A long-term plan can’t properly underpin a vision without engaging many of Southeast Queensland’s stakeholders and visitors or without the use of appropriate futures methods.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world despite its ranking as one of the ‘least liveable’.
mariusz kluzniak/flickr
Bringing significant benefits to an emergent middle class, Dhaka’s cultural, economic, environmental and political landscapes are being rapidly but unevenly transformed.
The White Bay Power Station is a prime harbourside redevelopment site.
Wikimedia Commons
The fact that the NSW government has stepped in to take back control of the White Bay redevelopment is actually an amazing story. One would hope this is a process of learning at work.
Australians do business with a title office only a couple of times in their lives – when they buy and sell their homes, for instances.
AAP/Paul Miller
Privatisation has its advantages. But Australia’s title offices may not necessarily be the right government businesses to be privatised.
Much of the ‘smart cities’ rhetoric is dominated by the economic, with little reference to the natural world and its plight.
Ase from www.shutterstock.com
The rhetoric of ‘smart cities’ is dominated by the economic, with little reference to the natural world and its plight. Truly smart and resilient cities need to be more in tune with the planet.
While politicians like Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce do the traditional photo-ops, fewer people than ever are taking on farming, which can no longer support vibrant rural and regional communities on its own.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
What are the issues facing rural and regional Australia? The challenges are many and varied – and only some have made the national political agenda – but these areas deserve better than neglect.
A seemingly purified city is not necessarily a healthy or diverse one.
AAP/Paul Miller
Heightening liquor regulation has for centuries been the immediate response of urban policymakers when confronted with people and behaviours deemed socially undesirable.
Almost one in three older Australians would like to downsize to reduce the demands of maintaining their garden, but many can’t find alternative homes to suit their needs.
Pierdelune from www.shutterstock.com
Australia’s housing stock is not meeting the demands of older Australians, according to a new report.
The regulation of drinking has helped create precisely the violent, misogynistic and law-breaking culture that it was intended to control.
John Brack/Wikimedia Commons
Since the earliest days of British colonisation, authorities have sought to limit the problems associated with alcohol by licensing its sale and limiting the times and places where it is drunk.
Rather than create regulatory frameworks that allow innovations to thrive, governments have created hurdles to transformative applications like Uber or Airbnb.
Torrenegra/flickr
Carlo Ratti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Governments too often hinder change, when instead they should aim to foster an organic innovation ecosystem. This is more about bottom-up innovation than top-down schemas.
Key discussion points are captured during one of the forums that helped develop the Resilient Melbourne Strategy.
City of Melbourne
The story of the Builders Labourers Federation campaigns that saved historic locations and green spaces in the 1970s still speaks to contemporary Australians’ concerns about urban development.
Brisbane aspires to be a truly smart and connected city.
Marcus Foth
Australia’s Smart Cities Plan largely conveys a limited role for people: they live, work and consume. This neglects the rich body of work calling for better human engagement in smart cities.
Jane Jacobs holds up documentary evidence at a 1961 press conference during the campaign to save the West Village.
Wikimedia Commons
In an age of data-driven urban science, we need to remember how Jane Jacobs gave voice to the multiple languages, meanings, experiences and knowledge systems of a vibrant city.
Crane numbers, in this case in Darlington, Sydney, are an indication of the number of new units coming onto the market.
Francisco Anzola/flickr
We are hearing dire warnings from property interests fighting against changes to negative gearing. But what if Labor’s proposed changes actually support demand for the flood of new properties?
The UK’s ‘City Deals’ have been claimed as responsible for the renaissance of Greater Manchester.
Naeem Tilly
By working together, social insects are able to fix a small failure before it becomes a larger one.
Opponents of projects are often scorned as NIMBYs, but active citizenship and local consultation are key elements in creating a city that works well for as many people as possible.
Teresa Parker/AAP
Cities are home to many different people who will not always agree. We need to learn to embrace public debate as an ongoing, constructive process for working through diverse views and values.
While some councils wish to take a long-term view of what can reasonably be done in the face of sea-level rises, private property owners just want their homes protected.
AAP/Dan Peled
Many properties are at risk from rising sea levels, with owners and councils at odds over the costs of defending these. NSW law reform may lead to more forward-looking climate change adaptation.
Mature gum trees will be important for visual amenity among the higher-density residences being built to house a population growing at 5.1% a year for the next two decades.
AAP/McGregor Coxall