Urban Density and Equity of Access to Social Services in Australian Urban Areas
Authors
Kerry A. Nice
Mark Stevenson
Abstract
To measure access to social services (primary health care, early childhood care/education, and public transport), we create a social service access index (SSI) for Australian capital cities. We show that only two, Melbourne and Sydney, have some limited characteristics of a compact or 15-minute city, but only in city centres and inner cities where population densities are highest and have less low density housing types. In the outer suburban and peri-urban areas as well as across all of the remaining cities, proximity to social services is poor and residents suffer the consequences of spatial inequity.
