Changing lifestyles will also have an effect. These days many people just don’t have time for gardening and the work involved in looking after a house on an individual block.

Higher density housing is already becoming a feature here in new suburbs such as Mawson Lakes, the Port Adelaide redevelopment and the inner city. These may be out of the reach of most, but often where the ‘rich’ go, the less well off will aspire to follow.

And to a lesser extent, its even happening in older ‘quarter acre block’ suburbs with houses being bulldozed and replaced with two courtyard houses. In fact I was surprised recently to find this had happened to the house I lived in (and 4 or 5 others in the same street) before moving here 14 years ago. It wasn’t even that old, dating from the mid 1970s, I believe. While this is still low density by European standards, it is a start.

I’d like to see major upgrades to our suburban hospitals, giving them a suite of major healthcare facilities at all sites, not just ICU here and renal there and specialist cancer care over there.

There is something to be said for having one centre of excellence for each specialty rather than diluting expertise across 3 or 4 hospitals.

But I agree with your comments about urban sprawl. Not only is it socially destructive plonking people miles from anywhere, but it’s very energy inefficient. I had thought Rann understood that. He was certainly making the right noises about it just a few months ago. But the front page story in the local paper last week was how the state government might be about to force the Mount Barker council to expand town boundaries so more houses can be built to accommodate the big population increase the government is working to achieve.

Like the desal plant, this is sheer madness. Instead of expanding ever outward we should be moving to increase the density of our cities and towns along the European model instead of the car culture based American blueprint we’ve been following for the last 70+ years.