A public health expert has cautioned against "headlong" high-rise development along Sydney's main roads without first weighing up the potential long-term health effects for the many people who will live there.
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Associate professor Stephen Corbett, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, questioned whether air and noise pollution were being given the due consideration in planning decisions.
"It's an ancient principal in environmental health that you don't put people and hazards together, you try and separate them," Dr Corbett said.
The state government wants to roll out more high-rise near transport hubs, an ambition being advanced through its "urban activation precincts" where land is rezoned near rail or road corridors to support higher density.
UrbanGrowth, the government's property development arm, has projected another 50,000 homes could be built on land near Parramatta Road.
Dr Corbett, who is also the director for the Centre for Population Health in the Western Sydney Local Health District, was due to speak about the health impacts of density at an event at the University of Sydney's Festival of Urbanism on Thursday night.
He was to be joined in a panel discussion by Jennifer Kent, an urban planner with Macquarie University.
Dr Kent said there were also some positive health outcomes – like easier access to public open space and "increased community conviviality" - from living in higher density.
"Not necessarily high rise, we're talking about more things like town houses, row houses, two or three story residential flat buildings," she said.
Dr Corbett said there was also "good evidence" from high-density regions such as the Netherlands or Hong Kong that showed increased rates of asthma and cardiovascular disease among people who lived near busy roads.
However, the negative impacts could be mitigated through engineering controls such as reasonable building setbacks, he said.
"But in the contest that is urban planning in Sydney ... does the solution that is best for people's health happen, and I think you can probably see every day that the answer is: not always," Dr Corbett said.
The Festival of Urbanism, featuring lectures, panel discussions, forums and film screenings, will run until November 6.
