Comparación entre situación y modelo conceptual

In line with Leonard et al. (2004) a thematic approach to the articles was developed. The majority of articles related to real estate sales. These contained information on both new and pre owned apartments for sale as well as new developments. Figure 22 provides an overview of the key findings.

I then select four themes to consider in more depth before focusing on the analysis of Google located websites.

Page 131 % of

included articles

Media & website breakdown

Major themes Minor themes Missing commentary

43 Real Estate Sales Position, convenience, luxury, views Affordable, target groups Governing body or structure, levies, security, community

28 Non classified media stories

developer activity, investment opportunities, affordability

Social housing Governing body or structure, levies, services

maintenance, security, community

14 Specific multi owned issues

Governance, participation, professionalism,

Pets, children, conflict Contracts, education, security community

8 Development

applications

Height, density corruption Governing body or

structure, levies, services maintenance, community, security 3 Strata Industry Websites Professionalism, Lobbying, communication Owners, contracts, community, 3 Strata Government Websites Governing body or structure, levies, maintenance, community Rules, conflict resolution Education, contract management

1 Strata blog sites Governing body or structure, levies, maintenance, community

Tenant issues education

Figure 22 Thematic

5.3.1 Print media

In this section I discuss the results from the print media search conducted through Factiva and analysed through NVivo. Overlying the following discussions of real estate sales and development applications is the interplay between structure and agency. Glasze (2006a) provides diagrammatic insight into the way globalisation, urban governance and the spread of private „club‟ neighbourhoods interact within a structure and agency setting. He considers that, in the regional context, governance of private neighbourhoods provides time-space, specific patterns of actors and their interactions. Moreover institutions produce path dependency and increase or lower the attractiveness of the model of the „private neighbourhood‟, whether apartment or gated community. As such private neighbourhoods have the ability to „become‟ or „not become‟ a reasonable option for involved actors. According to Glasze (2006a), much of this depends on the liberalisation of the private real estate market and the diffusion of a successful real estate product to the marketplace. I begin with consideration of real estate market in the first instance.

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5.3.1.1

Real estate

This section contains almost half of the print media stories. Real estate articles included information on both individual apartments and new developments. While many were sale advertisements, there were also feature articles and infomercials common to the real estate sections of daily and weekend newspapers. Few of the articles provided any mention of the owner corporation, governing structure or strata title mechanism. Only those advertisements published by the Sydney Herald Sun consistently noted the annual or quarterly levy payable to the corporation. Two units were sold under the banner of „No body corporate fees‟, hinting that fees payable to an owner corporation are undesirable to the average consumer of strata property.

The primary themes arising from the real estate commentary are of luxurious surroundings and expansive views in central locations where no car is necessary.

„Cinemas are making their way into high-rise apartments, and luxury day spas into what used to be the humble retirement village‟ (Mario Xuereb, Home, suite home, all part of the plan, The Sunday Age, 27 April 2008).

„The central location meant that few car spaces were required‟ (Ian Royall, Residents want inquiry into controversial development, Herald Sun, 2 April 2008)

This commentary is largely consistent with the integration processes associated with structural domination of developers and planners. It is a way that meaning is applied to the concept of the walkable city and then sold; that is you do not need a car because (a) the apartment is so luxurious that it meets all your needs and (b) it is so conveniently located that you will not need a car parking space. There were emergent themes as well. A small percentage of articles referred to the apartments for sale as „affordable‟ and „entry level‟. Given that these articles did not provide information on levies, the affordable aspect related only to the purchase price range. Housing affordability is a key issue for Australians (Yates & Wuff 2005). The theme of affordability is designed to lure young, first time home buyers who are unable to raise additional finance for the „luxurious‟ lifestyle. This was identified by Leonard et al. (2004) as a significant theme for first home owners in New Zealand. A second emergent theme, and one that has been raised in the literature by Low (2006), is marketing to specific ethnic groups, in this case those of Chinese extraction. Age-specific marketing was also noted:

Page 133 „The Zen Property Group and Usher Powell Developments are

creating what they say is Australia's first dedicated feng shui

apartment project, which they have named Harmony Broadwater‟ (NN, Aiming For Harmony Development boost for bay, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 30 April 2008).

„Mr Buxton said the concept had worked, and he had more Gen Y inner-city developments planned‟ (Mario Xuereb, The Age, 28 April 2008).

„The 57-apartment luxury complex for people aged over 55 would include a roof top garden, concierge, hairdresser, day spa, gym, theatre and pool‟ (Danielle Crowe, Residents say proposed retirement complex too big, Manningham Leader, 30 April 2008).

Three articles were specifically angled at the Gen Y age group with the developers of these complexes openly stating that this was their purchaser target, though most targeted articles fell within the active aging, over 50‟s, „lifestyle‟ village areas.

5.3.1.2

Non classified media

Non classified media articles represented twenty eight of the total articles collected from Factiva. A wide range of issues were reported. However few related directly to the governing structure, and consequently I do not intend to delve into these articles. Themes covered included developer activity, developer and government corruption in the building industry generally, investment opportunities for astute purchasers, affordability of housing, and announcements of affordable housing initiatives including social housing rental schemes. Many of these themes highlight the linkages between key players such as developers, planners and political players identified as key power brokers at the structural level and as such, able to write and apply the rules associated with domination as identified in the literature review.

5.3.1.3

Development applications

Eight per cent of articles located through Factiva related to development applications for planned strata titled complexes. Councils and planning authorities have a vested interest in promoting strata titled complexes. When strata complexes are built the number of rateable properties increases, while provision of and maintenance for infrastructure is outsourced to the developer and governing board of owners. The majority of articles reported opposition to higher density developments by existing residents of broadacre suburbs. Opposition was primarily

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based on the imposing height of the proposed building rather than an outright rejection of apartment dwelling:

„The plan provoked more than 5000 submissions to the council, thousands of anti-development signatures and plenty of celebrity boos and hisses‟ (Peter Barrett, Home Coming, The Melbourne Magazine, 23 April 2008).

`It will ruin the character of the area‟ (Danielle Crowe, Residents say proposed retirement complex too big, Manningham Leader, 30 April 2008)

„Mosman Park resident Colin Percival said residents wanted a

development on the site but a 50m building towering over their homes was unreasonable‟ (Hatch D, The West Australian, 4 April 2008)

Where reported, councils rarely voted against development applications for high density residential complexes, signalling their vested interest in increasing the number of rateable properties despite the direct conflict with their constituents desires. Councils voiced dissatisfaction with a development usually because the developer was not meeting the conditions of the planning permit in some way; that is, the developer wanted to change the conditions of planning approval already agreed with councils and permit authorities.

A minor theme was that of perceived corruption within the planning system as noted below:

„When the Labor Party accepts donations from a developer who has a major development application being determined by a Labor planning minister, there is a blatant conflict of interest‟ ( Matthew Benns, Herald Sun, 6 April 2008) [spelling in original text].

The articles in this section support and extend McKenzie‟s (2006a) and Jurgens and Landman‟s (2006) view. They question a council‟s impartiality in relation to development applications for higher density strata living to all levels of government. The articles also shed light on the legitimation processes that developers and planning authorities use in order to mesh their desired outcome for more rateable properties within the structural rules and resources available. In this instance, the permit condition has significance at the planning stage, but becomes an enforceable rule at the building stage. The planning process that includes democratic voting by representatives (and hence lobbying by constituents)

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becomes a means through which agency can be enacted. These issues are conducted in the „past‟ time space as discussed in the previous chapter.