The dominance of capital cities (urban primacy) is an enduring characteristic of Australian states. There has been limited empirical research examining the drivers of primacy in states despite some being extreme examples of the phenomenon, both in magnitude and scale. In light of institutional theories of settlement patterns, we developed a profile of Australian urbanization using a century of time-series data, descriptive statistics, and an empirical model of city populations. In Australian states high measures of primacy have endured with little evidence of disruption despite the enormous size of these states, their wealth, and population growth – factors associated with declining and low primacy. Statistically, state capital city status has a significant effect on city population size variation, with results suggesting primacy in states is in part a product of Australian federalism. This contrasts with views that suggest Australia’s scarcity of large non-capital cities is due to isolation, low population, and environmental determinism. The findings in this paper have major implications relative to national and/or state strategies that aim to decentralize population away from the primate cities.

中文翻译：

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政治集权化、联邦制和城市化：来自澳大利亚的证据

首府城市的主导地位（城市至上）是澳大利亚各州的一个持久特征。尽管在规模和规模上都是这种现象的极端例子，但对各州至高无上的驱动因素进行实证研究的实证研究有限。根据定居模式的制度理论，我们使用一个世纪的时间序列数据、描述性统计数据和城市人口的经验模型，绘制了澳大利亚城市化的概况。在澳大利亚各州，尽管这些州幅员辽阔、财富和人口增长——这些都是与下降和低位相关的因素，但高度优先的措施一直存在，几乎没有中断的迹象。从统计上看，州会城市地位对城市人口规模变化有显着影响，结果表明各州的首要地位部分是澳大利亚联邦制的产物。这与认为澳大利亚缺乏大型非首府城市是由于孤立、人口少和环境决定论的观点形成鲜明对比。本文的研究结果对旨在将人口从灵长类城市分散开来的国家和/或州战略具有重要意义。