Rather than being fixated on short-term survival of mining towns, planners should take a 20-year view about what they need to become enduring and desirable places to live...

That's according to CQUniversity Senior Research Fellow Evan Yabsley, who says towns need to be able to attract the right mix of people to prosper, otherwise they continue to be mono-cultural, lacking complexity and links to the outside world.

Senior Research Fellow Evan Yabsley

He says the concept of sustainability should go way beyond just the lifespan of the mineral resource or the economic profile of the region.

"Ideally the thriving communities will have 'bonders' who can create social glue by sustaining clubs and organisations, as well as 'bridgers' who have links to relevant industry sectors in the outside world," Mr Yabsley said.

"The successful towns will be able to express goals to flag why people would want to come to live and participate in the community, such as developing a consistent message about what makes any given town unique, its unique blend mix of tangible and intangible elements, such as recreational, historical and aspirational content.

"We need to look at what's missing to make an 'enduring' community. While it's good to create accommodation, we also need coffee shops and other places for locals to meet such as church community groups, scout clubs or soccer, pony and netball clubs for parents to meet, referee and coach.

"To use a rainforest analogy, we need a complex undergrowth to create the nutrients that sustain the trees.

"The role of government is largely to make ready the ground, to ensure the right conditions exist to attract investment income."

Mr Yabsley said it would be handy for prospective investors to access measurements of a town's social entrepreneurship levels, but such measurements were not yet available.

"We've done a bit of work, including using the marketing concept of psychometrics as a useful tool to measure what additional social groupings are needed to ensure towns are able to sustain themselves as a viable and livable community worthy of investment ... but we'd love to have the funding for a more holistic study.

"The Queensland Government has already shown interest in the concept of livability so we hope they are willing to play the long game and to plan decades into the future."

Mr Yabsley said the lesson from the USA mining and manufacturing rustbelts was that towns did not necessarily need regional development in terms of growth, but rather they wanted the chance to become stable and more diverse.