Business-as-usual projections assume our four biggest cities must absorb three-quarters of Australia’s population growth over the next 30 years. Might new cities be a better way to deal with it?
The argument that stronger supply will deliver more affordable housing isn’t borne out in areas where new unit and apartment construction is booming.
Joel Carrett/AAP
The clichés about housing supply and regulatory restraints are distractions from the need to focus on expanding the affordable housing sector to directly meet the needs of low-income households.
The IPCC’s first cities conference revealed the challenges in bridging the gaps between scientific knowledge and policy practice, and between cities in developed and developing nations.
Cities IPCC/Twitter
The first IPCC conference on cities has highlighted the challenges of reconciling science, urban practices and politics. But it was an important recognition of cities’ leading role in climate action.
Jobs are in the city centre, but population growth is in the west, resulting in long, slow commutes.
AMPG/Shutterstock
The population growth is in the west, but most of the jobs are still in the city centre. Three major development proposals could help reshape Melbourne in ways that help overcome this costly mismatch.
Junfeng Jiao, The University of Texas at Austin and Chris Bischak, The University of Texas at Austin
Even in cities with good public transportation, some areas can be ‘transit deserts,’ where demand exceeds supply. Living in these zones makes it hard to access good jobs, health care and other services.
The Hawkesbury’s waters look beautifully natural but treated sewage makes up to 20% of the river flow where the North Richmond Filtration Plant draws its water.
Karl Baron/flickr
Perth is looking at recycling all its sewage in the city’s future water supply. But many Australians’ drinking water already contains indirectly recycled treated sewage.
The design for Paris Rive Gauche incorporates a mix of uses and access to green spaces.
Paris Rive Gauche/SOA Architects
Ruth and Maurie Crow were early advocates of the compact city. They also warned 50 years ago that a clear justice intent was needed to shape cities for their citizens rather than vested interests.
The plantings of New York’s High Line Park were inspired by plants that had naturally colonised the disused railway viaduct.
Beyond my Ken/Wikipedia
If the nature we desire is, in fact, its expression as untamed wildness, then we should turn to the creativity of artists as well as urban designers when building our cities.
When an ageing person is forced to move out of their family home, that can trigger a host of problems that policy is doing little to prevent.
Diego Cervo/Shutterstock
Millions of older Australians live in houses that don’t safely meet their needs, but they’re not ready for a nursing home. Lack of suitable housing and the moving costs leave them with nowhere to go.
Increasingly insecure pathways to home ownership are not just a problem for property markets. The fallout is likely to hit retirement incomes, the welfare base, gender equity and the broader economy.
In the past, house building matched high immigration. Construction has increased, particularly in Sydney, but needs to make up the backlog of a decade of undersupply.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Australian governments are faced with a choice: make the difficult decisions to fix planning systems so more houses can be built, or tap the brakes on Australia’s migrant intake.
The congestion charge has helped to ease traffic and raise funds. But the rise of Uber and other private hire vehicles have raised unforeseen challenges.
Australia’s big cities, like Sydney, have outgrown the historical patchwork governance structure of local councils.
SF photo/Shutterstock
Scholars and planners have long pointed out the need in Australia’s big cities for democratic governance structures that operate at a citywide scale. Now Infrastructure Australia has weighed in.
Local traders win the day at Chrisp Street Market.
Shutterstock.
Hobart is a smaller city with big city problems that have become an election issue. Recent growth is creating traffic congestion that affects productivity, residents’ health and liveability.
Mental short-cuts guide our everyday decision-making. Unfortunately, five biases can lead us to deny responsibility for our poor decisions and are creating problems for share-bike schemes.
Apartment residents need sensible smoking regulations that balance personal freedoms in the home and public health interests, but the law is letting them down.
The Urban Planning Exhibition Centre in Shanghai – good planning is immensely valuable.
Jordiferrer/Wikimedia Commons
Given the challenges Australian cities face, the need for urban planning based on solid research is greater than ever. Sadly, when it comes to research funding, planning is at the back of the queue.
What does a green star rating – One Central Park apartments in Sydney received five stars, for instance – actually mean?
AAP
Buildings are central to creating more sustainable cities, and green ratings are often used to assess how well a building measures up against this goal. But the current system has serious flaws.
Retrofitting older homes to ‘green’ the nation’s housing stock involves much more than installing rooftop solar panels.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
While new buildings may be the glamorous eco-home pinups, retrofitting existing homes is the main game when it comes to creating energy-efficient, comfortable housing stock for all Australians.