YARRAVILLE: an urban design case study

Case study briefing notes for What's good urban design? an ecoversity workshop at the George Hotel, Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, Thursday March 14, 1996, co-hosted by Imagine The Future Inc, the City of Port Phillip, Australian Conservation Foundation and Urban Design Forum as the Victorian response to the Prime Minister’s Urban Design Task Force Report, 1994. Sponsored by the Federal Department of Housing and Regional Development.

More on Yarraville from Redreaming the plain, 2002..

PAST

Pre-European environment
- grasslands on poor shallow soil of basalt plain, with wetlands and stands of casuarina and river red gums along the Yarra River and Maribyrnong and Stony Creeks

History
- conjunction of the territories of the Yalujit-willam, Marin-balluk and Wirundjeri clans of the Kulin nation
- British squatters claimed land for sheep from 1835
- busy port developed after European settlement because the western bank of Yarra offered deep water berths
- quarrying of blue stone for ballast and building material important from 1840s
- township site was private subdivision to house returning diggers from the goldfields in 1850s manufacturing established along the Yarra from 1870s and factories discharged noxious effluent into the river
- first railway station built c.1872 and now classified by national trust
- Coode Island canal dug in 1880 to change course of the Yarra
- Yarraville gave 'an impression of social progress, comfortable homes and a pushing thriving community,' according to July 1887 issue of Australasian Building Societies and Mortgage Companies Gazette, yet in the same year it experienced very high death rates in a typhoid epidemic caused by contamination of water and milk supplies by Salmonella typhi bacteria
- stagnant pools of sewage and filth were reported under houses and along unsealed roads and waterways were unspeakably polluted with organic waste of all kinds
- by 1889 shopping centre had grown around railway goods yards
- foundries, smelting works and manufacturing industries including woollen mills, rope works, glass works and the Colonial Sugar Refinery well established around wharves by 1890s
- goods handling from wharves to railway important until road transport introduced in 1950s

PRESENT

Community profile
- inner urban community 10 minutes from Melbourne CBD
- people maintain keen sense of local identity influence of Italian, Greek, Albanian and Macedonian immigrants conspicuous though declined since 1960s
- Greek community particularly strong
- process of gentrification taking place as younger professional families move in
- vacant public land around railway precinct and along river now the focus of community-led urban renewal proposals Social comforts
- narrow streets promote communication between neighbours
- local Neighbourhood House, Maternal and Child Health Centre and Senior Citizens Centre within walking distance of many people
- restored Sun theatre will serve as important community resource
- Greek coffee houses, soccer club, game parlours, pubs and video shop are central meeting places few street cafes
- train and bus connections need fine tuning significant health and safety problems associated with soil contamination and local production and storage of dangerous substances


Built environment
- railway and shopping precinct now a conservation zone
- historic buildings include railway station, State bank, shops with traditional verandahs and fine Victorian and Art Deco dwellings along short narrow streets
- traditional even nostalgic streetscape with appropriate retail mix
- single dwellings on small blocks predominate architectural styles reflect boom and bust cycles real estate values increasing as first home buyers attracted to Yarraville
- clear demarcation between residential and industrial zones Industry
- Petrochemical, fertiliser, glass manufacturing (Pivot, ICI, Mobil, ACI) and other heavy industries along river chemical industry imports raw materials through Coode Island
- traditional blue collar jobs disappearing most workers commute to city or other suburbs

Transport
- heavy car dependence with all the associated health and environmental problems
- heavy industrial traffic including big trucks hazards associated with transport of chemicals and bulk fuel
- bicycle trails along river popular
- bus and train connections need fine tuning historic railway station precinct could become community focus once more if buildings restored and surrounds landscaped Energy
- power production still fossil fuel based (there's gas-fired power station just up the road at Spotswood)

Air
- local pollution from vehicle exhausts and emissions from industry
- EPA licences and monitors industrial emissions and general air quality Water
- extreme pollution in C19th and early C20th because slaughterhouses fellmongeries, wool washeries, tanneries, boiling down works, bone millers, and makers of glue, fertiliser, soap and candles, and other noxious trades discharged raw effluent into Yarra River and Maribyrnong Creek with impunity, and household sewerage and other waste often leaked into gutters
- liquid trade wastes are now discharged into sewage system or illegally into stormwater drains stormwater and run-off into waterways still contaminated by fallout and leakage from industry, from car emissions and from street litter and dog faeces
- little recycling of water or local harvesting of rain water

Soil
- confirmed and suspected contamination of soil around old industrial sites - most contamination still undocumented
- some infamous local cases of residential development on toxic waste dumps
- soil contamination continues because of leakage and fallout

Food
- talk of developing community gardens on public land
- little food grown in backyards
- most food grown elsewhere and distributed through shops

'Waste' management
- curb side sorting and collection of plastic, cans and paper
- no local sewage treatment or recycling of treated effluent or household grey water
- sewerage and liquid trade waste piped to Werribee for treatment and discharged into Port Phillip Bay (Experiments have been conducted in recycling treated effluent to irrigate forest plantations and pastures; in using sludge as fertiliser; and in collecting methane from treatment ponds. These initiatives may be threatened by recent privatisation of public services because they are considered 'non-core' activities.)
- no public composting of local organic waste industry licensed to emit waste products into sewage system and atmosphere

Per capita impact on biosphere - far too high

FUTURES CHALLENGES

- nudging industry towards zero emissions urban renewal on vacant public land
- treating contaminated sites
- ensuring appropriate cultural and economic development
- improving facilities for local people
- maintaining unique local identity, including cultural diversity, historic buildings and streetscapes
- adapting to impact of new technologies
- protecting natural ecosystems including the river and the bay
- working towards social and ecological sustainability

Prepared by Merrill Findlay for ITF. Copyright ITF 1996.

Revised March 2004.