like a little village. It was lovely. I wouldn’t want to live there now. Just too much traffic and too many people. The area has changed a lot, for both good and bad.

Where we are now, in Angelo Street, has become really lovely and very convenient. We have a wonderful new Coles and there are lots of cafes and some great shopping. Almost everything we need is here. But there are losses. We used to have a hardware store but that was put out of business by Bunnings. That’s happening everywhere as the city gets bigger and there are greater commercial pressures. We lose the things that gave suburbs their character.

This part of South Perth is away from all those apartments being built around Mends Street. I don’t like it much. I much preferred the area the way it was. And I have a friend in Como who sold up and moved when an apartment block was built next door. And all around me blocks are ear-marked for development. But what can you do? We are just a few kilometres from the city so change is inevitable. You can’t stop it so I just go with the flow. And I won’t be around long enough to see big changes that are coming.

I love visiting big cities around the world, but it is not what I want for Perth. We were in Buenos Aires and I looked down to see a man trying to empty the contents of my bag into his. So, no, I don’t want Perth to become one of those big cities where it is dangerous to just walk down the street. Making it more populous and vibrant is wonderful, but up to a point.

The impact of growth on people does depend on how you are situated. My husband Harry and I are fortunate enough to live in this beautiful part of Perth and have access to all the services we need in our old age. But that is not the situation for everyone. Growth and change impacts on everyone differently. We are happy where we are, but not everyone is so lucky.

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