The residential population of the City of Perth needs to double if Perth is to match the urban vibrancy in other Capitals like Melbourne.
“Of the 200,000 people that commute to Perth CBD each day, only 20,000 live in the city centre,” Property Council WA Executive Director Lino Iacomella said.
Options to boost vibrancy in the Perth CBD were recently discussed at the annual Property Council CBD Projects lunch.
“The lunch panel agreed that the most effective long term strategy to boost CBD vibrancy and economy is to increase the number of people living and working in the Perth CBD.
“Perth’s inner-city resident population has grown steadily, however it is still well short of the number of people living and working in the CBD of other major capitals like Melbourne. In Perth the ratio of people living and working in the CBD is 18%. In Melbourne, however this ratio is 34%. Perth’s CBD population would need to double from 24,000 to around 50,000 in order to match the level of resident vibrancy in Melbourne.
Other priorities to boost CBD vibrancy in Perth discussed at the lunch included:
- attracting more city workers and reducing the office vacancy rate
- putting a east-west light rail connection through the CBD
- creatin more tourism attractions like a cable car to Kings Park; and
- introducing more water transport on the Swan River.