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ABC News: Sydney slips in world cities rankings, 2012

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Aerial view of Sydney Harbour
ABC News: Sydney slips in world cities rankings, 2012

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8


A 'Cities of Opportunity' study in 2012 found that, while Sydney was regarded as a 'livable' city, its residents faced some significant urban issues.

With other cities moving ahead of Sydney in the rankings, questions have been asked about why the cost of living in Sydney is so high and what should be done to solve some of the city's perceived problems.


Things to think about

  1. 1.In 2013, and with over 4.6 million people, Sydney was Australia's largest city by population. What are some benefits of having a large population? Are there some disadvantages? (Think about what job opportunities, services and facilities would be available and how you would get around.)
  2. 2.According to Scott Lennon of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in what areas is Sydney 'expensive by world standards'? Where does Sydney come in the PwC rankings list shown in the clip? Note the five cities at the top of these rankings from the 2012 Cities of Opportunity survey. In what area of the survey did Sydney rate highly? There were two areas in which Sydney scored poorly. What were they?
  3. 3.There are a few major annual surveys of cities. In one, the 2013 EIU ranking of the livability of cities, Sydney scored poorly on infrastructure. Infrastructure relates to the basic structures and facilities that serve a city: buildings (hospitals, schools, etc); roads, communication and transport systems; water and power delivery. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the infrastructure in your area? What improvements would you suggest?
  4. 4.Livability is measured against things like crime and safety, availability and quality of healthcare, climate, access to sports, cultural availability, quality of schools and quality of infrastructure. Generate your own questions related to these areas to find out how your family and friends rate the livability of where they live.



Date of broadcast: 14 Oct 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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