City Analysis: Brisbane

Brisbane, located on the eastern coast of Australia, is one of the largest cities in the country. It is a major Australian port city.

Brisbane, Australia

On the hierarchy of central places, I would say that Brisbane is likely a national metropolis - but that doesn't mean it is necessarily similar to cities like Chicago - the national metropolis we mentioned in class. In fact, Brisbane has a lower population than Detroit - a city we discussed as a regional metropolis.

So then what makes Brisbane a national metropolis?

It's really a matter of perspective in my opinion - Chicago, with a population of 10,000,000+ has just 1/30 of the entire US population around it, though is considered a national metropolis. Brisbane on the other hand has over 2,100,000 people. With Australia's total population around 22,000,000, Brisbane has just under 10% of the entire nation's people living in or around it.

Of course, Brisbane isn't the largest central place in the entire country. Melbourne and Sydney both top it in terms of population. Cities like Darwin, Albany, Perth and all of the other cities are smaller.

As far as things that Brisbane offers that smaller areas might not, Brisbane houses the Queensland University of Technology - an entire university right downtown. In addition, there are subway systems designed to help people get around.

Brisbane has many other attributes, but I can't seem to find a China town area at all - something that a larger city like Sydney is bound to have. Of course, just because I can't see it on a map doesn't necessarily mean it isn't there!