Sydney is still ‘bigger’ than Melbourne, but it won’t last long

Greater Sydney is still larger than Greater Melbourne, even reclassified into the latter important urban area, but there is no denying that the single city is growing faster.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has expanded Melbourne’s significant urban area to include Melton, located northwest of the CBD.

Melbourne’s new metropolitan area means that Melbourne is “bigger” than Sydney by this metric.

However, Greater Sydney is still more populous than Greater Melbourne, and more populous than the g border.The Writer Capital Statistical Area cannot be changed.

however, Melbourne has long been predicted to overtake Sydney It will be Australia’s most populous city by any measure.

statistics guy Simon Kuestenmacher says: New Daily Across all borders, some cities are growing faster than others.

People are moving from Sydney simply because they can’t afford to live there, and Melbourne is more affordable in comparison.

Population Geographer and Demographer, University of Queensland, Dr Elin Charles-Edwards says Sydney and Melbourne host the highest percentage of international immigrants in Australia.

“But the key difference between the two urban areas is that Sydney is losing domestic or domestic immigration,” she said. TND.

“So while there is a net loss of domestic immigration from Sydney, Melbourne has had a period of gaining domestic immigration, at least until COVID.”

Melbourne is also “doubling down” on universities, he said. According to Kuestenmacher, the city attracts more international students, Sydney is limited by its surroundings.

“Sydney is essentially confined to a geography fixed by the Blue Mountains and the sea. Küstenmacher said.

Melton is now included as part of Melbourne’s significant urban area, as Melbourne can be as spread out as it likes.

Why is Melbourne changing?

Dr Charles-Edwards said the change to include Melton as part of Melbourne has been talked about for some time.

“Sydney extends to Sutherland and others, so it captures the metropolitan area of ​​a fairly large city and the growth of such cities,” she said.

“But the Melbourne metropolitan area is much more constrained, so there has often been an argument that just extending the boundaries of Greater Melbourne is already big.”

Dr. Charles-Edwards said the new taxonomy seeks to better capture the geographic spread of the region.

Given that there has been a lot of growth on Melbourne’s outer fringes, there is a case for moving boundaries, she said.

Melbourne may be sprawling and crowded, but with that come challenges.

Mr. According to Kuestenmacher, the city is growing faster than infrastructure can be built.

“Essentially, Melbourne was pretending it could run with 5 million people the same way it could run with 2 million people, which is to say it has a single CBD that everyone goes to. that’s it,” he said.

the future of our cities

Headlines about Melbourne becoming a bigger city than Sydney inevitably lead to arguments about which city is better.

According to a better question with Mr. Küstenmacher ANU demographer Dr. Liz Allen said: What should our cities look like in the future?

Dr Allen said Australia tends to fear high- or medium-density living, so this could be a problem if they build buildings instead of building them.

“As we push the boundaries of the city to the perimeter and beyond, we tend not to necessarily have the necessary infrastructure to allow people to travel to central business districts where work tends to be concentrated. I have. [and] It’s where education tends to be concentrated,” she said.

There was excitement about professionalism [on Melbourne’s size] But there needs to be a debate about how cities will be built during a time of ‘great uncertainty’, a lack of affordable housing.

Postal codes determine health status, life expectancy, access to health care services, as well as rates of mental illness and mental health, Dr. Allen said.

Overall, happiness tends to decline as more people come from CBD.

Australia is also strange in that it is very densely populated unlike any other country on earth. Mr. Küstenmacher said.

“Two-thirds of the population lives in just five cities. That’s insane. Half the population lives in the top three cities. That’s too many.”