Brisbane is at risk of becoming downright ugly, and Lord Mayor Graham Quirk might feel the wrath at the ballot box next year.

In local neighbourhoods across the city, 200 or more people are turning up at meetings to protest grotesque, out-of-character developments at their back fence.

Brisbane's growing urban density is changing streetscapes and, with more cars flooding into suburbs, bringing on even more parking headaches. Credit: Ryan Stuart

At the heart of the unrest is resentment over development applications being approved without any genuine analysis of how it will change the city.

A drive through the suburbs makes that point almost indisputable. Seven townhouses and a home packed into one yard in Camp Hill, retrospective approvals of developments that should not be allowed, and a lack of car spaces that will impact hundreds of streets.