The EVA Lanxmeer development in the Netherlands provides a model for how to incorporate green infrastructure in all aspects of the planning process.
Tony Matthews
Green infrastructure can be delivered relatively easily using existing planning processes. The main obstacle could be psychological: planners are wary of disruption to embedded practices.
People enjoy the green space of parks, but often their activities are of a fairly passive nature.
AAP/Bimal Sharma
Parks are found in most neighbourhoods, generally free to use and are enjoyed by diverse groups. Although most visitors don’t use parks for physical activity, modest improvements can change that.
Governments need not only to create affordable housing, but to keep it affordable in the long run.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Some common misapprehensions remain about who needs affordable housing and how those needs might be met.
Some materials and surfaces radiate much more heat (red areas) than others, as can be seen in this thermal image of Arncliffe Street in Wolli Creek, Sydney.
Hot spots occur at the scale of where people live – the building, the street, the block – which means urban design and building materials have profound implications for our health and well-being.
There is growing concern the proliferation of skyscrapers will be to the detriment of cities.
AAP/Dean Lewins
We need to move away from thinking about the skyscraper as an “icon”. Instead, we should be asking how the tall building – which will always “stand out” – can also “fit in” to cities.
Melbourne is one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world, and the other big Australian cities aren’t far behind.
AAP/David Crosling
With the failures of past planning now apparent, the unruly threat of a damaged and depleting planet is ushering us toward a fourth era of urban restructuring. What might City v4.0 look like?
In his ministerial reshuffle earlier this year, Malcolm Turnbull made Angus Taylor, an up-and-coming Liberal MP, the assistant minister for cities and digital transformation.
A park, in this case Hyde Park in Sydney, is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to engage with nature in the city.
Lucy Taylor
Nature is dispersed through our cities, even if we don’t notice it. And there’s abundant evidence that engaging with nature, even in urban settings, is good for us.
Continued development of our cities is putting pressure on urban green spaces.
AAP/David Crosling
Achieving green cities will require more than just canopy cover targets and central city strategies. It will need new approaches to urban planning and development.
Central to Sydney’s congestion problem is the journey-to-work rat race in the city’s western suburbs like Blacktown.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Sydney, as a whole, is lurching toward an urban structure where its transportation problems are impossible to solve. The only alternative is to create new centres of employment.
Do we see Yarra Trail in South Yarra, Melbourne, as being purely for people, or should dogs be able to enjoy it too?
Dogs are important users of urban parks, but these are clearly designed for the use of people – except for a few out-of-the-way dog parks. Is that fair to dogs that have no say about living among us?
A metropolitan government’s essential features would be democracy, autonomy and accountability.
AAP/David Crosling
The role both state and federal governments play in Australia’s urban regions is often incompatible with effective metropolitan governance.
When public housing like the properties in Sydney’s Millers Point is privatised, it profoundly changes the social mix of the inner city to something much more homogenous.
AAP/Newzulu/Peter Boyle
The NSW government agenda would deny the ‘right to the city’, that network of diverse communities, practices and places which give rise to the convivial and inclusive potential of cities.
The ‘Lose Yourself in Melbourne’ ad was onto something: instead of being directed to the fastest or shortest route, some people might want to take a diverting detour.
'It's Easy to Lose Yourself in Melbourne', Tourism Victoria
If smart cities run on big data and algorithms that channel only ‘relevant’ information and opinions to us, how do we maintain the diversity of ideas and possibilities that drives truly smart cities?
The CBD amenities on which tourism depends struggle to find and keep good workers because of high housing costs.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The hospitality and tourism sector is struggling to find a good supply of lower-paid workers in the CBD, because that is also where they face either high housing or travel costs.
The size and pace of activity in Tokyo can be overwhelming, but at the human scale the city has an incredibly rich layering of experiences built over generations.
The concept of living heritage can help us make decisions that go beyond preserving historical facades to protect and add to, rather than freeze, the stories and layers of the past.
Unless councillors are helped to focus on their representative roles, local democracy’s effectiveness could be in danger.
AAP/Darren Pateman
Roberta Ryan, University of Technology Sydney e Su Fei Tan, University of Technology Sydney
If local councils are bigger and councillors represent more residents, it is important that they focus on understanding their communities’ needs and aspirations, rather than on day-to-day operations.
Residents protest against the felling of century-old trees to make way for light rail along Anzac Parade in Sydney.
AAP/Karen Sweeny
If planning decisions properly considered the value of trees in a city, we could have a modern transport system and tree-lined views to enhance the journey.
Dallas Rogers speaks with Rhonda Itaoui about her research into Islamophobia and navigating the city as a Muslim in the wake of public fear over terror attacks and a lack of understanding about Islam.
Without metropolitan governance that is responsive to city residents’ wishes, states are much influenced by federal priorities – that is, by the money on offer.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Representative and accountable metropolitan government is needed to lead metro-scale planning, infrastructure investment and services, and partnerships with the private sector and civil society.