Suburban Scars: Australian Cities and Socio-Economic Deprivation
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Suburban Scars: Australian cities and socio-economic deprivation Scott Baum Urban Research Program Research Paper 15 February 2008 Suburban Scars: Australian cities and socio-economic deprivation Scott Baum Urban Research Program Research Paper 15 February 2008 © Urban Research Program ISBN 978-1-921291-34-0 Griffith University Brisbane, QLD 4111 www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp THIS PAGE HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY LEFT BLANK The Urban Research Program acknowledges the generous support provided by Brisbane City Council for production of the Program’s Issues and Research Papers. Copyright protects this material. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction by any means (photocopying, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise), making available online, electronic transmission or other publication of this material is prohibited without the prior written permission. THIS PAGE HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY LEFT BLANK URBAN RESEARCH PROGRAM The Urban Research Program (URP) was established in 2003 as strategic research and community engagement initiative of Griffith University. The strategic foci of the Urban Research Program are research and advocacy in an urban regional context. The Urban Research Program seeks to improve understanding of, and develop innovative responses to Australia’s urban challenges and opportunities by conducting and disseminating research, advocating new policy directions, and by providing training assistance. We aim to make the results of our research and advocacy work available as freely and widely as possible. URP RESEARCH AND ISSUES PAPERS URP Issues Papers tackle current problems and challenges, and advocate potential new directions in Australian urban policy. URP Research Papers impart findings and conclusions from our research program. The Issues Papers and Research Papers are edited by Jago Dodson, Research Fellow in the Urban Policy Program. Email [email protected] Both Issues Papers and Research Papers may be downloaded from our website free of charge: www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp Hard copies are available for purchase. Contact via email, [email protected]. About the author Associate Professor Scott Baum is a Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Urban Research Program, Griffith University. Trained in economics and sociology, he has had a long standing interest in understanding the social conditions that shape local communities and the lives of their residents. His work has appeared in international journals including Urban Studies (Sage Publishers), Papers in Regional Science (Blackwell Publishing) and Regional Studies (Taylor and Francis). He is an editor of Urban Policy and Research (Taylor and Francis) and is the general secretary of the Asia-Pacific Sociological association. Email: [email protected]. URP Research and Issues Papers are edited by Jago Dodson, Senior Research Fellow in the URP. The assistance of Dr Stephen Horton with the editorial preparation of this paper is gratefully acknowledged. THIS PAGE HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY LEFT BLANK Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables................................................................................................................. 8 List of Figures................................................................................................................ 8 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9 Urban deprivation and the scarred cities .......................................................................... 10 Building the General Deprivation Index for Australian cities............................................... 12 Methodology.......................................................................................................................... 13 Data...................................................................................................................................... 15 Spatial units............................................................................................................................ 16 The General Deprivation Index and suburban scarring ...................................................... 16 The suburban scars of socio-economic change: an overview ............................................... 22 Extreme scarring: a city by city discussion ........................................................................ 25 Sydney: a tale of two cities........................................................................................................ 25 Melbourne: suburban scars in Australia’s most liveable city .......................................................... 27 Brisbane and Perth: capitals on the up- side of the two-speed economy ......................................... 28 Adelaide and Hobart: rust-belt capitals....................................................................................... 31 Canberra and Darwin: low deprivation in the territory capitals ...................................................... 35 Discussion................................................................................................................... 38 Suburban scars: diagnosis and prognosis .................................................................................... 38 Healing the suburban scars....................................................................................................... 40 Concluding comments............................................................................................................. 42 References................................................................................................................... 44 Appendix: Suburbs and the General Deprivation index, Australian metropolitan cities............ 49 List of Tables Table 1: Variables included in the Analysis ............................................................15 Table 2: Rotated Components Matrix ...................................................................17 Table 3: Regional concentration Ratio, Australian metropolitan cities ........................18 Table 4: Band 1 and Band 6 suburbs, Sydney.........................................................25 Table 5: Band 1 and Band 6 suburbs, Melbourne....................................................27 Table 6: Band 2 and Band 6 suburbs, Brisbane.......................................................29 Table 7: Band 2 and Band 6 suburbs, Perth ...........................................................29 Table 8: Band 1 and Band 5 suburbs, Adelaide.......................................................32 Table 9: Band 1 and Band 4 suburbs, Hobart.........................................................32 Table 10: Band 1 and Band 6 suburbs, Canberra ....................................................35 Table 11: Band 3 and Band 6 suburbs, Darwin.......................................................35 Table 12: Sydney suburbs and the GDI by bands ...................................................50 Table 13: Melbourne suburbs and the GDI by bands..............................................58 Table 14: Brisbane suburbs and the GDI by bands .................................................63 Table 15: Perth suburbs and the GDI by bands......................................................67 Table 16: Adelaide suburbs and the GDI by bands .................................................71 Table 17: Hobart suburbs and the GDI by bands ...................................................75 Table 18: Canberra suburbs and the GDI by bands ................................................76 Table 19: Darwin suburbs and the GDI by bands...................................................77 List of Figures Figure 1: Types of Urban Deprivation, based on the Principal Components...............13 Figure 2: 95% confidence intervals, selected variables ............................................20 Figure 3: Relative deprivation, Sydney...................................................................26 Figure 4: Relative deprivation, Melbourne .............................................................28 Figure 5: Relative deprivation, Brisbane ................................................................30 Figure 6: Relative deprivation, Perth.....................................................................31 Figure 7: Relative deprivation, Adelaide ................................................................33 Figure 8: Relative deprivation, Hobart ..................................................................34 Figure 9: Relative deprivation, Canberra................................................................36 Figure 10: Relative deprivation, Darwin ................................................................37 Introduction Despite the fact Australia has enjoyed a sustained period of aggregate national prosperity since the early 1990s, it is equally the case that this growth has not been evenly shared among the population (Gleeson 2006). Not only have social disparities persisted, they have got worse with certain communities appearing to be particularly vulnerable (Baum et al. 2005). Social and economic transitions that have characterised the past three or four decades have left the scars of change across society. For many social