Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Are Urban Development And Densification Patterns Aligned With Infrastructure Funding Allocation? Examining Data From Melbourne 1999-2015, Nicole T. Cook, Ilan Wiesel, Fanqi Liu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Densification of cities and suburbs is a contentious issue for many communities in lower-density settings. Local opposition to densification is often premised on concerns about the inadequacy of existing infrastructure to support growing populations and is strongest and most successful in wealthier neighbourhoods. While the urban consolidation agenda in cities such as Melbourne and Sydney is justified in policy contexts as a strategy to improve utilisation of existing infrastructure in built up areas, densification over time also produces new demand for services. Whether or not densification drives new infrastructure spending is therefore an important question in the governance of social …