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Rural and Urban?
One way that we can describe an area is by looking at how built up it is. If an area is very built up, like a city, it is an urban area. If an area is not built up, like most of Western NSW, it is a rural area. As we looked at, liveable urban areas have easy access to a number of services and facilities. Rural areas often lack this access however, making liveability an issue there.
Most Australians now live in large cities, usually near the coast. Because of their large populations, cities are able to provide a wide variety of services. For example, the largest hospitals are located in the big cities because that is where there is the greatest need. People living in urban areas tend to have greater accessibility than those in rural areas, who may have to travel long distances to school or health care (for example). Although rural areas have less accessibility, they still have more facilities and services available than remote Australia.
Some Australians dislike living in cities, however, and tree changes and sea changes have become more popular forms of escape. This has been seen throughout the pandemic when many people chose to leave urban areas. This happened for a number of reasons.
What Affects a Rural Area's Liveability?
Government Assistance: Rural areas quite often need assistance from the government to stay liveable. This is often seen in the form of grants (giving money to people and businesses such as farms) and low interest loans.
Education: Urban areas often have a number of schools in them. In rural areas, there is often much less choice for schooling, and in some cases there are no schools nearby. Students can do distant learning, but that comes with its own issues such as not having a teacher physically present and reliance on infrastructure like internet or mail.
Healthcare: In the city, healthcare is easily accessible. In the country however, doctors can be few and far between. Some people in rural areas may need to travel large distances to cities to get healthcare. This includes mental health services, which seem extremely common in urban areas but are rare in rural areas.
Housing: Housing is often cheaper in rural areas than it is in urban area. One major issue faced in rural areas is the quality of housing. Many issues need to be fixed by the house owners who are often not professionals, which can reduce the quality of the living experience.
Connectivity: It is easy to communicate with others in the city. In rural areas, properties are often larger, meaning there are less people around to communicate with. Phone reception and internet are also often unavailable or poor quality, removing what is part of daily life to many. It is also harder for the postal services to access these areas, so it takes longer to communicate through these means.
Culture: Some aspects of culture are difficult to maintain in remote and rural areas. Cultural places are less frequent as they would receive less attendees, and recreational facilities are less common for the same reason.
Environment: The natural environment in rural areas is often much more pristine than in urban areas. There is generally less pollution, less buildings, and more nature.
Liveability
Remoteness has been found to create severe socio-economic disadvantage. This means that the people there would generally have a lower quality of life, less opportunities, and less resources. One of the biggest demographics in these remote areas are Indigenous Australians, with 25% of Australia's Indigenous population living in them.
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