WELCOME to Perth in 2050, population four million (at least).

Where townhouses and apartments reign supreme and the battle-axe subdivision has gone the same way as fly-in, fly-out roster and the 45-minute drive to work.

Instead, you and your family live, work and play within a 2km radius — in a precinct 30 minutes from the CBD. By train, of course.

That is the aspirational vision laid out in a new Property Council of Australia report, to be launched this week, looking at the future direction of Perth.

It tips Perth’s population to soar more rapidly than any other western city, a consequence of our attractive climate and strategic position in the world’s most populous time zone.

Key to handling that growth is a collective decision to expand upwards rather than outwards, according to lead author and London-based urbanist Greg Clark.

“If we are going to accommodate population growth by building more suburban homes we will simply make Perth extremely expensive and inefficient to use,” he said.

“Perth would become not just a sprawling city, but extremely sprawling, and the cost of services like water, energy, waste removal and transportation would all be far too high to be sustainable.”

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Instead, Professor Clark advocates a move towards a spread of high-amenity, medium to high-density precincts centred on transport nodes and corridors.

If that sounds familiar, it is because it aligns perfectly with the McGowan Government’s Metronet vision.

“The Metronet program is already starting to improve the scale and range of public transport and to use that to drive new kinds of urban development, creating new kinds of locations where people want to live work and play,” Prof Clark said.

That is an opinion shared by UWA assistant professor and deputy director of the Australian Urban Design Research Centre Julian Bolleter, who is researching ways to overcome barriers to medium-density infill development — mainly, community resistance.

Australians consider it their birth right to subdivide the backyard, and a lot of people are banking on selling the garden for $300,000,

That kind of haphazard, low-density infill has proliferated throughout the city. Fractured land ownership now presents a major obstacle to coordinated and strategic development. One way of combating that would be the introduction of minimum lot sizes for redevelopment.

“If we said unless you can get 1200sqm you can’t develop, that would stop (battle-axe subdivision) in its tracks because even the bigger suburban lots would need to join with their neighbour to develop,” Dr Bolleter said.

“It would require a brave leader to take that on board, but urban planning does need a measure of creativity and courage and given the outcomes backyard developing is yielding in the suburbs there is a case to be made for something more drastic.”

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He said a more palatable approach would be to emulate cities like Vancouver, which grants developers density bonuses in exchange for funding amenities or affordable housing.

“People need to perceive they get benefits from accepting or supporting density,” he said.

“When a community accepts more infill there are all kinds of kickbacks in terms of upgraded parks and streetscapes, or libraries and day-care centres, and there is a sense that something is offered back to community.”

Planning Minister Rita Saffioti is preparing to introduce strata reform to Parliament that includes the creation of a new community title, designed specifically to encourage the better provision and sharing of amenities within a precinct.

“Through community title people will be able to share things like solar panels connected to a micro grid, rooftop gardens, swimming pools, car parks and waste water recycling,” Ms Saffioti said.

“Everyone will still pay strata fees but that money will be spent providing shared infrastructure across the community.”

Ms Saffioti said infill provided choice and affordability, allowing young adults to live where they grew up and pensioners to retire in the communities they knew best.

On the economic front, Prof Clark said it was crucial the State Government capitalised on mining royalties to drastically reduce reliance on mineral and gas extraction.

“Increasingly cities need to get into research and development and the innovation side of the value chains, so not just extracting but the many applications for the material,” he said.

He said lithium was a prime candidate and Perth could lead the world in the development of batteries and renewable-energy technology.

Higher education was identified as another growth sector, but Prof Clark warned against universities becoming degree factories for international students.

“There is a slight risk we end up encouraging our unis to focus on servicing international customers (rather) than the local entrepreneurial base that needs specialised talent for high-calibre, high-growth, high-innovation businesses.”

Prof Clark said globally competitive internet speeds would be non-negotiable in the future.

“Targets for internet speeds increase every month as competition leaps forward, so the whole idea of aiming for a minimum speed into the future is probably less useful than targeting a benchmark position among competitors,” he said.