As the 2019 Audit observed, in Australia social infrastructure is too often an afterthought in land-use planning.
Right now, a growing, demographically changing population is driving demand for social infrastructure services, which has major implications for land-use planning.
In this environment, the interdependence between strategic land-use planning and social infrastructure asset and service planning should be more publicly acknowledged.
When recognising their interdependence, governments should consider:
• how to develop supporting transport, telecommunications and digital infrastructure so people can access social infrastructure services
• the potential for scalable and multi-use facilities.
They should also direct funding to places where there are new or evolving service needs.
The trend of regional growth apparent before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has changed local social service needs. Conversely, urban growth has slowed.60
These conditions provide an opportunity for governments to consider whether the thresholds for triggering infrastructure improvements should change to reflect the new conditions.