Bernard Salt had a fascinating but ultimately somewhat flawed article in The Australian last Saturday, Welcome to the Metropolis, which looks “at how Melbourne is narrowing the gap with Sydney in the contest to become the nation’s top city”. It’s gated, but well worth reading – I recommend doing what I did and taking out [...]
READ MOREWhere are the (infrastructure) white elephants?
Where are our infrastructure white elephants?
READ MORECan the NBN 'save' our cities?
The National Broadband Network will not drive decentralisation – it will not divert growth from Sydney and Melbourne to regional centres on a significant scale
READ MOREWill miners, retirees and the NBN drive Tony Burke’s decentralisation agenda?
The mining boom, retirees and the NBN are not likely to drive decentralisation of population from Sydney and Melbourne to regional areas. The Federal Minister for Sustainable Population is really promoting regional development, not decentralisation
READ MOREWhat will high speed rail do for regional development?
There is very little evidence that high speed rail will enhance regional development
READ MOREWill Brumby's new decentralisation initiative work?
The Government’s new initiative to promote development of regional centres in order to relieve growth pressure on Melbourne is unlikely to work without a way to grow jobs in the regions
READ MOREShould Parliament move to Werribee?
Contrary to what seems to be a widely held belief, it is not an easy matter to make jobs simply materialise in places that have a shortage of employment. It is a difficult and complex business that involves much more than merely rezoning land for business use. However here’s an outrageous shortcut for developing Melbourne’s [...]
READ MOREIs the Very Fast Train all huff and no puff?
The idea of a very fast train (VFT) connecting Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne is gaining momentum (again). The CRC for Rail Innovation launched a pre-feasibility study earlier this year; veteran journalist Brain Toohey expressed his enthusiasm for the idea on Insiders on 11 April; and now the Greens are calling on the Federal Government to [...]
READ MOREWas Melton a bad idea?
I’ve referred to satellite cities in passing in recent weeks, both those around London and our own Melton and Sunbury. They’re a once-fashionable but very peculiar idea that might get another run if recent population projections are taken seriously. So it’s worth looking at the idea more closely, particularly how it’s been handled in Melbourne. [...]
READ MOREDecentralising population growth
I watched SBS’s Insight program on Housing 36 Million earlier this week. A theme that recurred during the program and in the subsequent on-line discussion was the idea of decentralising a large proportion of the projected population growth from the major cities to provincial centres. Decentralisation was tried in the 70s as an alternative to [...]
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