The editorial in The Age yesterday, Mr Premier times are tough but you can leave your mark in the west, is one of the strangest opinion pieces I’ve seen in a long time. It’s so odd I wonder if its collateral damage from the current restructure at Fairfax. It ostensibly mirrors an accompanying feature, Faith [...]
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DECENTRALISATION
Decentralisation of CBD jobs: will it save the suburbs?
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 MOREWill the price of jet fuel go stratospheric?
Ultimately, the bottom line in discussions about the warrant for High Speed Rail (HSR) always seems to come down to proponents’ certainty that the price of jet fuel will go stratospheric. HSR won’t save time, won’t reduce fares, won’t increase economic activity, won’t promote decentralisation and is an extraordinarily expensive way to reduce carbon emissions [...]
READ MOREWhere does Melbourne end (and sprawl begin)?
Drive out towards Warburton and it seems easy to see where Melbourne ends and rural life begins. One minute you’re driving through houses, shops and businesses, when all of a sudden you’ve arrived in country. Except you’re actually still in Melbourne because the official boundary of the metropolitan area lies on the other (eastern) side [...]
READ MOREWhy did Melbourne 2030 fail?
The Age editorialises (21/11/10) that Melbourne 2030 is effectively dead and I agree. The latest nail in the coffin in The Age’s opinion is the apparently burgeoning growth of housing in townships and hamlets located in the peri urban area outside the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). I’ve argued before that this sort of “decentralisation” is [...]
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 MORECan our cities get bigger (and remain liveable)?
Australia’s big cities can cope with large population but they will need massive investment in infrastructure
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
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