Real sea change - migration to the big smoke

The big demographic story of our age is urbanisation. For the first time in history more than half the world's population lives in towns and cities. Doug Saunders, the author of Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World, notes that more than 2 billion people, a third of the people on Earth, are on the move from rural to urban areas.

Across our region countries are exploiting the economies of scale that big metropolises bring. Except for us, apparently.

This week we learnt regional areas will be given priority when it comes to the national broadband network, thanks to the deal struck between the Labor Party and the two country independents who handed it government.

Australia was ahead of the curve on urbanisation. In spite of our complaints about congestion and property prices, the vast majority of us choose to live in cities. Attempts to shunt city dwellers to regional towns in the country have generally failed.
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