Great to live in, but there is some work needed on transport, planning and sustainability.
This was the overall response in a recent survey conducted by the Property Council of Australia on how 'liveable' we think our cities are.
The My City: The People’s Verdict survey spoke to 5,843 people in all capital cities, as well as Newcastle, Wollongong and Geelong.
Respondents ranked the importance of seventeen key attributes of cities and assessed their own city against these attributes. This produced a liveability score for each city.
Australians scored their cities highly on the following attributes:
− recreational outdoor environments (80 per cent average city approval);
− natural environments (76 per cent average city approval);
− school and educational facilities (72 per cent average city approval); and
− vibrant cultural scene and good climate (68 per cent each average city approval).
But Australians were unimpressed by their city’s performance in the following areas:
− providing quality affordable housing (37 per cent average city approval).
− environmental sustainability and climate change (39 per cent average city approval);
− public transport services (42 per cent average city approval);
− roads and traffic congestion (42 per cent average city approval).
The big wake up call is for governments, with residents giving a scathing assessment of their State/Territory Government’s performance on:
− making housing affordable,
− setting fair property taxes,
− supplying infrastructure to keep up with demand, and
− planning and managing urban growth.
The survey once again crowned Adelaide as Australia’s most liveable city, closely followed by Canberra.
Darwin was ranked by its residents as Australia’s worst city, with Sydney remaining just above Darwin to be in second-last place. Brisbane ranked right in the middle, at sixth place.
The biggest changes were in Newcastle and Hobart, whose liveability scores both rose dramatically, while Perth saw the largest decline, falling from fourth place to third last.