Region. City too spread out

A new report rating 70 cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit may be little comfort to the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, who is encouraging more growth on the fringes of Sydney, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. James Weirick, the UNSW director of urban development and design, said Sydney was too spread out as a city, causing problems with livability, public transport accessibility and pollution from motor vehicles. ''The policy of facilitating growth on the periphery is seriously mistaken,'' he said. ''Sydney will only get better with higher density in the right places.''

Region. Suburbs planned properly

Douglas Driscoll, CEO, of Starr Partners, said Western Sydney, formerly a product of urban sprawl expanding from the Sydney CBD, has suburbs now planned property to exist as independent entities, he said in The Australian Financial Review. He instanced Pemulwuy, a suburb which is a micro-centre for local commerce, schools, parks and supermarkets.

Region. Food production lost

Sydney would lose about half its land used for fresh fruit and vegetable production immigration-linked urban sprawl, according to lead researcher, Jonathan Sobels, from Flinders University, in the 335-page Long-term Physical Implications of Net Overseas Migration: Australia in 2050 report. He said farms and public land would be consumed as bulging cities expanded. The National Institute of Labour Studies report finds that Sydney and Melbourne will each require more than 430,000 hectares of new land for housing if net overseas migration remains above 260,000 a year.