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New research released this week reveals the extent to which the economies of our major capital cities are primarily suburban.
The findings run counter to popular opinion and show that the CBDs and inner city areas only account for a small minority of metropolitan wide jobs.
Prepared by veteran industry observer Ross Elliott in conjunction with market research company
Urban Economics, the analysis may come as a surprise to many.
“I think it’s fair to suggest we’ve developed a preoccupation with our CBDs to the detriment of thinking about our suburbs,” he said.
“To an extent we’ve allowed ourselves to be lulled into thinking that most of the jobs are in the city centres and that therefore lots of people will want to live near these jobs and also that public transport systems should be designed to cater for this home-work commute,” he said.
“But the data, which is based on an analysis of the ABS Census by Urban Economics, clearly shows that the majority of a city’s jobs are dispersed across the suburban area.”
Based on the analysis of the ABS Census, in Sydney in 2011, the CBD accounted for only 8.3% of all jobs in New South Wales, and for only 13.4% of all jobs in wider metropolitan Sydney. Including the surrounding areas of Pyrmont, Ultimo, Potts Point, and Woolloomooloo raises this share to just 9.7% of all jobs in the state and 15.6% of jobs in metropolitan Sydney.
In Melbourne, the CBD is home to just 7.6% of the state’s total employment, and to just 10.6% of all jobs in greater Melbourne. Including the ‘fringe’ locations of Docklands and Southbank sees this share rise to only 10.3% of the state and 14.3% of greater Melbourne.
In Brisbane, the CBD share is just 5.8% of the state and 12.5% of the Brisbane region. Including South Brisbane, Fortitude Valley and Spring Hill raises this share to 8.8% of the state’s jobs and 18.8% of jobs across the Brisbane region.
“Looking at it another way, in every one of the major centres, at least 9 out of 10 jobs state-wide are located outside the CBD/frame, and even across the metro region, about 5 out of 6 jobs are located in suburban locations as opposed to the centre.”
“If this is surprising, what will also come as a surprise is that in the past decade, suburban jobs have been growing as fast or faster than in the inner city, meaning that CBDs are only holding their share, or losing their share, to suburban employment. This has come about despite what has arguably been a decade or two of intensive debate and policy investment into our inner city locations.”
Mr Elliott said there were implications for developers and planning alike.
“For example, our thinking about TODs has largely been thinking of these are dormitory nodes around transit stations to make a city commute more amenable. But equally, TODs could be employment nodes to which residents elsewhere along a route, including those living in the CBD, commute to.”
“And for public transport planners, the idea that we can achieve higher and higher rates of patronage through increased investment in a system largely designed to take people into CBD or near city jobs might need rethinking. If only 10% of 15% of a city’s jobs are in the city centre, hoping for very high rates of metropolitan wide public transport use seems ambitious.”
