Metropolitan cities globally are already fostering great levels of diversity. With influx of people primarily through economic migration, the diversity and immigration will only increase in the future for those cities that prosper and can consequently cash in the economy created by immigrant workers. At a global level, Climate change migration is expected to displace over 200 million people (Professor Norman Myers), and Australia is well positioned to accommodate a proportion of this mass climactic migration.
These facts force cities to address some of the common problems that can be caused by accommodating a diverse population. Sociologist Robert Putnam sadly produced evidence showing that increased ethnic diversity is linked to lower levels of social trust (Montgomery, 2016). Trust is important because it’s an indicator of the cities health. “We have to believe that people who do not look like us will treat us fairly, honour commitments and contracts and consider our wellbeing as well as theirs and most importantly will make sacrifices for general good.”(Montgomery 2016, p. 55)
Australia ranks high on a global level in terms of trust, Professor Christian Larsen sites the World Value Survey, showing Australia sitting in the top 5 from 27 countries, with Australian’s showing over 50% in a measure of “trust in most people”. Interestingly over time this has changed, in the early 80’s this same measure returned a result of 48%, dropping to 40% in the mid 90’s and only returning to its current position of 52% since 2010. Sydney has become one of the most hyper-diverse cities in the world. Over 36% of its citizens were born elsewhere and 60%. speak only English at home. (Resilient City 2016, p 40) Sydney should be well prepared for an increased social diversity. And not only diversity deriving from immigration, Australia has a lot to think about people already living here. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are considered by the Australian Human Rights Report as one of the groups affected by poor social cohesion and racism as its subcategory.
Multicultural values have become less popular in Australia in the last decade. There is no shortage of examples of what goes wrong when citizens don’t feel they belong and the same values as the person walking down the street. We will show examples how have those values have been challenged in Australia. However the Sustainable Sydney 2030 recognised the diverse make up of Sydney and the need reduce economic inequality. They propose to do this by ensuring all communities have an opportunity to participate and provide space for smaller business to participate in the market. They endeavour to provide social infrastructure where they are needed. The Sustainable Sydney 2030 also sets direction to provide adequate housing for groups with different cultural, health and lifestyle choices and to ensure part of housing build is intended to low income earners and skilled workers (such as nurses and teachers) who are needed close to the city centre. They recognise that social cohesion is linked to ability of different groups to access jobs, housing and infrastructure.