Australia is regularly cited as one of the most highly urbanised countries in the world. However, a significant proportion of people living in Australia’s three largest cities live at relatively low ‘suburban’ densities. . This raises the question as to how the densification of Australian cities has been achieved, and whether there are alternative models...

This paper presents a “middle” approach referred to as a strategic option assessment (SOA). It introduces elements of the Multi criteria analysis approach to the quantitative framework of a basic benefit-cost analysis. The relative importance of different strategic criteria are considered through differential weighting of the cost and benefit components of each option.