How national planning might enrich metropolitan planning in Australia

The Intergenerational Report recently released by the Commonwealth Government contains some of the elements of a national long-range plan. Because the Report comes from the Treasury it lacks some important themes such as the impact of the envisaged population growth on natural resources. However, it is linked with the major cities which it recognises as the major drivers and arenas in the changes it foreshadows. This link is cemented in the recent COAG agreement to produce new metropolitan strategies by the beginning of 2012, using an agreed and enriched planning process. The opportunities in this new situation are canvassed.