OUR appetite for housing needs to go on an extreme diet.
The McMansions in our area are on a relentless march.
These days when you see a sold sign on an older style house, you know in a few months time something enormous will be built in its place.
You know what I’m talking about: a two-storey brick veneer cube that goes right up to the neighbour’s fence, with double garage that gets used as storage or workshop, while the family 4WDs litter the stencil-concrete front yard.
Before long, McMansions will be the norm rather than exception in Fairfield.
But are they good for our community? I guess the answer depends on whether you live in one or not.
It’s like driving a V8 Commodore in 2008 when a Camry can get you around just as comfortably.
And most V8 Commodores I’ve seen on Sydney’s roads are only carrying the driver, so it can’t be about having to carry a big family.
Look around, I’m sure you’ll see more families packed in a Camry than a growling V8.
And surely it can’t be about getting there faster have you seen Sydney traffic lately?
No, its gotta be about something else.
And the only something else I can think of is this ubiquitous idea of security.
It started with national security. Since then, politicians have embraced security as the solution every important problem in society; economic security, securing our water supply, securing our skilled workforce.
The Feds even had a policy on securing our fishing future.
Locally, Fairfield councils catch cry not too long ago was clean, green and safe.
Developers have responded to this siege mentality and exploited our natural instinct to protect our family with great success.
McMansions are big and imposing, often with double brick fencing and roller shutter doors and windows.
One thing I’ve learned. When it comes to security there’s always some sort of trade off.
Just look at the laws for World Youth Day, or how we can’t take more than 100ml of toothpaste on an aeroplane.
McMansions is about the individual, it separates one family from another.
It even separates family members from each other.
Everyone seems to be in their room surfing the net on their own.
They are incredibly environmentally unfriendly, scare resources that are used to build unnecessary bulk.
More rooms use more energy, concreting every outside surface adds to water run off.
It’s harder to heat and cool so McMansions are more likely to have ducted airconditioning.
When I was young we shared rooms. That’s unheard of now. But sometimes those compromises are what families are about.
McMasions dont teach you that life isn’t always a grand stage, it doesn’t encourage you to get close to others.
McMasions are a relic of an era about excess.
They don’t help us to cope with rising petrol prices, interest rates, climbing groceries and rates hikes. And they secure us away from other people at a time when our community should be closer.
My first ever blog for the Fairfield Advance
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