The Chelsea Flower Show is in full bloom. The UK’s annual botanical extravaganza celebrates all aspects of horticulture and is an important venue for watching emerging trends in the gardening world. But…
Disasters such as the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami show how vulnerable cities are. Sendai pictured here.
U.S. Pacific Fleet/Flickr
The old German saying Stadt Luft Macht Frei (“urban air makes you free”) is the defining injunction of modernity. Modern western cities were launched as the vessels of liberation from a human era darkened…
Melburnians have taken to the streets to challenge government transport policy priorities.
AAP/Joe Sabljak
Australia does not have a national cities policy. But in committing funding to transport infrastructure, the federal government is significantly shaping Australian cities. Local government and community-based…
Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Not everyone’s cup of tea.
準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia
Future cities, where infrastructure adapts to our needs, offer are an enticing prospect. But who is in the driving seat as these urban developments crop up around the world? We need to make sure that the…
Heatwaves are set to become the norm – better get used to them.
AAP/Joe Castro
Australia’s south east is currently sweltering under an intense heatwave, one that is likely to become the second longest heatwave on record in the region. So what have we learnt from the heatwave of 2009…
The Field Day music festival, held annually in The Domain in Sydney, is among a growing number of private or ticketed events held in public parks.
jo3hug
Privatisation of the public realm is increasingly seen by governments as a relatively painless user-pays way of addressing their budget problems and parks have not escaped the trend. Public spaces such…
Have catalytic converters changed the cost-pollution-benefit in petrol’s favour?
Mike Egerton/PA
Which is the better option for cars in cities, diesel or petrol-driven engines? As a report reveals the new fleet of green, hybrid electric-diesel buses in London produce less CO2 but more harmful pollutants…
Old buildings are standing in the way of improving our cities.
Flickr/Becky EnVérité
Making Australian cities truly resilient to extreme events is being held back by archaic planning. The majority of buildings don’t fall under new sustainability and resilience regulations, meaning private…
Cars stuck in traffic at an intersection.
www.shutterstock.com/e2dan
The strength of Australia’s economy depends on how well our cities function - yet right now, it’s as if we’re driving with the handbrake on. Cities are crucial to productivity. When they work well, they…
Things could be looking up for urban planning if Greg Hunt has his way.
Michelle Robinson
The new Coalition Government has been elected with a mandate to reduce the national debt and make Australia “open for business”. Does this mean fixing Australia’s cities will be left to market forces…
Solar is taking off in Australia’s suburbs, but what are inner-city livers to do?
Duncan Rawlinson
In Australia’s middle and outer suburbs, rooftop solar technology provides a clear way to reduce the emissions from the energy our houses use. But higher density housing types (apartments and medium density…
More than 2 million people live in Pacific cities, many of them in squats and informal settlements.
eGuide Travel
The Pacific Islands Forum, the peak regional body of Pacific Island states, met in Majuro, Marshall Islands, last week. A major outcome of the meeting was the Forum Communiqué. This is the blueprint for…
The ‘most liveable city’ accolade should be viewed with scepticism.
Image from shutterstock.com
For the third year in a row, Melbourne has been named as the world’s most liveable city by the The Economist Intelligence Unit Survey. From the Lord Mayor to Molly Meldrum, it seems that almost everybody…
Our cities may be booming, but what about our regions and suburbs?
Flickr/Takver
**A more sustainable Australia.* As the 2013 election campaign continues, we’ve asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia – the issues that will shape our future.* Australia’s…
Wrexham, like this driver, is ill-prepared for floods and other climate change-related problems.
Matt Price/Flickr
More than half the world’s population now lives in cities or urban areas, which means our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change is tied up with cities’ ability to cope. Responsible for more than…
Detroit, formerly a global economic powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy in the face of crippling loan repayments. While an equivalent collapse in the UK is unlikely any time soon, if certain voices in…
Clean up your act, Shanghai. Just add some more trees at the right places.
Corinna A. Carlson
There is something of a sensory dissonance in modern cities. Glamorous as they are, the breath of contemporary cities stinks. A recent study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found…
The urban civilisation drawn to cities innovates and enriches. Even in Melbourne.
melburnian/Flickr
When Isaac Newton produced his Laws of Motion in 1687, it led to speculation that his new gravitational force could explain the social forces between people. Thinkers put forward various arguments for…
Want to be happy? It’s all about the green.
epSos.de/Flickr
Spending time with nature in our cities’ parks and gardens can improve individual satisfaction in life and make us less aggressive, anxious and stressed. So isn’t it time we placed access to nature alongside…
Britain’s woeful road infrastructure for cyclists is dragging us down.
Tim Ireland/PA
Making a city more bicycle-friendly is not simply a matter of painting a few lines and installing parking spaces. It requires cities to work with cyclists as participants in redesigning the city. Ensuring…
Rail has been a part of Federal “knitting” since, well, Federation.
Annie Mole
Tony Abbott has created a new phrase that wonderfully describes a political tradition or paradigm: “not in our knitting”. “We have no history of funding urban rail and I think it’s important that we stick…
Many apartment dwellers would like to know how to make their home more sustainable. But where to start?
Chris Kreussling
Rebecca Leshinsky, Swinburne University of Technology and Judy Rex, Swinburne University of Technology
Apartment owners beware – your asset could be under threat! If we don’t improve the sustainability of our city apartment blocks their value will fall. Australian cities are increasingly embracing apartment…
Apartment living has increased slightly in the past 20 years, but we’re not letting go of our houses just yet.
Alan Levine
Liz Allen, Australian National University; Anna Reimondos, Australian National University, and Edith Gray, Australian National University
AUSTRALIA BY NUMBERS: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the first batch of its census data. We’ve asked some of the country’s top demographers and statisticians to crunch the numbers on…
More people live in cities than ever before. We can’t solve problems of sustainability and health without fixing them.
Bill Hertha
The secretary-general of the United Nations’ (first) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Maurice Strong, famously declared that if our planet is to remain a hospitable and sustainable home for the human species…
We know where to head next to build more sustainable cities.
Anders Hoff
Over the weekend, local leaders from around the world gathered together in Belo Horizonte, an hour’s flight from Rio de Janeiro at the ICLEI World Congress. The aim was to galvanise their case for a decade…