Twenty years of urban growth and change

Australia is said to be one of the most urbanised countries in the world. The 2021 Census showed that 90% of the population lived in urban areas with more than 1,000 people. This blog looks at the growth of urban areas in Australia over the period 2003-23. What are Australia's largest urban areas? Which ones have grown the most? Read on to found out.

The importance of good boundaries

It's hard to think of a time in the recent past when people have been so interested in geography. Coronavirus restrictions have changed that. Here in Melbourne, travel and administrative restrictions have reduced the size of our worlds to a 5km radius. Many people are querying the geographic definition of metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. It's great to see so much interest in geography, even if it has resulted from such a devastating pandemic. This blog will look at why good geographic boundaries are important by looking at some of the quirkier aspects of spatial units.

Queensland's shifting population

This is a follow up to last week's blog, which looked at population growth trends in Greater Brisbane.  When I was conducting my analysis, it struck me that Greater Brisbane had a slightly smaller population than the rest of Queensland.  A quick look at the numbers showed that the populations were converging.  In 2019, the population of Greater Brisbane was 2.51m, compared to 2.58m in rest of Queensland.  However, if current trends continue, Greater Brisbane will have a larger population than the rest of the state by the mid-2020s.

Brisbane is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia

Every year around this time the ABS releases population estimates (ERP) for small areas.  This year the data has been somewhat lost in the coronavirus madness.  Despite the seriousness of that situation, there is still a wealth of interesting population data.  This blog will look at spatial patterns of population change in Brisbane, which recorded a growth rate of 2.1% in 2018-19.  This makes Brisbane the second fastest growing state capital city behind Melbourne (2.5% growth rate).

Which LGA has the longest standing boundary?

Changes to local government boundaries (LGAs) are a thorn in the side to any researcher interested in time series analysis.  Depending on the scale of the change, adjustments need to be made to the data in order to make it comparable.  On a recent day trip to the historic town of Queenscliff, I was reminded that the Borough of Queenscliffe (the spelling is different) was the only LGA in Victoria to emerge from the reforms of the 1990s unscathed.  It made me wonder - is this the longest standing stable LGA boundary in Australia, or is there another contender?  I go on a quest to find out.

Building approval trends in cities - behind the headline number

The number of building approvals is generally viewed as an indicator of the state of the economy, and hence is one of the more important data sets released by the ABS.  Approvals are linked to construction activity, jobs and the flow-on effects to the rest of the economy.  Recently I had a conversation with someone who expressed concern at the decline in building approvals, suggesting it was a precursor to an economic recession.  Now I'm not an economist by any stretch of the imagination, but surely it's more than just the number?

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.

Where is the Batavia Coast?

It goes without saying that Australia's coastline is long and diverse.  Some parts have large cities, others are remote and wild.  Many parts of the coast have been given names that are designed to attract visitors to the various regions, generally based around colour, geological features and even animals.  Examples include the Sapphire Coast in southern NSW and the Limestone Coast in South Australia.  They generally don't have any formal status, rather they exist merely for tourism purposes.  This blog looks at the demographic characteristics of the Batavia Coast in Western Australia - named after a shipwreck.

35 Melbourne suburbs are growing by 5% per annum

If you follow this blog you will have noticed that I favour population analysis from a spatial perspective.  In this day and age headline numbers get clicks, but it's not until you look at the differences across metropolitan areas that you gain a better perspective of how our cities are changing.  In 2017-18, Greater Melbourne grew by 2.5%, or 119,420 people.  But how was this growth spread across Melbourne?  SA2 data released by the ABS provides a fine-grained perspective on population change - read on to find out more.

South Australia enjoys modest population growth

South Australia is another state that gets overlooked in the current environment of strong population growth.  For many years South Australia has recorded modest population growth, without the extremes of localised growth recorded in parts of Melbourne and Sydney.  In 2017-18, South Australia recorded a population growth rate of 0.7%, below the national figure of 1.6%, to reach a population of 1.74 million.  Greater Adelaide's growth rate in 2017-18 was slightly higher at 0.8%.  What population trends are evident in South Australia?  Read on to find out.

Hobart and Launceston - compare the pair

Tasmania's urban hierarchy is distinctive in that there are two major cities, Hobart and Launceston.  This is unusual in the Australian context as many states have a state capital that is many times larger than the next largest urban centre (urban primacy).  Both cities were established in the early 1800s.  Over the last two hundred years, despite their different histories and economic fortunes, they have grown into the major cities they are today.  From a demographic perspective, how different are Hobart and Launceston?  To paraphrase a superannuation commercial, let's "compare the pair".