The social determinants of health (SDH) are recommended as a policy focus for governments seeking to increase health and wellbeing, and maintain control of health care budgets. Urban planning influences the SDH by shaping the physical and social aspects of neighbourhoods, creating conditions that can either support or detract from the promotion of physical activity...

In hegemonic economic theories, base activity, which taps into exogenous capital flows as exports, underpins endogenous activity within urban environments. Historically, urban development in the remote arid and semi-arid interior of Australia has occurred on the back of the exploitation of mineral resources. Major interior towns such as Ballarat, Bendigo, Mt Isa, and Kalgoorlie owe...

This article compares the sub-systems of the city in light of complexity theory and argues that traditional precincts are organised as complex adaptive systems, while the shopping centre and the arterial strip are not.