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The urban fringe often drops below the radar when it comes to planning cities. But the peri-urban zone where town touches countryside generates its own unique set of social and environmental problems. Today researchers are re-examining life on the fringes and pinpointing the new challenges.
Can the fringe be made less vulnerable?
By Emma Rooksby
Poverty is usually defined in terms of income or the lack of it. But it is becoming apparent that another form of poverty, “transport poverty” where people lack access to suitable or affordable transport options, is becoming a serious burden for some people living on the fringes of Australian cities.
The links between transport poverty and other forms of social exclusion have been examined in a new report, “No Way to Go: Transport and Social Disadvantage in Australian Communities”, just published by Monash University ePress.
Transport poverty is typically higher in the urban fringes of Australian cities. Research by Graham Currie, one of the report’s contributors, suggests that if petrol prices rise enough, then it will no longer be cost-effective for some people in the urban fringes to keep working in jobs typically located long distances from their homes. With limited public transport available, the risk is that these people will drop out of work because they cannot afford to get there.
This is also a problem that could grow. As the editors of No Way to Go note, “transport and social exclusion is now a principle research and policy field in the UK where evidence suggests the problem is growing as the population is ageing, families relocate to car dependent suburbs and as the costs of car dependence increase with fuel prices.” But, they add, “Australia lacks a comparable research and policy emphasis. This is surprising since car dependence and sparse low density living is a much greater feature of Australian than European and even North American society.” The phenomenon of state governments investing heavily in public transport to counter perceived inequities only increases the need for detailed and systematic research on the topic.
Another contributor to the report, David Hensher, argues that mobility is essential to social inclusion for an ageing population. He notes that transport systems and services will need to change to meet the changing needs of ageing motorists. He suggests changes will include the need for local councils to ensure that their roads are senior-friendly, and for car manufacturers to produce vehicles that are suitable to the needs and abilities of older drivers.
Graham Currie focuses on the transport needs of youth and notes the transport poverty of youth living on the urban fringes. The lack of travel options puts constraints on education and employment opportunities as well as social and recreational opportunities. The report’s final section canvases some possible policy approaches to transport poverty. One, recommended by John and Janet Stanley, is to explore further the idea of “community transport” where transport is provided on a voluntary basis. They have used as a case study a successful community transport system set up in Warnambool, Victoria. In fact several chapters stress the importance of local or regionally based approaches to managing transport, including careful needs assessment and prioritisation, and more co-ordinated delivery of transport services.
