Are bypassed towns demographically doomed?

Some years ago I wrote a blog about bypassed towns and what happens to their population afterwards. This was inspired by a visit to Winslow, Arizona in 2016. I compared this town with the Hume Highway towns in Victoria. The topic of bypassed towns and how they decline afterwards is captured in popular culture (the movie "Cars" is a great example), but is it the reality? 

Population trends in peri-urban towns

While much of the popular discourse around population growth focuses on rapid growth in our major cities, very often trends in other areas are overlooked.  Peri-urban is a term generally used to describe the area surrounding a major urban area, such as the interface between town and rural.  However a peri-urban area is diverse and can include towns, semi-rural and rural lots.  This growth looks at population change in peri-urban towns in the area around Melbourne over the period 2006-16.