In recent years urban issues which have attracted little attention or sense of urgency since the Whitlam era have risen up the political agenda again. One immediate reason is official concern about the public costs of urban growth, accompanied by the goal of making Australian cities more economically efficient and competitive in terms of the global economy. A second reason has been rising concern over environmental issues which are essentially urban in origin (air, water and noise pollution which are problems of big cities and the environmental impacts and worsening congestion caused by motor traffic). A third, more muted but very real cause of social concern is the impact of unemployment, increasing poverty, inequality of housing provision and living conditions upon associated levels of crime and conflict.

The time is thus ripe for a fresh exploration of the issues and problems bound up with the current growth and functioning of Australian cities. All the major concerns – economic, environmental and social – are examined here in a fresh and original manner. It is not to be expected that a simple or single solution can be found for this diverse range of problems; indeed, one of the conclusions which emerges from several chapters is that the currently fashionable doctrine of creating more compact cities (‘urban consolidation’) as the best cure for urban problems is inadequate for this purpose.