Australians puzzle over reconciling sustainable building with sprawling suburbs like those found in Melbourne. According to one Australian professor, Australia should focus on developing subcommunities within sprawling suburbs to increase their housing and cultural density.

Kevin O’Connor, an urban planning fellow at the University of Melbourne, wrote an article explaining that while sprawl should not be further encouraged, it needs to be dealt with, rather than ignored. He is in favor of a redevelopment of sorts, less tear down to rebuild, focusing more on reconnecting suburbs to the cities that encourage them. O’Connor’s main idea is that suburbs can be made to be sustainable if planning aims at meeting the needs of suburbs locally, within the suburb.

Part of the downfall of suburbs is that in themselves, the communities are not sustainable, and they lack crucial sustainability features common in big cities. O’Connor argues for extending public transit to suburbs to link them to larger communities, and to reduce the need for cars within the suburbs themselves. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining job bases in suburbs, saying that companies can benefit from operating there themselves. O'Connor thinks that intentionally moving essential services, like education, retail, and healthcare facilities, can help communities coalesce from suburbs. He supports mixed-use infill for aging housing stock, gradually transforming suburbs to micro-metropolises, offering some of the benefits of the big city without all either the "big" or the "city."

Read more at TheAge.com.