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Articles on New Urban Agenda

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Planning and design for healthy, liveable communities in the Australian tropics can involve quite different considerations from those that apply down south. Silvia Tavares

Making a global agenda work locally for healthy, sustainable living in tropical Australia

Silvia Tavares, James Cook University and David Sellars, James Cook University

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all plan for sustainable, healthy urban living. Urban diaries help identify what works – and doesn’t work – for tropical cities like Cairns or Townsville.
Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gillian Bird, makes a statement at the 2016 Habitat III conference, where the New Urban Agenda was adopted. Alexei Trundle

This is why health has to be at the heart of the New Urban Agenda

Melanie Lowe, Australian Catholic University; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Billie Giles-Corti, RMIT University; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne, and Hesam Kamalipour, Monash University

Australia and other United Nations member states signed up to the New Urban Agenda more than a year ago. But how well is health being integrated into sustainable urban development?
We need to look behind the sharing economy’s apparently informal, casual intent to consider the impacts on people’s lives. Montri Nipitvittaya/Shutterstock

Sharing economy sounds caring, but let’s put it to the ethical city test

Ralph Horne, RMIT University

In cities dominated by globalised market forces, how can we achieve social equity and justice? For any sharing economy idea, we need to ask what will it do to fix the big problems confronting us all.
It’s hard to see how a city can be good for all its people unless they are involved in its creation. Paul James

What actually is a good city?

Paul James, Western Sydney University; Belinda Young, The University of Melbourne; Brendan Gleeson, The University of Melbourne, and John Wiseman, The University of Melbourne

Developing principles to create cities that are good for all is not easy. Who decides what is good? And for whom? We desperately need a big and general public discussion about this.
Providing green space can deliver health, social and environmental benefits for all urban residents – few other public health interventions can achieve all of this. Anne Cleary

Green space – how much is enough, and what’s the best way to deliver it?

Anne Cleary, Griffith University and Ruth Hunter, Queen's University Belfast

Urban green spaces are most effective at delivering their full range of health, social and environmental benefits when physical improvement of the space is coupled with social engagement.
Meeting the challenges of informal settlements, such as this one in Caracas, Venezuela, calls for integrated approaches that cut across urban scales and disciplines. Hesam Kamalipour

When planning falls short: the challenges of informal settlements

Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Informal settlements are often undocumented or hidden on official maps, but they house about a billion people worldwide. Their existence demands a more sophisticated approach to urban development.
Think of all the resources needed to transform Shenzhen, a fishing town 35 years ago, into a megacity of more than 10 million people. Wikimedia Commons

Our cities need to go on a resource diet

André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; Dave Kendal, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Our cities need to become much more efficient not just to conserve precious resources but to improve the economy, wellbeing and resilience to environmental change and disasters.
Quito lights up for Habitat III. Alexei Trundle

Habitat III is over, but will its New Urban Agenda transform the world’s cities?

Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Nation states, UN bodies and civil society gathered in Quito for Habitat III to adopt the New Urban Agenda. So how will the UN’s new global urban roadmap transform our cities over the next 20 years?
Joan Clos (right) shows visiting dignitaries around the UN complex in Nairobi, Kenya, which as host of UN-Habitat headquarters was pushing one of two competing proposals for implementation responsibilities. Noor Khamis/Reuters

Phew! New Urban Agenda clears last hurdle before Habitat III

Brendan Barrett, RMIT University

Two years of marathon negotiations have finally yielded agreement in last-minute meetings in New York on the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at the Habitat III summit in Quito in October.
A distinctive feature of the New Urban Agenda is that it redefines informal settlements, such as Dharavi in Mumbai, India, as an asset based on their potential to promote economic growth. YGLvoices/flickr

Habitat III: the biggest conference you’ve probably never heard of

Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

More than 25,000 delegates will meet in Quito in October to set out a New Urban Agenda for the UN, to be implemented over the next 20 years. But Australia is yet to play a major role in the process.

Related Topics

  1. Cities
  2. Cities & Policy
  3. Habitat III
  4. Inequality
  5. Liveability
  6. Sustainable living
  7. United Nations
  8. UN sustainable development goals (SDG)
  9. Urban development
  10. Urban planning

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