Australia has no policy designating English as the official language, but an explicit ‘English first’ policy for shop signs would treat speakers of every other language as second-class citizens.
The connections between city planning and health are many and varied, but getting health objectives integrated into all aspects of planning in New South Wales has been a long struggle.
Changes under Queensland’s recently instituted Planning Act give councils much more leeway in their decision-making, which makes it harder for appeals against decisions to succeed.
Vancouver may be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but the president of Emily Carr University says the city could benefit from the discipline of design.
Traditional urban planning is being stretched by the pace at which renewable energy systems are being installed. New codes and guidelines are needed to manage emerging conflicts over land use.
Australians are losing the backyards that once served as retreats from the stresses of city living. Our health is likely to suffer as cities become less green and much hotter.
Melbourne is a product of British colonial planning policies to control public access and movement in Australian cities. This legacy still influences the use of public spaces today.
The health impacts of urban and regional planning are undisputed. So why did the NSW government adopt and then discard health objectives as part of state planning legislation?
As Election Day approaches, candidates in races across the country will be doing everything they can to get out the vote – including turning to behavioral science.
The rise in temporary use of urban space requires a looser planning vision that can draw on this new type of city-making to inform longer-term developments.
Projects like Sydney’s WestConnex and Melbourne’s Western Distributor don’t account for real world evidence of driver behaviour in estimating travel time savings.
Palaeontologists say it’s rare to find a rich fossil site in an urban area. That’s why they’re worried such a site near Melbourne could be threatened by proposed development.
Sensory information comes into the system, and we initiate actions in response. Quantifying how quickly that happens is tricky – especially since our own perceptions of the timing aren’t quite right.
Urban planners tend to be attuned to council and community politics. They are less well informed when it comes to applying the findings of research to improve the quality of their work.
Intern at the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), Santiago, Chile; Research Assistant, Centre for Resources Energy and Environmental Law, The University of Melbourne