The cost of land and, in turn, housing forces people to buy into the rules of market capitalism, making it very hard to ‘downshift’ from consumer lifestyles. But what if we rethink public housing?
Future Earth Australia is working to create a long-term national plan of transformation for our cities. As part of this, everyone in Australia is invited to have their say in a survey.
Hot weather kills more Americans yearly on average than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes. Three scholars explain how cities can prepare and help residents stay cool.
The debate about the transition away from fossil fuels has focused on costs, but right here in Australia we have examples of the benefits of sustainable new energy sources for our cities.
Trees clean urban air, store carbon, slow floodwaters and can be used to design safer streets. Scholars are starting to calculate what these services are worth – a fitting topic for Arbor Day.
Rather than mourn the end of a seven-year reign as ‘world’s most liveable city’, Melbourne could raise its sights to become more liveable, healthy and sustainable for all who live in the city.
Urban farming can make it easier for city residents to obtain healthy, affordable food. But to raise big yields from small pieces of land, farmers need training and support.
Minorities are driving the bicycling boom, but bike infrastructure investments often neglect their needs. A new study explores what riders in low-income and minority neighborhoods want.
Many homes, parks and businesses in US cities stand on former manufacturing sites that may have left legacy hazardous wastes behind. A new book calls for more research into our urban industrial past.
Planning innovations around the world offer inspiration, but ultimately the innovations needed to make Australia’s sprawling cities more sustainable must be shaped by local conditions.
Rising e-commerce means more delivery trucks and urban gridlock. Lockers at transit centers, where carriers can leave packages for people who live or work nearby, are a potential solution.
The private car is the default transport option for many families. This reduces physical activity and increases greenhouse gas emissions, with unhealthy results for their children and the environment.
The city where the Kyoto Protocol was signed resolved some years ago to move away from cars and towards low-emission alternatives for getting around. And it’s making real progress towards that goal.
Peter Newton, Swinburne University of Technology; Christina Ting, Swinburne University of Technology, and Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology
Australian cities are world-leading – in the worst sense – for resource use and greenhouse emissions. China-born residents have embraced these consumption patterns, which is bad news for the planet.
Barangaroo is an example of a development with admirable green credentials, but it is also an exclusive precinct that has played a role in displacing the disadvantaged from this part of Sydney.
Australia has yet to properly acknowledge that the Sustainable Development Goals aren’t just an issue for other countries. The problems that demand our attention are much closer to home.