With Kevin Rudd launching the ADC Cities Summit into planning urban growth on Monday, Anna Bligh kicking off a summit on Queensland’s population growth in Brisbane yesterday, and the release of new ABS data on Australia’s population figures this week, the debate around how best to manage Australia’s ever-increasing cities and citizens has been, well, growing.

In yesterday’s Crikey Daily Mail, we began our two-week focus on the subject.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Chris Berg looked at how Australia’s approach to addressing growth will affect our environment, while our Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane continued his focus on our growing housing supply problems, tackling the popular wisdom that foreign investment is to blame:

Australia’s housing supply problems are complex, but … Blaming the Chinese is a convenient cover for a problem that lies much closer to home.

Look out for more detailed exploration by Crikey into how growth will impact housing, infrastructure, climate change and immigration in today’s Daily Mail and over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, have a read of what the commentariat has been saying this week about Australia becoming a wider, browner land:

The Australian

Anna Bligh: Let’s get real on population

As tempting as a population cap, or even a temporary reprieve, may be for some, it is simply beyond the capacity of states to deliver

Graham Bradley (Business Council of Australia): If we want more people, we have to plan better

… managed growth is in Australians’ best interests and is necessary and achievable.

The Age

Carolyn Whitzman: Kids belong in high rises (and everywhere else)

We found that the children in high-rise public housing had more freedom to roam than most suburban children.

Michael R. James: A very fast train is a model of sustainability

… a [Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne High Speed Train] plan would address many of the major issues raised by the Australia-2050 forecast.

Courier Mail

Maha Sinnathamby: It will need a master plan to cope with population growth in southeast Queensland

Decentralisation of the workforce out of Brisbane and providing appropriate public transport such as rail is critical to achieving sustainable communities

So what do you think? Is this a growing problem or a growing opportunity for Australia? Leave your comments here, or populate our inbox with your thoughts by emailing boss@crikey.com.au with ‘Population Growth’ in the subject line.