Population growth has profound impacts on Australian life, and sorting myths from facts can be difficult. This is the third article in The Conversation's series, Is Australia Full?, which aims to help inform a wide-ranging and often emotive debate.

Australia has the highest rate of population growth of all the medium and large OECD countries. And more than three-quarters of the growth is in four cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. But urban planning for this growth is often inadequate.

For a start, attempts to reduce infrastructure costs and save agricultural land by imposing urban growth boundaries have foundered.