NEW style estates with shared homes, facilities and outdoor areas are Marco Pecora’s answer to accommodating Western Sydney’s booming population.

The University of Sydney architecture student and Lendlease Bradfield Urbanisation Scholarship finalist says share facilities will make low to medium density estates affordable for thousands of residents who otherwise may be locked out of the housing market.

Under the 19-year-old’s innovative plan estates will be built with a green belt of protected parklands and open spaces for families “preferably taking advantage of Parramatta River”.

“Parramatta will transform in the next 20 years and along with this predicted growth its economy will take off ,” Mr Pecora says.

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media_camera Marco Pecora wants to see a greenbelt of shared estates around Parramatta. Picture: Carly Earl

“(But) there is a desire by the community to protect the current working class by ensuring they are provided an opportunity to live within a reasonable distance from the Sydney CBD and other world famous attractions. “

Mr Pecora says there are many reasons that make affordable housing worth investing in.

“Parramatta … is a community and culture developed over time by the working class and will be dependent on these workers to give its new transformation life.

“Through the shared housing project not only will families be able to afford life in Parramatta but a community will develop and the neighbour dynamic will expand into a relationship of sharing facilities.”

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Mr Pecora’s shared dwellings begin with a house that has one laundry, one kitchen, one garden, one garage but several bedrooms and living quarters for the separate households.

He says: “This plan is less about sharing a home than it is about reducing the cost. By sharing the cost of utility rooms and white goods not only is there a reduction on wastage but it makes the idea of having a family home much more realistic.”

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Mr Pecora says his proposal can be extended to sharing cars, bicycles, gardening tools, toys and workshop equipment “opening the door to whole series of social arrangements”.

Estates will be connected by footpaths, bike paths and low traffic roads designed to be family friendly and safe with cafetaria-like eateries providing quality food at low prices.

Favourable sites for the new estates are the former Parramatta Jail site and the former Shell Refinery in Clyde with access to train stations and the river ferry.