Subjective community well-being and resilience in a rural region experiencing rapid change

Metropolitan cities and regional rural areas are very different places in which to live. What is most important for enhancing liveability? While overall levels of satisfaction with where people live may not differ greatly between residents living in rural areas and cities, to the extent that people can choose where they would most like to live, satisfaction with various aspects of place liveability may vary considerably. Moreover, what is most important for enhancing liveability in rural areas is likely to be different from that most needed for cities. Using survey data, this chapter explores what is most important for improving and enhancing liveability in regional rural areas in Australia, compared to the nation’s capital of Canberra, a medium-sized, well-planned city, and the metropolis of Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city. How place liveability differs between rural regional areas and cities is explored, along with what is most important to focus on in each to enhance their liveability.