Research into public health benefits of integrating nature into cities has focused on green spaces. New studies suggest water features are just as useful and can piggyback on other infrastructure goals.
Greater Dandenong Civic Centre was completed in 2014 with new council chambers, a library and Harmony Square.
Photo: Hayley Henderson
A major investment in renewing the urban centre of Dandenong is starting to pay dividends. But while research has found three keys to success, the benefits haven’t reached everyone.
Flood waters in Fishlake, near Doncaster, England.
Richard McCarthy/PA
Land-use planning should give more weight to the increasing risks of natural hazards like bushfires as the first step in reducing the impacts.
The lure of suburbia clearly remains strong. To deal with sprawl, planners need to increase urban density in a way that resonates with the leafy green qualities of suburbia that residents value.
Julian Bolleter
Residents of the ‘leafy suburbs’ will continue to fear what they might lose to increasing urban density without an explicit planning approach that enhances green space in affected neighbourhoods.
One nine-year-old chose his local supermarket as a place he valued because he could “spend time with mum and help decide what goes in our trolley”.
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When primary school children in a disadvantaged part of Sydney were asked to map what they valued in the area, their choices were revealing and sometimes surprising.
An artist’s rendering of Toronto’s shoreline in 2050. Regulating the future city poses new challenges for different levels of government.
Picture Plane/Heatherwick Studio for Sidewalk Labs
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is going through a transformation of its centre and waterfront to support of walking, cycling and public transport, and less space for cars.
The benefits of ‘superblocks’ for Barcelona include better health, access to green space and other public space, and more transport-related physical activity.
Orbon Alija/iStock
The Spanish city is remaking urban neighbourhoods by limiting through traffic in superblocks that give priority to pedestrians and street activities, not cars.
Jakarta is among the ‘megacities’ with a population of more than 10 million people.
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Trees and the shade they provide are one of the best ways of cooling cities. But they also present challenges that are best resolved by managing this shared resource as part of an urban commons.
The ‘superblocks’ are expected to have massive benefits for health and well-being – but it takes good governance.
Allowing residents to remove trees within three metres of buildings or ‘ancillary structures’ could dramatically alter the green infrastructure of dense inner Sydney suburbs like Rozelle.
Tom Casey/Shutterstock
Greater urban density is making it harder to preserve, let alone increase, tree cover. It’s vital, then, to demonstrate the full value of green infrastructure for healthy liveable cities.
The UK government has been trying to hand planning power over to local people for 50 years – but research reveals it has fallen far short of its goals.
Urban planning that provides green space and cycling and walking infrastructure promotes better health for all.
Mat Connolley/Wikimedia
Planners understand the key elements of urban communities that will improve residents’ health and well-being. They also need to be able to convince others to create such communities.
Show Works, based in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, makes dance floors, dance equipment and theatre scenery.
Andrew Warren, used with permission
Rezoning to mixed-use residential development drove small manufacturers and creative producers out of the inner city. The result is less diversity of land uses, jobs and services where we most want it.