In just under 200 years, Albany has gone through much growth (and some growing pains) to transform into a city of over 40,000 residents.
During the past decade, a common sentiment shared among our community leaders is that Albany was stagnating and that a culture of growth is necessary for Albany to thrive.
This has certainly been mission fulfilled, as Albany’s population grew nearly 3.0% from 2020, when our population was 38,000. At $2.38 billion, our Gross Regional Product increased by over 4% from 2000 to 2022. Some on the City of Albany council have expressed a desire to reach a goal of 50,000 residents by 2030.
As we enter the bicentennial, this milestone provides us with a timely opportunity to reflect on the pros and cons of Albany’s growth and what challenges we will need to manage if growth is to continue.
There is much to celebrate in the way Albany has developed in recent years. We have a thriving arts and music scene. A pride festival that attracts visitors from across the country. We have a bustling café and restaurant culture and many world class recreation facilities.
However, we also need to be realistic about the challenges resulting from this growth spurt.
Housing is one issue that springs immediately to mind which has affected many. In 2025, Albany was home to Australia’s most inflated property market. While the housing crisis has impacted the entire country, the impacts have been acutely felt in Albany, and it is sad to see our beautiful city become unaffordable for renters and buyers alike.
Our political leaders tell us that increasing the housing supply is the answer. I applaud the many recent public housing initiatives in Albany. However, for the most part, the answer to the supply issue has resulted in the endless outward march of our low-density outer suburbs. This has exacerbated urban sprawl, car dependency and concerns from the community that our new developments look like carbon copies of Perth’s urban sprawl, robbing away from Albany’s unique, maritime character.
With sprawl and car dependency comes an endless cycle of demand for new roads to mitigate traffic congestion. The proposed dual carriageway through Yakamia Forest is one of the most notorious examples of this pressure. One of the reasons why the forest is the preferred site for the range road development is that, ironically, it is surrounded by low density new development, that was done without any consideration of any future road networks. This is the legacy felt today from bad planning in the past.
Of course, the greatest casualty has been on the natural world to where we share this space unequally with many species of unique flora and fauna. Albany’s intact natural environment is a fraction of what it was in 1826 and at this rate of growth there is every reason to anticipate this heading toward zero unless something is done. A day doesn’t pass when a blue tongued lizard or western ringtail possum doesn’t end up as roadkill. Unfortunately, while one car might cause an odd casualty, our combined vehicle fleet are daily wildlife killers.
There are many difficult questions we need to tackle how as a community we manage a population of 50,000 without making current environmental predicaments even worse.
Take our suburbs for example. Perhaps the answer lies in medium density development, closer to town, with a more integrated public transport and bicycle network. This does require a cultural shift, letting go of large private spaces and a reliance on private cars, two things that the Albany community traditionally values.
Another challenge we will face is future water security in a drying climate. Finding a site for a desalination plant is already a contentious issue for the community. If we pass a population of 50,000, it will be probably that one desalination plant may not be enough. For sure, significant demands on our water supply come from industry and mining interests rather than domestic use. However, this is a consequence of pursuing economic growth. A $2.38 billion, our gross regional product does not come without an environmental impact. Industry is always ever hungry for more water, more resources, more everything.
Ultimately, we need a conversation around whether- on balance, - we want growth at all, for how long and whether we are prepared to make the changes to accommodate this growth without impacting further on our natural environment. At some point, we’ll need to make this decision, as we all know we can’t grow forever on finite land. The question remains, when?