PART 1:
The Playford Alive development was put in place to handle the increased demand for suburban living. There is minimal free space for housing closer to the Adelaide CBD, so this development had been placed on the outskirts of the existing suburban area. New shopping centres, medical clinics and excreta have been built to facilitate the increase of population in the area. Due to the requirement which is having levelled parts of the landscape in order to build on the land/property. A man made wetlands and lake have been put in place to make up for the environmental requirements of the area. Due to the making of new jobs there have been around 200 plus jobs created for people to be able to get money. Schools, recreational areas such as parks and gym have been added, as well as shopping centres, fast food, doctors and chemist, as well as small businesses like hair salons, nail technicians and other places such as pizza shops. In some places they have added extra plants and made wetlands for the Playford alive area. They intend to increase population and liveability in the general Playford area.
PART 2:
In the year of 2009, the Playford Alive community was barely existent, consisting of long straight roads went on forever and massive bocks of land with random piles of dirt, electrical power lines, and small, narrow roads. There was poorly painted roads that were only one lane on each side because the traffic flow was low. There was no traffic lights or roundabout because cars could easily drive on the road with small amounts of traffic. The most noticeable thing is that there is no fast food restaurants, supermarkets, carparks, Bensons radiology isn't there nor are the apartments that got burnt down. The road is thin and theres no intersection compared to what you see in the second image taken nine years later.
The new, current Playford Alive or Curtis Road development has gotten much bigger and road have widened to help the increased traffic flow,. New shops, buildings and many more street lights have been added in this area to profit off the raised population and flow of traffic. This is only half of what the predicted Playford development is going to look like and these pictures show how much the Curtis Road development has grown over the past 10 years, as this is still growing and will continue to grow over the next few years. For example, there is plans for a large Big W to be built plus a couple other major companies have signed contracts which should be exciting. Compare to the first image that was taken in 2009 there's now fast food chains, a large intersection, wider lanes and a dual lane road. Traffic lights have been installed to control the large flow of traffic. More trees are evident and the area just looks better and more presentable in general.
PART 3:
In this map you can see the local area split up into the 5 different categories, Residential, recreational, Retail, Schooling and wetlands. The suburb is mostly residential and recreational with a school and shopping destinations nearby along with the wetlands.
PART 4:
The impacts on the developed area can be divided into three groups; social, economic and environmental. The social group is the only one which doesn’t have any negative impacts, while both economic and environmental are split between the two. The impacts of the social ability in the area include the creation of a new community, the new parks and planned recreational areas bring families together, recreation centres are available to play team sport and schools are close by. Environmental impacts on the area include higher amount of traffic which is a negative impact, natural environments removed due to needing to make room for more suburbs, which is also a negative impact, and the development of the wetlands and replaced native plants, which is a positive impact. Economic impacts on the area include further employment in the area via new shops and services, a positive impact, the area having a higher population which is also a positive impact, the government spends more money on the development of the area which is considered a negative impact, and the possibility of a higher level of unemployment due to the increase population not being match by the employment available.
Curtis Road in its current state is no where near the correct size to efficiently cater for the current traffic volumes it experiences on a day to do basis. This is evident when 127 cars and motorcycles, 14 commercial vehicles and 2 buses travell along the road within a seven-minute period which is way too much for a predominantly single lane road to handle. In order for Curtis Road to efficiently handle the traffic that travels along it each day, I suggest that the road is to be upgraded to consist of two lanes all the way to either the roundabout next to the church or the intersection going onto Main North Road.
The research was conducted on the fifth day of November 2018 which was in week five of 4th term at St Columba College. We made our way to the Andrews Farm wetlands behind our school, St Columba College, to conduct experiments on the Ph, salinity, air temperature and nitrates in the water tested. We tested two different sites which were the actual lake and the creek that runs along the opposite side of the footpath. The conditions were moist and wet due to it raining the night prior to our outing.
In my opinion prior to the field work being completed, there is enough land currently being preserved for the natural environment in Andrews Farm. Despite the substantial increase in development in the area over the past couple of years, there is still a very sustainable amount of land that is dedicated to the natural environment. There tends to be plenty of plants and trees surrounding the man made developments surrounding the area due to the council ensuring that there is still a considerable amount of greenery around to keep the environmentalists more than satisfied. They have constructed wetlands, lakes and creeks in the area in order to keep the balance between new developments and the natural environment. The main argument against this point of view is the amount of change in the area. People believe that the manner of how the land was used before the developments, with the land just being open and the plants growing freely, and how it has now changed to have a limited amount of natural environment. There isn’t currently enough land in the surrounding suburbs successfully preserved for the natural environment of Playford. These people are only looking at the amount of the natural environment that has been removed from the area but not at the amount that there is left at this moment.
After the field work had been completed, it may be noticeable how the urbanisation and development has had a toll on the landscape. This is evident through the study of the wetlands adjacent to St Columba College in Andrews Farm. Even though the water quality is still at a high enough level where it can cater for macro invertebrates, it’s not in a good enough condition to be used for its original purpose which was to supply water to the surrounding housing and developments. The PH level of the water ,on the fifth of November 2018, was in the mid 8’s, on the higher end of the neutral section and nearing the basic section. If the PH level raises any more the animal life that feeds off the wetlands whether it be birds that inhabit the land or bugs that hide within the water.
The Rubbish and waste in the area has also had an impact on the wetlands. Litter has made its way from the school, St Columba College, and surrounding public and has built up in the plants and reeds within the wetlands. The waste definitely has an impact on the water quality and its most likely the reason why the water cannot be used in the surrounding housing estates or businesses.
PART 5:
The Playford Alive district was built and developed from a Human view. If the area was made from a World view then the development wouldn't have happened, and the land would stilll be the plant wilderness that it was many, many years ago. Everything the Council does is to tend for the peoples needs which include the little environmental things they take part in. They only do it to please and satisfy the environmentalists and the people that protest against the non-environmental things. The Playford Alive development made with the sole purpose to deal with the increased population. If this development wasn’t built, then the existing areas would be much closer to a ‘full capacity’ than they currently are. This development now caters for a large mass of people, with new schools, retail outlets and residential buildings. A big amount of families have relocated to Playford, with adequate housing and education for their children and close to employment opportunities This makes Playford the perfect place to settle down. This shows that the development of the Playford Alive district was put into action through a Human view and has better impacted the humans that now inhabit the area.
Part 6:
My proposal and action that would firstly, improve the sustainability and protect the biodiversity of the development and area of Playford Alive is the construction of bigger and better roads, the roundabout that crosses between Curtis road and Stebonheath road should have traffic lights there which would slow down and make it easier and also safer for cars to go past there as there have been so many near crashes just at that round about alone. Secondly, the school children crossing in Andrews Farm is quite dangerous as many cars drive through the stop signs almost hitting kids. I propose that crossing lights and speed hump or bumps should be cinstructed, in order to keep the children safer and increase car safety. In order to positively impact the safety state of the Playford Alive area, I personally propose that action be taken. All of this would requirement a large amount of “bank rolling” from the Council and Government, and seeing how these people are, this will never happen. Even though the likeness of this proposal actually happening is quite low, it still is a viable action to possibly be taken in order to help heal the environmental problems that they have already created by building on and developing this area of South Australia.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, this study showed how the council of Playford alive have made a genuine attempt at constructing a renewable water source and natural improvements. They also have made much needed progress on Curtis road. However, in saying that the council need to improve and build on the current natural and man made infrastructure. Playford is a good attempt at a futuristic city and I believe that instead of paying millions of dollars on signing deals with sports teams and complex’s they should invest in their community.