When urban spaces work well they are highly social spaces. How do we safely manage them and people’s fears about mingling when ‘being together but apart’ is the norm?
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Cities – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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Playgrounds might have been closed, but play remains important for the social fabric of cities and for reimagining the possibilities that are open to us.
Smaller projects are better for delivering broad, long-term value to communities across the country, reducing inequality and cutting emissions, as well as quickly providing jobs and economic stimulus.
Temporary and tactical urbanism offers simple, low-cost solutions to make streets and other public spaces both safe and sociable during this time of physical distancing.
We’ve all seen the footage of people in protective suits and vehicles spraying cities to control COVID-19. But because of the way disinfectant and contamination work, it might be mostly for show.
COVID-19 has upturned uses of public spaces that we took for granted. Will shifts in the regulation of these spaces lead to a change in thinking about who “owns” the city?
After the brief shock of food insecurity in the form of empty supermarket shelves, we might start thinking about having a Plan B and C based on local food sources and shorter supply chains.
Australian emergency services are using social media for a number of purposes during disasters. What they are not doing well is analysing social media data in real time to improve disaster management.
We’ve all seen the increases in people walking and cycling on shared paths so crowded it’s almost impossible to maintain physical distancing. This must be fixed, and quickly.
The federal opposition’s idea for a bullet train from Melbourne to Brisbane is not a good use of a generation’s worth of infrastructure spending. It won’t even work as an economic stimulus.
After the ‘world’s biggest work-from-home experiment’, many people (and their employers) might decide they needn’t commute every day. If even a fraction do that, infrastructure needs will change.
The disasters have come one after another. While they may not be entirely preventable, we can take many practical steps tailored to local needs and conditions to reduce the impacts on our cities.
Anxiety and loneliness affect many people at the best of times. The pandemic-induced isolation and stress won’t be helping, but cities can do many things to improve the ‘emotional climate’.
Now is the time for a two-pronged strategy to ensure everyone has a home: a spot-purchasing program to find homes for people now in emergency accommodation, followed by social housing construction.
Construction employs one in ten Australians, with a broad range of skills, using mostly locally made materials. Building social housing would meet urgent social needs as well as creating jobs.
The system isn’t working to prevent young Australians becoming homeless and to house them when they need it. New research finds a shift to proven community-based approaches can end decades of failure.
We are all finding out about neighbourhood liveability as we stay home for the coronavirus lockdown. What we learn about local strengths and weaknesses can help us improve our communities in future.
Noting nature around you – it could be a glance outside, tending plants, or ‘green’ exercise – will improve your well-being, research shows. The coronavirus pandemic has made it even more important.
Australians faces an even more unequal future unless post-pandemic housing policy focuses on equity, solidarity and security. .
COVID-19 is creating overwhelming needs for intensive care and testing facilities. An Australian team is developing purpose-built units that can be shipped and erected quickly, easily and cheaply.
Current restrictions remind us of the value of access to public space and one another. Yet even before COVID-19 some people were excluded and targeted, so a return to the status quo isn’t good enough.
Reducing crowding and repairing social housing can decrease the risk of COVID-19 in remote Indigenous communities. It will bring other long-term benefits, too.
Many want to do the right thing – tenants and landlords alike. But they lack guidance on how to go about it while still keeping their own heads above water.
Government action to control rents isn’t unprecedented. Menzies did it in the second world and subsequent state measures kept rents in check for decades. Now extreme circumstances justify it again.
No continent is more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most vulnerable people pay the highest price, and this time Africa will struggle to get help as other nations fight their own battles.