Recent urban growth in the Illawarra-South Coast region

Patterns of urban growth tell us much about changing regional fortunes. In this broadsheet an attempt is made to draw some inferences about recent urban population trends in the lllawarra- South Coast region, an area which is defined as stretching from Helensburgh to Narooma and which contains 13 centres with populations of more than 1,000 and as many more with populations numbering in the hundreds (Figure 1). Urban growth patterns are examined at the regional scale and within the major urbanized area of Wollongong-Shellharbour (population about 200,000 in 1971).