Who’s responsible? Housing policy mismatched to our $6 trillion asset
New research finds a state of confusion when it comes to Australian government policymaking on housing, despite its huge economic and social significance.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Analysis and Comment
Beyond Medicare levies: joining the dots to create places that are good for our health
New research shows many good intentions for creating urban environments that promote good health were not carried through. The solutions start with engaging more closely with residents themselves.
Grenfell Tower fire exposes the injustice of disasters
Marginal people become resourceless, invisible to public policies, and disempowered in public life. This increases their vulnerability to disaster.
Why should the state wriggle out of providing public housing?
Why can't the state fund an ongoing program of upgrading, replacing and building public housing? On the evidence to date, private developers aren't doing a better job of it.
Psychogeography: a way to delve into the soul of a city
Wandering the city by foot helps us look beneath ordinary conceptions of the face value of a place to the meanings built up and lost over time.
Goodbye to the Gatwick, and to so much of the old St Kilda
When wealth accumulation becomes the driver of urban regeneration, residents who already have little or no say in the future of our cities are further marginalised by gentrification.
Grenfell fire aftermath: how 20th-century buildings can be made safer, not more dangerous
There are three key principles: prevent risk, evacuate users and minimise damage – in that order.
Torrens, our land-title pioneer, might have approved of privatised registries
Sir Robert Richard Torrens – the man behind Australia’s 'Torrens system' of land-title registration – was an economic liberal who might have approved of privatising title registries.
In defence of serendipity: the Silicon Emperor is wearing no clothes
The digital pin-ups' business models actually inhibit serendipity and, indeed, innovation by absorbing entire markets into the sealed-off space of their platforms.
Sydney public housing evictions a policy success? Only if you ignore the high human cost
The last 24 public housing tenants holding out against eviction from Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Sirius Building still hope the government may show some compassion.
Creative city, smart city … whose city is it?
The corporate world has taken the lead in promoting various creative/smart city visions, which struggle to be inclusive, let alone entrust citizens with control over their lives.
There’s a city in my mind …
The annual Burning Man Festival creates a temporary city in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. In many ways, it's an innovation lab for rethinking cities.
Melbourne’s love-hate relationship with being Australia’s ‘street art capital’
Melbourne's street art has an international reputation and may be a very valuable tourist attraction. But the city remains ambivalent about the activities that have created its 'laneway galleries'.
Our ‘sporting nation’ is a myth, so how do we get youngsters back on the field?
The first step in reviving a lost sporting culture is to involve young Australians in working out why sport has lost its appeal and how to reverse the decline in youth participation.
Why touted public transport savings from competitive tendering are too high
Estimated cost savings for rail and bus franchising from Infrastructure Australia and PwC will have government treasurers salivating. Problem is, the figures are almost certainly far too high.
The NBN: how a national infrastructure dream fell short
The highly politicised nature of the NBN has led to a lack of transparency that makes it even harder to fix the mess that has been made of this vital national infrastructure.
Flat white urbanism: there must be better ways to foster a vibrant street life
The ubiquitous cafes across Australian cities attract locals and tourists alike, but surely there's more to thriving neighbourhoods than a flat white.
Regional universities have a pivotal role to play in Australia’s City Deals
Universities can lead the way in creating opportunities for the economic development of regional cities and outer metropolitan areas under new City Deals.
Sydneysiders blame foreign investors for high housing prices – survey
Only 18% of Sydneysiders think foreign investors should be able to buy property. They simply don't accept arguments that this investment improves housing affordability by increasing supply.
Housing
Sydney public housing evictions a policy success? Only if you ignore the high human cost
The last 24 public housing tenants holding out against eviction from Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Sirius Building still hope the government may show some compassion.
Family break-up raises homelessness risk, and critical period is longer for boys
Sydneysiders blame foreign investors for high housing prices – survey
Investors are exploiting returns on debt financing to muscle out home buyers
What’s in the name ‘homeless’? How people see themselves and the labels we apply matter
Two pictures of rental housing stress and vulnerability zero in on areas of need
Budget 2017 charts new social and affordable housing agenda
Infrastructure
Grenfell fire aftermath: how 20th-century buildings can be made safer, not more dangerous
There are three key principles: prevent risk, evacuate users and minimise damage – in that order.
Contested Spaces
Contested spaces: the ‘long-grassers’, living private lives in public places
In contrast to perceptions of other homeless people sleeping rough, Darwin's "long-grassers" are applying a long cultural tradition to deal with the situation in which they find themselves.
Urban greening
Green space – how much is enough, and what’s the best way to deliver it?
Urban green spaces are most effective at delivering their full range of health, social and environmental benefits when physical improvement of the space is coupled with social engagement.
Research and Expert Database
Editors’ Picks
Urban identity
Melbourne’s love-hate relationship with being Australia’s ‘street art capital’
Melbourne's street art has an international reputation and may be a very valuable tourist attraction. But the city remains ambivalent about the activities that have created its 'laneway galleries'.
Transport
Why touted public transport savings from competitive tendering are too high
Estimated cost savings for rail and bus franchising from Infrastructure Australia and PwC will have government treasurers salivating. Problem is, the figures are almost certainly far too high.
Community
Flat white urbanism: there must be better ways to foster a vibrant street life
The ubiquitous cafes across Australian cities attract locals and tourists alike, but surely there's more to thriving neighbourhoods than a flat white.
Green space
Green space – how much is enough, and what’s the best way to deliver it?
Urban green spaces are most effective at delivering their full range of health, social and environmental benefits when physical improvement of the space is coupled with social engagement.
Renting
The insecurity of private renters – how do they manage it?
Private renters' security of tenure in Australia has less legal protection than in other countries with high private rental rates. A new study reveals mixed responses to this state of uncertainty.
Homelessness
What’s in the name ‘homeless’? How people see themselves and the labels we apply matter
People who self-identify as 'homeless' have poorer wellbeing than others in the same circumstances, yet that's the label they must adopt to qualify for help.
Urban identity
Let cities speak: what sounds define us now?
Sound, as a still relatively unexplored medium of urban design, provides an obvious starting point in the search for new relationships and identities in the contemporary city.
Urban identity
Let cities speak: reclaiming a place for community with sounds
Communities have an increasing desire to be informed and included in local art, design and infrastructure projects. This has inspired new ways of dealing with noise-afflicted areas.
Planning
Australians don’t loiter in public space – the legacy of colonial control by design
Melbourne is a product of British colonial planning policies to control public access and movement in Australian cities. This legacy still influences the use of public spaces today.
Slow cities
We should create cities for slowing down
Smart cities are usually optimised like a business for speed and efficiency. Placemaking can slow down cities to improve health and wellbeing and promote more democratic engagement of citizens.
Infrastructure
To get the ‘good debt’ tick, infrastructure needs to be fit for the future
If infrastructure is to meet the needs and challenges of an uncertain future, we need to move beyond the AAA ratings mindset and aim for net-positive social and ecological outcomes as well.
Housing
Off the plan: shelter, the future and the problems in between
Owning a home has deep cultural and economic connotations. A home owner is a member of a street, a community. They are a successful adult human. They own a piece of the pie, the dream.
Airports
Flying into uncertainty: Western Sydney’s ‘aerotropolis’ poses more questions than answers
Building a second Sydney airport will be a demanding engineering project. But the real challenge will be one of governance needed to choreograph the mix of old and new city that will surround it.
Budget
What housing issues should the budget tackle? This is what our experts say
Housing experts writing for The Conversation largely agree on the government policies that are causing negative distortions in the market and the wider economy. And supply is not the key concern.
Population
Three charts on Australia’s population shift and the big city squeeze
Melbourne is Australia's most rapidly growing city, a title it wrested from Perth around 2013-14. Several of Australia's big cities are growing well above the national average population growth rate.
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Most Read past week
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- Psychogeography: a way to delve into the soul of a city
- Grenfell Tower fire exposes the injustice of disasters
- Why should the state wriggle out of providing public housing?
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