Is regional sprawl better than suburban sprawl?
Posted: March 1, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentThere’s a strong push to divert more metropolitan growth to regional cities, but the case hasn’t been made that capital cities are “too big” or that it’s the best strategy
Is regional sprawl better than suburban sprawl?
The Melbourne Urbanist 
The word “sprawl” has strong negative connotations for many readers. The article reminds the reader that dramatic population increases in regional centres in Australia is somewhat a challenge.
As illustrated by the Albury-Wodonga region; it is still only populated by 90.000 but was predicted by the movers and shakers to reach 300,000 by the year 2000. A large enough modelling error to raise serious questions about the population modellers at the time being in touch with reality and understanding human behaviour.
The point that the State of Victoria is 237,629 sq. km and the UK is 241,930 sq km, means the land area of the UK is 4201 sq. km larger than Victoria.
It is worth noting for comparison purposes of the two land areas, the Rural City of Horsham is 4,239 sq km.
Discussions covering subsidising regional transport need to include the level of service to be available to be defined as a first step.
Will the ageing population of Victoria be better served in one region or another within the constraints of future State budget restrictions?