Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Urban policy
Table 1 Resident population of Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs), 6 June
2017
GCCSA total State total % of state total
NSW: Greater Sydney 5,131,326 7,861,068 65
Vic: Greater Melbourne 4,850,740 6,323,606 77
Qld: Greater Brisbane 2,408,223 4,928,457 49
SA: Greater Adelaide 1,333,927 1,723,548 77
WA: Greater Perth 2,043,138 2,580,354 79
Tas: Greater Hobart 226,884 520,877 44
NT: Greater Darwin 146,612 246,105 60
ACT 410,301 410,301 100
TOTAL Greater Capital Cities 16,551,151 24,598,933 67
Source: ABS 2018.
Urban policy matters because most people live in urban areas, and the policy
challenges we experience in these areas affect our quality of life. This gives rise to
questions about the extent to which urban policy tackles these challenges. Some
argue that urban policy is part of the problem, prioritising private investment
activities over efforts to tackle socio-spatial inequalities and create a more equitable
or just city. Others contend that private activities, assisted by state intervention,
ultimately create more opportunities for all.
Urban policy is politics
Urban policy lacks a singular definition. Its defining feature is state intervention in
the urban. 7 While mainstream accounts regard such state intervention as a technical
6 GCCSAs are geographical areas delimited to represent the functional extent of each of the eight
state and territory capital cities. The functional extent is defined using travel to work data from
the 2011 Census as a proxy for the labour market of each capital city, its bounds containing the
majority of the commuting population. This definition includes the population within the
built-up urban area of the city, as well as people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the
city and live in small towns and rural areas surrounding the city.
7 Edwards and Imrie 2015.
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