For 32 years I have lived in the same house in Melbourne, Australia and 5 years more before then - nearby....and all up - about 60 years over 3 places.
In that time the population of Melbourne has more than doubled [almost tripled] and in a few years will pass Sydney to be Australia's largest city.
Instead we moved to Ballaarat [also in Victoria]...and only the 3rd largest city in Victoria, population 101 thousand.
And that got me to thinking....
The USA has 300 million people..... and Australia has 25....but is roughly the same size.
Would you believe...if Melbourne was in America it would be the USA's second largest city by population...only beaten by New York, and yet in area it dwarfs NY - which is only 80% of the land area.
I'd always been bemused that all those famous places like Boston and San Fran were less than a quarter the pop of Melbourne and only about a 1/10 the area...but that sure makes them more desirable as somewhere to live.
Melbourne has pretty much reached critical mass yet for some reason keeps on getting the 'World's Most Livable City' award whilst still being the epitome of 'urban sprawl'...