Growing liveable cities: an indicators study of Melbourne’s fast-growing metropolitan area

Abstract Building liveable cities is challenging; ensuring we keep building liveable cities with growing populations is more difficult, but it's a task that we can tackle together. The Metropolitan Growth Area Councils (MGACs) in Greater Melbourne are experiencing rapid growth, which presents development opportunities and challenges for building liveable communities. This article examines the correlations between MGACs and other metropolitan councils on key indicators such as population, council representation, household characters, education, employment, transport, and safety. It concludes that MGACs tend to have larger populations, more children, younger communities, and lower mortgage payments but are less likely to own their homes outright, more commuters by car and large gaps in community infrastructure such as schools and libraries. Crimes such as burglaries, housebreaking, and arson are also problems. As decision-makers, urban planners, community stakeholders, and researchers involved in urban development and community planning, it is crucial to target resources at these challenges to make communities in growth areas more liveable.