Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Madeleine Pill and Dallas Rogers
Key terms/names
economic growth, equity, fragmented governance, gentrification, global city, growth
coalition, metropolitan region, right to the city, social reproduction, socio-spatial
inequalities, spatial mismatch, strategic planning, urban governance, urban regime,
vertical fiscal imbalance
As urbanists from around the world often remind us, about 55 per cent of the
world’s population lives in cities. By 2030, that figure is likely to be over 60 per cent. 1
Cities, therefore, will be increasingly important sites for managing the prosperity
of the world’s population. Since colonisation, Australia has had a strong urban
focus. This is partly the result of the physical geography of the continent, with a
rugged desert core surrounded by sections of agriculturally productive coastline.
For example, a little over 5 million people live in Sydney – Australia’s first city –
which is about 20 per cent of the nation’s population. But this is likely to grow by
one and a half million people over the next 20 to 30 years. While each Australian
state faces its own growth challenges, four common themes are emerging in every
city:Howandwherewillwehouseeveryone?Howwillwesourceenoughfoodand
waterforthecity?Wherewillpeoplework?Andhowwillwemoveeveryoneinto
and out of – and around – the city? In short, the four big and interrelated urban
Pill, Madeleine, and Dallas Rogers (2019). Urban policy. In Peter J. Chen, Nicholas Barry, John R.
Butcher, David Clune, Ian Cook, Adele Garnier, Yvonne Haigh, Sara C. Motta and Marija Taflaga,
eds. Australian politics and policy: senior edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press. DOI: 10.30722/
sup.9781743326671
1 United Nations 2015.
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