Rural Amenity and Rural Change in Temperate Australia: Implications for Development and Sustainability

Neil  Argent; Matthew  Tonts; Roy  Jones; John  Holmes

doi:10.18690/rg.4.2.3186

Neil Argent School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4005-5837
Matthew Tonts Institute for Regional Development, University of Western Australia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3086-3793
Roy Jones Curtin Sustainable Tourism Centre, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University
John Holmes Department of Geographical Sciences & Planning, University of Queensland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18690/rg.4.2.3186

Keywords: rural amenity, migration, temperate Australia, counter urbanisation, demographic change

Abstract

Many rural areas in the developed world are experiencing planning and development challenges related to processes of population change. The nature, direction and regional manifestations of these changes are strongly related to the varying levels of local amenity. These result from the qualities of the local social, economic and physical environments and contribute to the ability of rural regions to attract and retain residents. In turn the presence or absence of this attractive ability is likely to engender development and sustainability challenges related to growth, decline or (where the attractive forces are demographically specific) social mix. This paper considers these challenges in the context of high amenity rural regions in temperate Australia.

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Author Biographies

Neil Argent, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England

Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail: nargent@une.edu.au.

Matthew Tonts, Institute for Regional Development, University of Western Australia

Crawley, Australia. E-mail: mtonts@cyllene.uwa.edu.au.

Roy Jones, Curtin Sustainable Tourism Centre, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University

Perth, Australia. E-mail: r.jones@curtin.edu.au.

John Holmes, Department of Geographical Sciences & Planning, University of Queensland

St. Lucia, Australia. E-mail: j.holmes@uq.edu.au.

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