Dont forget that most of the goods that you consume come from outside your city, so there is already the transport systems in place to deal with trucking things from one end of the country to the other (and in some cases back again).

I think you ignore much of the benefits of centralisation. For starters, only part of what I consume is produced outside of a city. Also, If the population were decentralised, you would drastically increase the amount of transport required. We don't truck goods from one end of the country to the other, but if you want to use that analogy, your proposal would involve trucking them from one end of the country to the other, then back again.

"The US has been able to foster and create regional industries that DONT rely on a farming base - we can learn from them in this instance." - Country Girl

Agree fully, if we are to have long periods of drought, perhaps farmers to employees as well as employers. Work in the local supermaket, repair the roads and paint public buildings.... Dollars in the their pockets.

Also, if conditions fail here, in Oz, move offshore.

O.

A more rational pricing policy for water would encourage decentralisation as well as encouraging greater efficiency:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1191830430/1#1