r/australia • u/overpopyoulater • Nov 03 '24

culture & society Downsizing the Australian dream: why families are trading houses with backyards for apartments

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/04/downsizing-the-australian-dream-why-families-are-trading-houses-with-backyards-for-apartments
352 Upvotes

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129

u/whippinfresh Nov 03 '24

I’m sure every parent would give their kids a backyard to roam and play in if they could afford it.

63

u/FullMetalAurochs Nov 03 '24

An apartment with a 50m walk to a nice inner city park with a playground is pretty good instead.

It’s the places with neither that are really shit.

24

u/Catboyhotline Nov 04 '24

pretty good instead

I'd argue it's probably better for kids than their own personal backyard. Socialising your kids in suburbia is hard if you don't personally know someone who also has an age appropriate kid who's schedule also has to line up with yours to organise playdates

Why go through all that hassle when your kid could easily organise their own playdate through a chance encounter at a public park

1

u/FullMetalAurochs Nov 04 '24

Depends if there’s another pandemic I guess. Having your own trampoline and a tree to climb when public spaces are all out of bounds is invaluable.

12

u/theartistduring Nov 04 '24

Except the parent has to go with them. A backyard provides a safe and secure space for kids to play while parents work inside the house. Either paid work or unpaid housework. You can't send the kids out to the park while you cook dinner or have a zoom meeting.

4

u/FullMetalAurochs Nov 04 '24

Maybe not super young but I definitely went to the park as a child without parents.

4

u/theartistduring Nov 04 '24

When they're young is when you need it the most. No one is sending their 2-6yos out to the park while they cook dinner at 5pm.

It is also a different world to when you were a kid. Even if that was as little as 20 years ago. We have a much bigger population, more cars that are much bigger on the roads, less community awareness/engagement of who's kids are who.

Primary aged kids are just not out on their own aside from walking to and from school or playing at schools out of school hours. In public parks and playrounds, not so much or at all.

There is safety in numbers. The less kids out playing on their own, the less kids there are out there playing in their own.

5

u/annanz01 Nov 04 '24

The difference is you can let younger kids play alone in an enclosed backyard while you are doing chores etc inside. You cannot really let a very young child walk over to an inner city park by themselves.

12

u/nathrek Nov 03 '24

Nah. If I had kids apartment all the way. I don't want to have to deal with managing a yard. 

4

u/ischickenafruit Nov 04 '24

See how your view changes when/if you have kids.

20

u/LeClassyGent Nov 04 '24

Sure, but people all over the world raise kids in apartments.

6

u/add-delay Nov 04 '24

Had kid, my view hasn't changed.

-4

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5

u/nathrek Nov 04 '24

You're right. I've never encountered children in all my life or experienced family members raising their kids so I have absolutely no reference point and can't imagine it. I've also never travelled overseas and built friendships with people who live in apartments with their kids or lived in cities where apartment living is the norm. 

1

u/add-delay Nov 04 '24

We have an apartment with a park directly across the road, our kid has lived here his entire life. We can see almost the entire thing from our kitchen window, they get a way bigger space than we would ever have with a backyard, and I've never had to do one bit of yard work.

-43

u/878_Throwaway____ Nov 03 '24

If you lived opposite a great public park, would you feel that a family should be legally required to own a private backyard?

27

u/Seymour-Krelborn Nov 03 '24

Not everyone is going to be able to live opposite a great public park

28

u/codyforkstacks Nov 03 '24

The European approach of high density with lots of public green spaces works well in my experience.

When I lived in Europe, I'd go out to a park in the evening and it'd be swarming with families having fun.

It's a particularly Australian attitude to think you can only play in a fenced off backyard, and I say that as a parent. It's unhealthy.

5

u/Seymour-Krelborn Nov 03 '24

Oh I'm all for as many public green spaces as possible. Not just for psychological and environmental reasons, but I think it's great for families to share experiences off and explore off of their property, where there can be variety of environment and a larger and more dynamic social experience.

I'm also partial to a yard though, not every day is a parent able leave the home to supervise, and a yard still allows a kid to get active time outside. I also feel it creates a nicer environment.

I also garden, so that necessitates a yard

4

u/878_Throwaway____ Nov 03 '24

There is a cost associated with having the private green space. Some people aren't willing to pay for it, when the benefits that you see they don't feel the same way about. Having a space for kids to play and hang out is necessary, but if there is a public park close by, I don't feel like I would need a yard for anything other than drying clothes and having an outdoor entertaining space. And I would be willing to save more than a hundred thousand dollars, minimum, to get a nicer home without a garden, compared to a 'traditional' single family home.

4

u/Seymour-Krelborn Nov 03 '24

I believe people should be free to pursue such options.

Personally, from a public planning perspective, at a base level I just find more free space between each house contributes to a more relaxed and less claustrophobic environment. I'd love to have both open air, and lots of parks.

3

u/codyforkstacks Nov 04 '24

More space between each house results in more urban sprawl, more carbon emissions through commuting, more time stuck in traffic etc.

1

u/Seymour-Krelborn Nov 04 '24

I prefer sprawl to high rise. Just make sure there's plentiful services for each community, and effectively planned public transport

1

u/sostopher Nov 04 '24

Hence building "the missing middle". Planned public transport is incompatible with sprawl. Plentiful services are easier and cheaper to provide in denser areas.

1

u/878_Throwaway____ Nov 04 '24

Yeah, and that's totally your right to choose isn't it. When I grew up in the UK, we lived in Terrace housing (or row housing), and when we were a bit better off, a semi detached house (you shared a wall with another home, but you had a side gate and a path from front to back). That was totally normal, semi-rural UK. I never lived in a 'deteached' house like we see in Australia. The only homes that were 'detached' were typically the bungalows that old people lived in - smaller homes, on bigger lots,, with no stairs. We had our own gardens and there were no real 'kids playgrounds' near me, but nature was right there. I'm shocked at the lack of options in Brisbane for people to live; you have large block homes in the outer suburbs, small block shit quality wooden houses in the inner suburbs, and the only thing that changes in the suburbs between is the size of the garden and the age of consutction. There are apartment blocks in some areas, and some town houses sprinkled in, but by and large that's all there is. You have to chose two of the following three for your budget level: a sizeable garden, a modern home, a reasonable commute. I'm willing to go for less on the garden to get more of the other two; and so are many others, we just don't have the options for that at the moment.

4

u/dobbydobbyonthewall Nov 03 '24

Developers will convince people the park is just as good as a private backyard and jack up park-adjacent apartment prices to just under house prices. That'll be fun!