My Canberra Futures 2029

Team Name

Analysts anonymous

Team Members

Project Description

The number of people living in Canberra is increasing
In 2019 there are around 430,000 people in the ACT. By 2029 it is projected that the ACT will be home to 500,000 people.
More people means a need for more schools and hospitals as well as public infrastructure such as public toilets and playgrounds. The natural environment and green spaces will also be shared by more people.

My Canberra Futures 2029 is a website that allows the public and policymakers to view and explore a number of interactive visualisations, to get a picture of Canberra both now and into the future, and how the needs of the city will change.
The website shows three visualisations.
To be responsive to the future and resilient to change the amount of these services, infrastructure and green spaces need to change. These are shown relative to the population in each district in 2019. The amount of these services and infrastructure required to maintain the same availability up until 2029 are estimated, with the projected populations for these districts.
Users can explore the population by selecting different districts and seeing the age distribution. They can explore the services needed in Canberra in the future, by seeing how many are needed to achieve the same ratio of current services to population, as the city grows. Finally users can look at the number of hectares of green space by district and by persons in each district.
To give you an idea of the use of this websites, a number of interesting stories are revealed by the data.
Molonglo is Canberra’s fastest growing district
Public infrastructure and services in Canberra in most districts need to increase except in Tuggeranong
Of the main population the districts, those with the greatest population (Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin) also have the largest amount of green spaces.
Have an explore!

Currently the website is a working prototype, given more time we would
- calculate projections based on more details (such as economies of scales etc. based on data from growth of other cities)
- use different units of services
- take into account services that service multiple district
- account for loss of green spaces due to development
- compare Canberra to other regions

Data Story

To create this website we have combined data from a number of sources, including
• Geographic data on green spaces
• Counts of a number of services offered by the city, disaggregated by district
• And population projections
This was no easy feat. Combining the data meant an extensive process of data cleaning to make the datasets able to speak to each other, and the geographic information was analysed using geographic information systems.

Data sources:
ACT Population Projections: 2018 to 2058, https://apps.treasury.act.gov.au/snapshot/demography/act
ACT Arts Facilities List, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Arts-Culture-and-Events/ACT-Arts-Facilities-List/yjpk-an5u
ACT Police Station Locations, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Justice-Safety-and-Emergency/ACT-Police-Station-Locations/t6hf-u79n
ACT School Locations 2017 – archived, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Education/ACT-School-Locations-2017-archived/q8rt-q8cy
Basketball Courts, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Basketball-Courts/igti-4f4a
Beaches in the ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Environment/Beaches-in-the-ACT/qssv-b7vv
Drinking Fountains, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Infrastructure-and-Utilities/Drinking-Fountains/8eg4-uskm
Fenced Dog Parks, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Fenced-Dog-Parks/9w3s-wzf4
Fitness Sites, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Fitness-Sites/h4qc-3txc
Hospitals in the ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Health/Hospitals-in-the-ACT/yg3r-apa2
Public Barbeques in the ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Infrastructure-and-Utilities/Public-Barbeques-in-the-ACT/n3b4-mm52
Skate Parks, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Skate-Parks/3np9-m3i7
Sports Grounds In The ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Sports-Grounds-In-The-ACT/a843-6epj
Town And District Playgrounds, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Sport-and-Recreation/Town-And-District-Playgrounds/fwth-mr9q
(Public Toilets in the ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Infrastructure-and-Utilities/Public-Toilets-in-the-ACT/3tyf-txjn
Public Furniture in the ACT, https://www.data.act.gov.au/Infrastructure-and-Utilities/Public-Furniture-in-the-ACT/ch39-bukk
Green Space, https://data.actmapi.act.gov.au/arcgis/rest/services/actmapi/tp_layers/MapServer