MELBOURNE is increasingly becoming a two-tiered society as a privileged inner city leaves struggling outer suburbs behind, a new analysis has found.

Inner suburbs top the list of the best places to live, work and play while outer suburbs are short-changed on jobs, on health, education and transport services, and on sports and entertainment facilities, according to an index rating neighbourhoods’ liveability.

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“The further away from the CBD you get, the less access to opportunity there is,” said David Sacks, a partner at PwC, which produced the analysis.

Corporate giant PwC compiled and analysed data on such subjects as education, aged and child care, churches, crime rates, health services, property prices, building approvals, and housing rents and mortgages to rate neighbourhoods across the city.

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The index in the inaugural CityPulse report declared Richmond the best suburb to live in.

Richmond was followed by Hawthorn, Hawthorn East and Moonee Ponds. Inner-city suburbs dominated the metropolitan top 10, which also included Northcote, Prahran and Malvern.

The report also found:

DOCKLANDS, central Melbourne and Southbank were best for employment. But while the inner-city dominated the “work” category, the western suburbs of Truganina and Tarneit also scored highly, reflecting jobs spikes in growth corridors.

CENTRAL Melbourne was unsurprisingly rated best for “play”, thanks to its dining, entertainment and sports attractions. It was followed by St Kilda, East Melbourne and Albert Park.

THE city’s north, especially the outer suburbs, struggled for jobs and infrastructure was failing to match population growth.

THE west was all work and no play — jobs growth was strong but entertainment options were limited. It had fewer parks and gardens than eastern suburbs.

Mr Sacks said the report exposed the scale of the disparity between inner and outer Melbourne.

“There’s really quite a divide and almost an uneven distribution of opportunity, economic growth, jobs and social mobility. That is mirrored almost around the city,’’ Mr Sacks said.

“Our radial infrastructure has potentially contributed to that.”

Planning Strategies director Peter Seamer, a former chief executive of the Victorian Planning Authority and Federation Square, agreed.

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“We are increasingly a two-tiered society with jobs, transport and cultural services benefiting generally well off inner-city dwellers, while new-home buyers in the outer suburbs miss out but still pay their share of the costs,” Mr Seamer said.

The report said that global city comparisons — such as The Economist’s rating of Melbourne as the world’s most liveable city for the seventh straight year — were interesting but largely irrelevant to most people.

“Comparing the city to itself can tell a story and help identify opportunities,’’ it said.

PwC Melbourne partner James van Smeerdijk said The Economist was right: “Melbourne is a great place to live.

“But it’s not even across the city on ‘work, play, live’. And there are things we can do to change, and things time will solve.”

Mr van Smeerdijk said most people rated their suburb highly.

“Everyone’s different. For some people, living out at Tecoma and the Dandenongs is the ideal place. For others, the ideal place to live would be among the buzz of Bridge Rd in Richmond. And that changes with where you are in life, your age and life stage and personal preferences. You can’t encompass all that in an index.’’

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Richmond deserved to top the liveability scale, he said.

“It’s a balance of good things like access to great services and transport, and also about price. Some of the suburbs were marked down because they had become so expensive and the size of properties are very large — like Toorak and Armadale.

“But in Richmond, at least it’s got a great liveability because the lot sizes are smaller ... and it’s more affordable to locate there.”

A surprise was that little-heralded Carnegie made the top 10.

“It’s close enough to a lot of amenity, but it’s still affordable,’’ Mr van Smeerdijk said.

HOW YOUR SUBURB GOT ITS SCORE

DATA for CityPulse was extracted from dozens of sources, including government departments and authorities, such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

PwC assessed information on transport, health services, education, crime, housing and mapping for its modelling calculations.

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The “live” index was measured based on accessibility to aged care, childcare, all levels of education, churches, as well as crime rates, health services, hospitals, property prices, building approvals, household rent, mortgage payment data and the ratio of rented to owned households.

The “work” index assessed economic performance of business and building approvals, as well as job accessibility and welfare dependency.

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And the “play” index reviewed data on hotels, restaurants, bars, cultural attractions, shopping centres, sports and fitness centres, local parks, ovals, public gardens, national parks, and beaches.

Accessibility scores — for services such as hospitals and schools — were based on how many locations were reachable within 30 minutes’ drive or by public transport.

Off-peak traffic/timetables were used for all except job and education indicators which were calculated at peak. Live, work and play scores are not directly comparable between categories.

That is, 5.1 for live is not exactly the same as 5.1 for play.

No calculations were made for locations of fewer than 2000 residents.

BEST SUBURBS TO LIVE

1. Richmond - 10

2. Hawthorn East - 9.7

3. Hawthorn - 9.7

4. Moonee Ponds - 9.4

5. Northcote - 9.3

6. Prahran/Windsor - 8.7

7. Malvern/Glen Iris - 8.6

8. Essendon/Aberfeldie - 8.5

9= Brunswick, Carnegie - 8.3

BEST SUBURBS TO PLAY

1. Melbourne - 10

2. St Kilda - 9.5

3. East Melbourne - 9.4

4. Albert Park - 9.3

5= Southbank, Prahran/Windsor - 9.2

7= Richmond, Malvern/Glen Iris, South Yarra east - 8.9

10. Sth Yarra west - 8.8

BEST SUBURBS TO WORK

1. Docklands - 10

2. Melbourne - 9.1

3. Southbank - 8.9

4. East Melbourne - 7.9

5. South Yarra west - 7.4

6. Truganina - 7.2

7. Albert Park - 7.1

8= Richmond, Tarneit - 7.0

10. Hawthorn - 6.8

ian.royall@news.com.au

@IanRoyall