Social gap widens from outer to inner Melbourne | theage.com.au
SUBURBIA is bearing the brunt of rising fuel prices and extreme mortgage stress, a major study of Australian cities has found.
Governments must step in to provide outer suburbs with better public transport or risk extreme social breakdown, it warned.
The report, Unsettling Suburbia, for the first time combines the 2006 census figures on car use, mortgage levels and income.
Outer suburban households are under the greatest stress from petrol prices and mortgage levels as a percentage of income, according to the Griffith University’s urban planning unit report.
Melbourne’s outer suburbs were far more vulnerable to rising fuel prices than the middle and inner suburbs, it warned.
“The households that will have the greatest (problem) coping with higher transport and housing costs are among those with the least resources and weakest access to local infrastructure,” authors Jago Dodson and Neil Sipe said.
They warn of a greater social divide between inner Melbourne, which has better access to public transport, and outer suburbs where residents have little option but to drive.
2 Comments
September 3, 2008 at 3:07 pm
the future seems pretty bleak if we continue like this.
September 20, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hi,
we have recently launched a new free online map-based carpooling service for Australia.
Your opinion and comments are very welcome as well as enquiries regarding possible implementation of this service for other countries (or organisations/corporates).
The address is http://www.carpoolone.com.au
Thanks
Ginni
P.S. a bit off topic, but perhaps still handy might be http://www.motorcyclefuelconsumption.com guide for motorcycle fuel consumption figures that are usually missing in the factory specs.