Envisioning the compact city: resident responses to urban design imagery

Policies for achieving compact cities have long faced resident resistance on the basis that intensified development would be out of character. Yet resident response depends on the role of image and imagination in planning discourse. This paper seeks to test urban design imagery for transformations of specific one- to two-storey Melbourne streetscapes, via two representational modes: first, abstracted images of bulk and height scenarios for two different places; second, fully developed urban design visions for four different places. The urban experiences these images evoked and their levels of acceptability were explored through interviews with resident activists. One key finding is, as the bulk and height scenarios change from four to six storeys, from setback to no setback, or from 20 to 60% take-up, the average acceptability reduces by a factor of more than three. The detailed streetscape visions are more acceptable despite greater bulk and height but can produce cynicism. We suggest that such levels of acceptability to resident activists may be predictive of local politics, and levels of acceptability in the wider community may be higher. We conclude with commentary on the role of imagery within planning discourse, where it circulates in a highly contested political field, its accuracy rarely tested.