If Perth can preserve the rich biodiversity of its setting, it will become a model for sustainable city development that fully connects with the value of natural ecosystem services.
The apartheid government built universities for black students far from major cities or safe routes.
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The system of apartheid is long gone. But its legacy of poor funding for historically black universities - and of planning that banished black universities to cities’ margins - remains.
How people conceive of their city’s future is important in shaping how the city’s future unfolds.
Zachary Powson/500px.com
With foresight, we can steer our cities closer to the future we want instead of the futures we fear.
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.
The Green Growth Plan for Perth represents the first strategic environmental assessment of a whole city in Australia.
Richard Wainwright/AAP
With a strategic plan adopted, it not only shows where development should be avoided but clears the way for development in other areas. So Perth needs to get it right.
Khartoum at sunset. The city’s architectural heritage is under threat.
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Students at the University of Khartoum are protesting about a secretive plan to move the institution from its historic buildings.
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.
Zaha Hadid’s ongoing Australian projects and draft designs will attract plenty of attention in the future.
London Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid. Artur Salisz
Celebrated architect Zaha Hadid, who died last week, had three projects on the go in Australia. Will there be a surge of interest in her work - as has happened to other architects who have died prematurely?
One of the architects of 443 Queen Street says: ‘The Queenslander – elevated on stilts and open to natural ventilation – was an inspiration for the tower’.
Artist's Impression
Landmarks identify and define cities. Town-planning instruments should protect these landmarks from new development that does not respect the setting.
The shimmer of a heat mirage shows how a hard road surface increases urban temperatures by radiating heat into the air.
Wikimedia Commons/Brocken Inaglory
It seems like a ‘no brainer’ to use urban greening to help cities adapt to increasing heat, but the uptake of green infrastructure, such as trees and vegetated roofs, surfaces and walls, is slow. Why?
The report criticises the state’s failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but falls into the same trap itself.
AAP/Melanie Foster
Infrastructure Australia’s latest report is substantial but, critically, it fails to incorporate the transport thinking needed to develop more compact cities that work better for everyone.
The urban landscape is complex and ever-changing in cities such as Perth, but digital aerial photography can now monitor even the smallest changes.
Wikimedia Commons
Constant, complex changes in cities and mine sites are hard to monitor. Drawing on digital aerial photography, it’s now possible to track land-use and vegetation changes in areas as small as 10-20cm.
Traffic jams in major African cities such as Lagos, pictured here, as well as Uganda’s Kampala, are a major drain on productivity.
Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye
Kampala generates about 60% of Uganda’s GDP. In the coming decade urbanisation is the single largest opportunity to spur economic growth in the coming decade.
Traffic in Accra, Ghana. With more people moving into cities, careful town planning is critical for sustainable development.
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Urban planning and development in Africa has been fraught with many challenges. A study of Accra and Nairobi provides some lessons on what needs to improve.
City planners are looking to redevelop the eastern part of midtown Manhattan. How can they preserve its character, economic importance, and functionality?
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Good historians know that history rarely teaches clear lessons. When it does, we should heed them. In the 1920s, urban visionaries completely refashioned midtown Manhattan, making it the most modern and…