Three big firms win almost all the $1 billion-plus contracts. And they often team up in joint ventures, further reducing the competition that would keep the price tags of road and rail projects down.
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The pledge to build 30,000 homes over the next five years exposes the government’s inaction, but it’s still only a fraction of the number Australians need.
Low-income retirees have long found affordable housing in caravan parks and relocatable home estates. But they are becoming harder to find, and often come with a risk of hazards such as flooding.
The utopian 20th-century model of a modern city – one that has been replicated around the world – is being exposed as unsuitable for adapting to the pace of change in the 21st century.
Roadsides have long been reserved for parking cars, but the pandemic led to many experiments with other ways of using scarce and valuable public space. We can put it to better and more flexible uses.
NSW is developing a comprehensive new planning policy with the goal of creating healthy places. A new study finds those people who work as placemakers want these goals embedded in laws and budgets.
It has happened with software, computing and entertainment, but we’re still waiting for the platform needed for mobility as a service to reach its full potential.
At one time more than one in three Australians did volunteer work. Only one in five are now doing so, but there are some positive signs as volunteering organisations adapt to changing times.
Some flood dangers can be hard to spot initially – to planners, developers and home-buyers. Sometimes, the danger comes from underground.
Remaking aged care in Australia starts with embracing people-centred design. Instead of the institutional model with its focus on restraint, we need to understand and design for people’s needs.
In many cities contemplating new light rail systems, bus rapid transit offers a cheaper, faster and more flexible solution.
JobKeeper, the COVID boost to JobSeeker, and moratoriums on rent increases and evictions all ended this month. Only smarter policies will prevent homelessness, as a landmark Victorian report explains.
The proportion of people actually living in tiny houses hasn’t been increasing but the movement has prompted debate about living smaller and more sustainably.
Today’s risks will be tomorrow’s normal. That means tough decisions have to be made about human settlements having to retreat from areas most at risk, whether from floods or bushfires.
JobKeeper and the COVID Supplement to JobSeeker benefits will be gone in a week. The combined effect will be to halve some recipients’ incomes and the rent they can afford.
Evacuation and relief centres are often the first place disaster-affected people go, and should provide a minimum standard of living and care. But this standard is not always met.
It’s not enough to continue to build cities and towns based on business-as-usual planning principles. We need to plan and design our urban spaces around the idea that flooding is inevitable.
Since the Grenfell Tower fire claimed 72 lives in 2017, Australia has identified flammable cladding on more than 3,400 buildings. Despite apartment owners’ fears and rising costs, few have been fixed.
Many people prefer the status quo as they struggle to imagine the alternatives. The pandemic has been the catalyst for urban experiments that have opened our eyes to new possibilities.
Bike-share programs don’t just cater for residents. When tourists use them too, that greatly increases the value the whole community gets from these bikes.
Green hydrogen produced using New Zealand’s mostly renewable electricity sounds like a great idea, but a high-tech smart rail and urban tram network is a more obvious and sustainable option.
Australian data suggest that prices do not fall when zoning is relaxed.
The rise of build-to-rent development will affect a lot of Australians. Despite the rosy promises, tax, design, planning and tenancy reforms will be needed to avoid the potential pitfalls.
Urban planning and cultural policies often neglect electronic dance music. Now the pandemic is forcing the EDM world to come up with new strategies to survive.
We have the technology to make it easier for older Australians to pursue active ageing in their own communities. The smart city just needs their input to make it work for them.