Shrinking Cities: Communities in
Transformation in Australia
M. Cristina Martinez-Fernandez
Chung-Tong Wu
Urban Research Centre
[email protected]
2 Types of Shrinkage
1. Large Metropolitan Areas: ‘Reurbanisation VS Suburbanisation’
process in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane & Perth.
2. Regional Centers ‘resource-intensive towns’: ‘Communities in
Transformation’.
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Australian Capital Cities (blue) and Shrinking Communities (red)
Darwin
Mt Isa
Brisbane
Broken Hill
Perth
Whyalla
Adelaide
Melbourne
Hobart
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Urbanisations VS Suburbanisation: Sydney
Source: Baker, E.; N. Coffee & G.Hugo, 2000
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Urbanisations VS Suburbanisation: Melbourne
Source: Baker, E.; N. Coffee & G.Hugo, 2000
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Urbanisations VS Suburbanisation: Adelaide
Source: Baker, E.; N. Coffee & G.Hugo, 2000
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Communities in Transformation: Population
G rowth com parisons, 1976-2001
40000
35000
30000
Populations
25000
Pop 76
Pop 2001
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
W hyalla
Mount Isa
Broken Hill
Armidale
Lismore
D evonport
G oulburn
Maryborough
Cities
Source: ABS Census data, (1976, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1996, 2001)
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Communities in Transformation: Employment
City
Mt Isa (Qld)
1991
Unemployed
759
720
11,415
11,072
10,288
1,877
1,470
1,218
10,700
9,137
8,059
Unemployed
1,473
1,163
987
Employed
8,250
6,985
6,729
Unemployed
Employed
Broken Hill (NSW)
2001
1,088
Employed
Whyalla (SA)
1996
Source: ABS, Census Data (1991-2001)
• Resource intensive towns;
• Impacts from
internationalisation of markets,
globalisation of industry,
technological change, innovation
of organisational management;
• Outsourcing and the
development of the Mining
Technology Services (MTS)
sector;
• Fly-in – flight-out and itinerant
knowledge workers.
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Communities in Transformation: Industry
Percentage of employed people (1991-2001)
City
Manufacturing
Retail Trade
Property &
Business
Services
Education
Health &
Community
Services
Construction
Whyalla
1991
32.2
3.9
10.9
4.8
7.3
8.9
1996
29.0
6.6
13.2
8.4
7.7
8.1
2001
24.8
6.1
15.9
8.4
8.1
11.0
1991
4.1
5.6
12.0
3.6
6.1
6.2
1996
5.3
7.5
11.0
4.8
6.0
7.3
2001
7.8
7.4
12.6
7.1
7.0
7.8
1991
2.9
4.7
15.1
4.1
6.2
11.9
1996
4.2
7.4
17.4
5.0
7.5
13.9
2001
4.2
5.1
19.4
7.0
7.9
14.9
Mount Isa
Broken Hill
Source: ABS, Census Data (1991-2001)
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Living with Change
• Whyalla (SA): new migrants &
refugees.
• Broken Hill (NSW): heritage &
culture. Creative industries.
• Mt Isa (Queensland): knowledge
intensive activities. Health & education
industries. Regional studies.
The City of Broken Hill (NSW)
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Conclusions
• Processes of Shrinkage are interrelated to processes of growth;
• Shrinkage in regional centres has an effect on processes of urbanisation and
suburbanisation of Australian cities: Health, education, environment, housing;
• These processes needs to be analysed over long periods of time both horizontally
(statistics) and vertically (case studies);
• Statistics on population, employment and industry change only provide a limited
explanation of the phenomenon;
• Case studies provide the in-depth understanding of the cycles of growth & shrinkage;
policy & community responses and its effectiveness;
• The study of shrinking cities provides different ‘lenses’ for the analysis of global forces
at the local level. Provides a framework for analysing effects of des-urbanisation.
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