Australia found shelter for more than 33,000 rough sleepers and other homeless people during the pandemic, but a coming surge in homelessness demands a comprehensive national housing strategy.
All parks are not equal. The response to the opening of golf courses to the public during the COVID pandemic shows the quality of green open space is a big issue for city residents.
Coronavirus has changed population projections and behaviours across society. With fewer commuters we need to shift transport planning based on a hub-and-spoke network to focus on more local travel.
The pandemic has hit young people very hard. The long-term costs of having them neither studying nor working more than justify investment in a national program to help them enter the workforce.
A collapse in revenue and a lack of government support have led to university workforces being decimated to cut costs. This presents a number of longer-term risks for universities and the nation.
The fallout from COVID-19 for housing and homelessness just adds to the urgency of fixing the long-standing ills of the housing market. The well-being of Australia’s economy and people depends on it.
Melbourne’s Innovation Districts were launched a few years ago, but the impacts of COVID-19 have added urgency to having places to trial new ways of urban living.
Word that the U.S. has bought up the entire supply of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir is another reminder that in a pandemic, treatments and vaccines need to be accessible to everyone, globally.
Iain Lawrie, The University of Melbourne and John Stone, The University of Melbourne
As COVID-19 restrictions are eased, cities face crippling congestion if people shun crowded public transport. More frequent and faster services, using innovations like pop-up bus lanes, can avoid this.
As well as an infrastructure spending boost, governments are fast-tracking approvals. But these processes exist for a reason. If we get projects wrong, we live with the consequences for decades.
New Zealand has “eliminated” COVID-19 “for now”, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has declared. Two key epidemiologists who worked on NZ’s elimination strategy explain the news, and the challenges ahead.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, regional Australia needs local government to emulate the example of the local councils that brought prosperity to North Queensland after the second world war.
Distancing rules will make life very difficult for smaller bars, cafes and restaurants. Our streets can be modified quickly to help save an important part of the life of cities and their economies.
Some new habits we’ve seen emerging during the pandemic could help us solve tricky problems like traffic congestion, which have challenged our cities for a long time.
Re-imagining cities after COVID-19 is both a practical and philosophical task. People’s perceptions of places are changing. It is a time for planners and policymakers to plan with, not for, people.
Interim Director, UWA Public Policy Institute; Associate Professor & Programme Co-ordinator (Masters of Public Policy), The University of Western Australia