Reflecting on the Urban and the Regional: Designing for a Post-Covid Future

As a rapidly developing nation, Australia is a study of the consequences of ill-conceived urbanisation, with a lack of foresight in the planning of built environments leading to inappropriate siting, exponential urban sprawl, environmental degradation, and socio-spatial fragmentation. Historically Australia has followed and appropriated the influences of external planning movements, exposing negative ramifications of applying external design concepts to local conditions. With two-thirds of the population living in capital cities they have become increasingly unaffordable. Australia’s regional and rural areas are generally small in population, however, movements towards decentralisation and regional development are gaining momentum, and are increasingly seen as the way forward to reduce uncontrolled growth in major cities. This shift in thinking has further come to the forefront with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With many employers and businesses adapting successfully to remote models of work, there has been increased demand for properties in Australia’s regional areas, leading to increased rents, costs of housing, and housing supply shortages in some regions. If regional development is seen as the way forward, it is imperative that regional areas do not fall victim to the same short-sighted planning mistakes as our heavily populated cities.