Greater Brisbane 2011 population density (per km2) by SA1 geography
- The capital city of the maroon state looks quite impressive on a 3D population density map. Peripheral/suburban detached houses become more dense dwelling types as you travel further towards the city centre with a classic pyramid-type 3D profile of population density becoming higher around Fairfield, Greenslopes and Hawthorne (on the southern banks of the Brisbane River) and Toowong, Paddington, Spring Hill, St. Lucia and Fortitude Valley north of the river, to name a few.
- The population density in Brisbane’s CBD is approximately 4,800 persons per km2, similar to that of Barcelona. The densest SA1 in between Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley has a density of 64,125 persons per km2 due to it being high density dwellings (apartments) on an area of only 0.007 km2 (7,000 m2).
- Population densities seem to be almost radially symmetrical north and south of the CBD, with a mix of apartments, medium density townhouse/flat dwelling types. There are obvious restrictions to the east of the CBD, past Ascot with the airport and port inhabiting that part of the city.
- South of the Port of Brisbane, the suburbs of Wynum and Manly have higher density populations than their surroundings and even further south along the coast and predominantly to the east of Redland Bay Road are Victoria Point and Redland Bay with a combined Census 2011 population of around 28,000 (2013 = 29,209, based on SA1s). There is an interesting “block” of four SA1s inland (west) of Redland Bay which is a relatively ‘normal’ subdivision of stand alone houses (10-12 dwellings per hectare density). They stand out because most of the SA1 coverage is dwellings and roads whereas some of the lower density ones around them also include segments of bush/forest hence appear to have low population densities. This is a good example of how micro-level planning of suburban layouts/estate masterplans can influence population densities by simply including/excluding segments of green space.
- North of the outer suburbs of Brisbane (Brighton, Sandgate, Deagon, Bracken Bridge), the relatively densely populated settlement on the peninsula illustrates Redcliffe (Moreton Bay Regional Council), with a 2011 Census population of approximately 50,835 (2013 SA1 usually resident population = 51,847), with an average density of 2,018 per km2 (similar to New York City, USA).
- Logan City stretches south in a continuous urban corridor from Brisbane down to Mount Warren Park which borders Yatala, just outside the Greater Brisbane boundary.
- West of the City of Brisbane, along the river – Jamboree Heights and Forest Lake/Durack have several densely populated SA1s which are interestingly mainly stand alone houses even though the average population density in those suburbs is 2,835 persons per km2 – comparable to Dusseldorf in Germany or Brasilia in Brazil. Again interestingly, the entire central area of Ipswich (Ipswich, Raceview, Brasall), even when a few of the larger, less residentially zoned SA1s are excluded, only has an average population density of 1,226 per km2 – less than half the density of those two suburbs mentioned above.
In the third and final blog on population densities of Australian capital cities, I’ll look at the two remaining heavyweights, Melbourne and Sydney.
