City Road Podcast

In Sydney, changing international migration patterns and the rise of apartment living means people of different cultural backgrounds are regularly interacting with each other inside their high-density buildings. And it’s not without its problems. In 2016, it was estimated that around 55 per cent of the world's population now lived in cities. By 2030, urban areas are projected to house 60 per cent of the world’s population. While migration and compact city policies are rarely seen as intersecting by policy makers, cultural difference and living in close proximity to each other can compound the tensions that already exist in apartment buildings and society more broadly. These tensions could be about shoes being left in common areas, or washing hung on balconies, or 'offensive' cooking smells wafting beyond the kitchen walls and down the halls. These tensions are connected to the gradual shift away from migrants from countries such as the UK and the increase in migrants from countries such as China and India.