How to uncover issues in your economy to inform Economic Development policy, using economy.id
To develop successful Economic Development strategies, you need to know about your local economy. You need to know its strengths, and weaknesses. You need to know where it fits in the overall competitive framework – and what role and...
Is Parramatta the economic heart of Western Sydney?
Parramatta was Australia’s first inland European settlement, and is often referred to as Sydney’s second CBD. While you could also make this claim for a few other areas in Sydney, the data shows that the City...
Are we about to surf another wave of European migration?
International migration is certainly not a new phenomenon but in recent decades the volume of people moving between countries has increased substantially. The globalisation of the world economy, as well as...
Making an impact on jobs
When does creating jobs in the city lead to more jobs in the countryside?
Google glasses provide a view of the Digital Economy
NBN Co and the Federal Government have been raving on for a while about the Digital Economy in their “Digital Economy strategy”.
Which States are the winners in the migration game?
When it comes to net interstate migration in Australia, all States and Territories tend to lose to Queensland, with New South Wales having the greatest loss. Victoria and New South Wales traditionally lose...
Who are the baby boomers?
The term “generations” often gets used these days, and the difference between people of different ages is attributed to when they were born, and which letter of the alphabet has been assigned to them (X, Y...
A unique idea to ease parking issues
The ever-increasing reliance on motor vehicles for personal transport is a challenge for most council areas. Extra traffic creates higher road wear, and congestion leads to increased potential for accidents and...
Overseas migration has peaked – how far will it fall?
Overseas migration is the most volatile component of population change to the Australian population. There has been a significant variation in the net overseas migration gain to Australia over the last 30-40...
Increasing fertility rates – a trend or a blip?
Fertility trends have changed considerably in Australia over the last decade. Australia’s fertility rate had been falling steadily since the baby boom of the immediate post World War Two period. Many developed...
Finding the “hard to reach” in our communities
Local Government does great work consulting with its local communities. But as these communities change and become increasingly diverse, is the public consultation process keeping up with this trend?
Should we build a new city in Australia?
Last week I received an email from Harvey. He wrote that he’s a regular reader of our blog and hoped we would publish a post about his new non-profit Liberty City Group. It’s objective is to gather support for...
Where have all the 25-34 year olds gone?
No, it’s not a rhetorical question from a 1960s folk song, though the answer is based in that era. It’s a question we often get asked when we make presentations to local communities around Australia. It seems...
How much older can we get?
We are living longer than ever before but there is significant controversy regarding the likelihood of continued increases in life expectancy. In general terms, survival rates (share of persons living to next...
The case for being curious – in spatial decision making (and life in general)
The proverb ‘Curiosity killed the cat…’ is no doubt full of wisdom as proverbs are, but I frequently despair at the lack of curiosity people display. Who would discourage anybody from being curious? Being...
economy.id just got even better
economy.id is a fantastic resource for helping a Local Government Area describe, explore and promote the local economy. We’ve just rolled out a set of changes to make it even better. These changes have resulted...
It’s not just about the Census – what other population data is released by the ABS?
At .id we are keen users of Census data and are eagerly anticipating the release of 2011 data in June. However, it’s not as if the ABS sits around twiddling its thumbs in non-Census years – they have an active...
Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome – and one of the world’s worst cars.
Much has been written about the celebrated architect, engineer, designer, author, free-thinker and futurist, Buckminster Fuller. But what will probably interest .id insight readers most is the role he played in...
How to map population change in forecast.id
forecast.id is a great tool for understanding how your area’s population is changing, and what are the likely future outcomes of demographic trends and housing development. Many users are unaware that...
Under pressure – Census 2011 data release dates
The Census was conducted in Australia on Tuesday 9 August 2011. Inevitably we received a few phone calls in the following weeks asking if we had the results yet! But that’s just the beginning of the process....
Forecasting is inevitably controversial
…and our work in New Zealand is proving no exception
