ABSTRACT

Australian non-capital cities are overshadowed by their state capitals. High state-level urban primacy is especially true of Western Australia. Various theories in economic geography might explain the west Australian settlement pattern. Few are grounded in the experience of those with power over and/or knowledge of development. To study this experience and compare it with theory we conducted 37 in-depth interviews with decision-makers and subject matter experts to understand their explanations of Western Australia’s settlement pattern. In addition to well-known determinants of settlement, such as environmental constraint and first-mover advantages, a majority of participants attributed Perth’s dominance to centralised political institutions, poor infrastructure provision to non-capital city regions, few bottom-up growth avenues, and an unmet need to devolve power. Most participants believed centralisation in Perth warrants intervention. The most reoccurring ideas are presented and discussed.

摘要

澳大利亚的非首都城市被其州首府所掩盖。州一级的城市首要地位在西澳大利亚尤其如此。经济地理学中的各种理论可以解释西澳大利亚的定居模式。很少有人以拥有权力和/或发展知识的人的经验为基础。为了研究这一经验并将其与理论进行比较，我们对决策者和主题专家进行了 37 次深度访谈，以了解他们对西澳大利亚定居模式的解释。除了众所周知的定居决定因素，例如环境约束和先发优势，大多数参与者将珀斯的主导地位归因于中央集权的政治机构、非首都城市地区的基础设施供应不足、自下而上的增长途径很少，以及未满足的权力下放需求。大多数参与者认为珀斯的集中化需要干预。最经常出现的想法被提出和讨论。