balkanghost

THE outlook is bleak. Melbourne, not Sydney, is Australia's city of the future.

A world study evaluated cities on their efforts to improve sustainability including public transport, local economy, environment, health, education, recreation and living standards. Melbourne rated sixth on the top 10 list of sustainable cities and Sydney was nowhere to be seen. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...857897713.html

Wheeler-Jones

Brisbane is predicted to become the second largest city in Australia the next 10 years or something. The port of Brisbane will be the largest in Australia within about 15 years.... It's all the British coming here I reckon!

Brisbane is working hard to try and fix all the problems it's experiencing with the recent influx of people and traffic.

Either way - Sydney is going down!

Petals

Melbourne will be the largest in population actually in the city Brisbane probably takes in a lot of other outlying areas.

Things are definitely on the move and there are lots of jobs in our local rag this morning.

I think Victoria in general attracts a lot of people because the whole state is nice rather than just a strip on the coast in other areas of Australia.

ozzieeagle

I'm not convinced at all Margaret, just watch what happens if the resources boom crashes. The Status Quo will be back in full force then, and a crash is bound to happen eventually.

As a Melbourne dweller of 28 years plus, I cannot believe that Sydney will ever loose it's mantel, it really does have a lot going for it. Sydney is just going through a bad patch.

bigAPE

Agreed, Sydney has established itself as the "Capital" and even if Melbourne's population, housing, infrastructure and economy outstrips that of Sydney I can't see that impression changing.

Al

Amazulu

I think all 4 main cities - Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane are going to grow rapidly, and as long as the infrastructure is put in place, will all be great places to live.

Amazulu

Sydney is also the international 'face' of Australia. Images of Sydney - Opera house, bridge etc - are what most people overseas will identify with or recognise. Sydney is also Australia's only 'world' city.

Melbourne is none of the above - and never will be.

MartinLuther

Melbourne has been in the past and Sydney only took the mantle from Melbourne when the first international businesses from the US started setting up their Australian headquarters. The early commercial flights from the US had to land in Sydney before going onto Melbourne.

Not saying Melbourne will retake the crown (Sydney is, as you say, better known internationally) but it's not impossible.

MartinLuther

According to this (which is arguably subjective): both Sydney and Melbourne are considered world cities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_city

MartinLuther

I suspect when Melbourne actually was the Capital people were saying the opposite?

Pommy Dan

Sydney are still trading off that 2 weeks of athletics 8 years ago.

Melbourne is a far nicer city to live and work in. I have done in both.

Amazulu

In the 1st half of the 20th century there was big competition between Melbourne and Sydney to be No.1. Melbourne had the olympics in 1956. Sydney built the opera house to be an icon - which it has become etc. Sydney won the competition hands down - with the olympics in 2000 being the icing on the cake.

MartinLuther

I already know all that.

ozzieeagle

Melbourne is a fantastic city to live in, especially now that the Brunswick/Fitzroy/Carlton/Northcote regions are morphing into one giant multi faceted version of Camden, only better. However that just my personal like. The more people that come to Melbourne the more choice there will be in things like shopping/entertainment and hopefully infrastructure.

Sydney still feels like a world city, and long should that remain so... I dont fancy having to vie with loads of tourists to do everyday things