PhD Candidate Researching Brisbane Suburbs/Locations

I like the the Bulimba, Hawthorn and Kangaroo Point areas.

Especially Bulimba, it has a really nice feel about it with cafe's, restaurants and a few nice bars. All being well I'm gonna try and move there in the next few years. I am heading towards middle age though and it probably wouldn't have appealed to me so much a decade or so ago had I been living in Brisbane.

Back then I lived in Clapham in London which at that time was kinda going through its hipster to yuppie period. You tend to see suburbs differently as you get older. But I think Bulimba is your classic urban middle class suburb and has great appeal to that particular socio-economic group.

Thank you for your post. I am particularly interested in your description and use of the expression socio-economic group in the context of Brisbane suburbs.

How is that word used? Would a person who lived there object if, for example, a New Yorker living in a suburb where commuting by private jet were normal, were to use this expression about people living in these positional goods suburbs?

What is regarded as urban middle class? Is that description one that includes government workers?

Thank you.

Out of curiosity Baytes65, what course are you doing/did you do to get to this Phd and thesis?

And are you doing this study in Australia? Are you from Australia?

When you say "most prestigious suburbs, irrespective of transport, housing, and other living conditions", what attributes do specifically want to judge on? Because those 3 attributes weigh in heavily when judging a suburb with regards to its status.

Are you simply referring to economic status of people who reside those suburbs?

You may need to be a little clearer on the judging criteria.

I'm using different methods to evaluate these different types of goods. One of them is simply to ask on a forum like this, and so far as internet fora go, it is one of the more sophisticated ones for this type of topic. Then again, how a person evaluates these goods is emotional, and often personal. A person from say, Ginza in Tokyo, might regard a suburb such as the Brisbane CBD as an uninteresting place, whereas a person from the Vancouver CBD might find it interesting on account of the weather, or for other reasons, and something of a positional good for them. On the other hand, a person from say Airlie Beach, might regard a suburb such as Sunnybank, or even Clayfield as a positional good, or an aspiration, and then in turn might regard the CBD as an aspirational or positional good, in that he or she believes that being there, or working there, lends prestige to that person. There's a lot of psychology behind it all. Marketing and media and other conditioning that takes place from birth through the conduits of family, peers, mass media and general opinion play a large part in this.

JPRo said:

I like the the Bulimba, Hawthorn and Kangaroo Point areas.

Especially Bulimba, it has a really nice feel about it with cafe's, restaurants and a few nice bars. All being well I'm gonna try and move there in the next few years. I am heading towards middle age though and it probably wouldn't have appealed to me so much a decade or so ago had I been living in Brisbane.

Back then I lived in Clapham in London which at that time was kinda going through its hipster to yuppie period. You tend to see suburbs differently as you get older. But I think Bulimba is your classic urban middle class suburb and has great appeal to that particular socio-economic group.

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I'm interested as I posted above. Especially what kind of person would regard Bulimba this way? A person from Caboolture? Or Townsville? Or Wagga? Or a person who has lived anywhere in Brisbane their whole life? A person who hasn't travelled overseas? A person who has travelled overseas, but to Bali? A person who works in the CBD of Brisbane, and who regards that as a job worth keeping, whatever the salary? A person who only remains in Brisbane because of his or her job, and is risk averse to working in a larger city and making his or her life there, or in a smaller city? Just who would regard Bulimba as a "classic urban middle class suburb that has great appeal...".

Baytes65 said:

Just who would regard Bulimba as a "classic urban middle class suburb that has great appeal...".

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I would, however it was really just a personal opinion.

Bulimba, 4km's or so from the cbd is an inner city suburb, has many $1m+ plus properties and a lot of the boutique shopping and entertainment facilities you'd expect of such a suburb. I would assume many of the people that live there would be well educated, have good incomes, urban professionals and what I would call 'middle class'.....

It's not super posh like say Hamilton, its not yuppie like New Farm, its not hipster like West End, its not working class say like Capalaba and its not an under class ghetto like Woodridge.

In terms of what it actually offers as a place to live it certainly appeals to me because I quite often check the real estate situation in Bulimba and it's surrounding area's. I like the little soccer ground and its parklands, the city cat ferry and the general vibe!!

JPRo said:

I would, however it was really just a personal opinion.

Bulimba, 4km's or so from the cbd is an inner city suburb, has many $1m+ plus properties and a lot of the boutique shopping and entertainment facilities you'd expect of such a suburb. I would assume many of the people that live there would be well educated, have good incomes, urban professionals and what I would call 'middle class'.....

It's not super posh like say Hamilton, its not yuppie like New Farm, its not hipster like West End, its not working class say like Capalaba and its not an under class ghetto like Woodridge.

In terms of what it actually offers as a place to live it certainly appeals to me because I quite often check the real estate situation in Bulimba and it's surrounding area's. I like the little soccer ground and its parklands, the city cat ferry and the general vibe!!

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Very interesting! Would one of the incidents of an under class ghetto be an inability to spell properly? Or working in a job that pays but below the mean salary? What are the incidents? What is your background. Are you a doctor, lawyer or other professional? Who do you regard as underclass? Only some persons who live in what particular area? Or any person who makes the decision to live in a particular area? What would your reaction be if a person from a suburb in the US or Europe (where there are immeasurably better amenities) described your preference for the "vibe" of Bulmba, or Bulimba itself as a ghetto preference? Would your perception of Bulimba change then or would it be the same?

asdfg said:

In what sense are there "immeasurably better amenities" in the US or Europe?

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Interesting response. Could I ask you for research 1. have you lived in EU
Europe or the US? 2. Do you regard Brisbane freeways, roads and metro system or lack thereof as adequate? 3. What is your idea of a good income? 4. As far as Brisbane goes, what is your idea of a good restaurant? 5. Do you fly to other cities that could be regarded as Alpha - Gamma cities on the weekend or at least once per month? Thanks!

JPRo said:

Maybe I'm being a little harsh with my analysis of Woodridge and the socio-economic status of its residents. I'm sure its a really nice area to live, work and play and everyone has a great old time of it.....

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More interesting responses. Please see the questions above: Would one of the incidents of an under class ghetto be an inability to spell properly? Or working in a job that pays but below the mean salary? What are the incidents? What is your background. Are you a doctor, lawyer or other professional? Who do you regard as underclass? A person.


What would your reaction be if a person from a suburb in the US or Europe (where there are immeasurably better amenities) described your preference for the "vibe" of Bulmba, or Bulimba itself as a ghetto preference? Would your perception of Bulimba change then or would it be the same?

how bizarre.

not to be too skeptical, but
1) you're asking a significant number of questions and generally people are remunerated for this sort of thing. well, at least if you want detailed enough answers to actually get anywhere
2) participants in research should be provided contact details if they have concerns about how what they've said might be used and must be provided a mechanism to remove their input if they so desire - neither of which you've made clear.

Baytes65 said:

Interesting response. Could I ask you for research 1. have you lived in EU
Europe or the US?

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Yes, I spent 29 years living in Europe as I was born and raised there.

Your style of questioning is bizarre.

Yeah, this is pretty weird.

Sounds like some kind of dodgy market research for an overseas investment company.

Baytes65 - I'm shutting this thread down for the time being. Please PM me to provide more details about what you're doing and why you're using the forum as the medium. Your posts and style of questioning don't lend itself towards being legitimate.