The night time economy goes far beyond pubs and clubs.
Vital Signs takes stock of all the key elements of a city’s successes and challenges, and the Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation uses this data to guide its grant-making.
Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation
A decade after Toronto produced the first Vitals Signs report, community foundations in Melbourne and other cities are using these reports’ up-to-date data to inform their decisions.
The Greening the Pipeline 100-metre pilot park at Williams Landing is the first step in transforming 27 kilometres of the heritage-listed main outfall sewer into a linear park and bike track.
Greening the Pipeline, courtesy of Melbourne Water
Tree plantings are making a visible difference to Melbourne’s west. It’s the result of a collaborative model of greening, one that Australian cities need to apply more widely.
Mass evacuations in response to natural disasters like Hurricane Maria are a logistical challenge, but also face psychological barriers to residents being willing and able to leave.
EPA
The challenge of creating liveable communities across Australia’s capital cities comes down to seven key factors. And assessed on this basis, parts of our cities don’t fare so well.
Tourists play slot machines at the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
In the country’s wealthiest cities, gentrification is a dirty word. But it’s all relative – just ask Hartford and Columbus.
The Living Space development in Cockburn, Western Australia, has won praise as an innovative mixed-use social housing project.
Courtesy of HHA Projects
The states that are delivering more affordable housing have sophisticated, multi-pronged strategies to serve the full range of needs.
The government appears willing to roll over the contract with the operator of a third of Melbourne’s buses despite poor performance.
Bus Association Victoria, used with permission
No matter whether competitive tendering or negotiation is used, operators that do not meet clear and transparent service benchmarks should be shown the door.
Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland.
David Phan/flickr
Digital media on building facades are changing the appearance of our cities. This creates a need for new urban policy guidelines to retain architectural quality and promote social engagement.
Sydney is facing 50°C summer days by 2040, new research says.
Andy/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons
Future extreme heat is worse and coming sooner than you might think. Unless we mitigate and adapt we face increasing death rates.
Heidi Mellington, performing here with Anthony Smith in Dizzygothica in 2007, has spoken about the importance of a supportive local music scene for emerging artists.
Rachel Cobcroft/flickr
City living costs are driving people to organise themselves to share a room with strangers. These precarious living arrangements hardly qualify as a home.
The first autonomous vehicles are already upon us, but once their use becomes widespread they will change cities as surely as the original cars did.
AAP/nuTonomy
It’s clear autonomous vehicles will disrupt our cities, their land use and planning. Whether they make urban life better or worse depends on how well we anticipate and adapt to their impacts.
Traffic congestion is concentrated along particular routes, such as the Eastern Freeway/Hoddle Street corridor in Melbourne.
Julian Smith/AAP
Nathalie Redon, IMT Nord Europe – Institut Mines-Télécom
The use of small devices to measure the presence of fine particles in the air is becoming widespread. They’re one more weapon to fight against air pollution, but questions remain on their reliability.