Dissecting and tracking socio-spatial disadvantage in urban Australia

Despite over 20 years of uninterrupted economic growth and population expansion, distinct concentrations of poverty and disadvantage remain extant in all Australia\u27s major conurbations. This paper systematically identifies, classifies and maps disadvantaged places in the nation\u27s largest cities - Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Our exploratory analysis indicates the presence of four distinct disadvantaged area types across the three cities. For each city we measure the ongoing intensification of spatially concentrated disadvantage and the pace at which \u27disadvantage epicentres\u27 have continued to shift outwards in the direction of the metropolitan periphery. Contributing to this process, the small fraction of disadvantaged suburbs exiting the \u27disadvantaged\u27 cohort 2006-2011 were predominantly those located closer to CBDs. 2006-2011 change over time analysis also validates the typology in highlighting that particular types of low-income suburbs have had a disproportionate propensity to acquire \u27disadvantaged\u27 status over this period