The Distribution of People and Employment in Metropolitan Commutersheds: The Impact on Rural Housing Markets

ABSTRACT

The concentration of population in the major metropolitan cities has again become prominent in public debate in Australia. Politicians and commentators have called for an increase in the population of rural areas by improving commuter access to metropolitan employment through infrastructure investments that facilitate commuting from regional places of residence to metropolitan places of work, referred to as metro-bound commuters. This article investigates the impact of commuter-based population growth on rural communities, and particularly housing markets. Increasing rural housing markets indicate a process of gentrification, calling into question policies that promote population redistribution not underpinned by rural employment growth.

摘要

人口集中在大城市的问题再次成为澳大利亚公众争论的焦点. 政治家和评论员呼吁增加农村地区的人口，通过基础设施投资改善通勤者进入大都会的就业机会，便利从地区居住地到大都会工作地点的通勤，即所谓的地铁通勤者. 本文探讨了通勤人口增长对农村社区，特别是住房市场的影响. 不断增长的农村住房市场表明了一个中产阶级化的过程，这使得那些促进人口再分配而不是以农村就业增长为基础的政策受到质疑.

KEYWORDS:

• Commuting
• housing markets
• regions
• population distribution
• regional development

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Professor Jago Dodson for feedback and insights on this paper, and similarly to Professor Robin Goodman for on earlier versions of this research. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their insights and suggestions for improvements. This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.