The limits of spatial design in delivering inland decentralisation in Western Australia’s SuperTowns

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since 2011, the Western Australian State Government has spent $85 million on its SuperTowns project that aimed to boost the population and viability of subregional centres or ‘SuperTowns.’ Using the Wheatbelt SuperTowns of Northam, Morawa, Katanning and Boddington this paper explores how local governments have employed spatial design interventions to shift the image of these inland towns in a bid to attract population from Western Australia’s major urban centres. Despite six years having elapsed since the government inaugurated the SuperTown policy, demographic data shows declining populations in these subregional centres. This paper highlights the limits of spatial design interventions in relation to delivering population decentralisation to inland towns.