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Articles on Perth

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Protesters against the Roe 8 project make their voices heard outside WA Premier Colin Barnett’s office. Beeliar Wetlands Supporter

Three ingredients for running a successful environmental campaign

Campaigners in Perth are fighting the destruction of bushland for a new highway. They have two of three historically important factors on their side.
What a novelty: Qantas chief Alan Joyce and WA Premier Colin Barnett announce the new non-stop route. AAP Image/Angie Raphael

Perth to London non-stop: great for travellers, but little help for emissions

Qantas’s new non-stop route from Perth to London might be a watershed for travel times between Australia and Europe. But super-long-haul routes won’t do much to cut aviation’s greenhouse emissions.
Regulating for live/work spaces in San Francisco has enabled many new housing types to develop. Andréanne Doyon

Reinventing density: bridging the live-work divide

Changes in how we live and work call into question current planning regulations relating to mixed-use development.
A quirk in the planning rules enabled the Primaries Warehouse in Fremantle to be redeveloped as a model of progressive higher-density design. Stuart Smith/Panoramio

Reinventing density: bending the rules can help stop urban sprawl

Exceptional projects can emerge when regulations are sensibly relaxed due to context. A Fremantle project is a model of progressive higher-density possibilities resulting from flexible planning rules.
Officer Woods’ competition entry shows how the wasted spaces of suburban road verges and front yards could be put to much better uses. Officer Woods

Reinventing density: overcoming the suburban setback

The front yards, footpaths and verges of Australian suburbs are spaces overdue for reinvention.
At Tolhuistuin, the government provides the land, old building stock and a maintenance budget for a fixed period while the creatives develop the precinct themselves. Maurice Mikkers/flickr

Create to regenerate: cities tap into talent for urban renewal

When municipal or state governments join forces with smaller creative communities to shape urban regeneration the results can be far-reaching.
The continued preference for detached housing in new suburbs is driving Perth’s urban sprawl and means two-thirds of dwellings built over the next 15 years need to be on infill sites to meet the state’s target. perthhdproductions/flickr

To cut urban sprawl, we need quality infill housing displays to win over the public

Government and industry need to demonstrate the benefits of well-designed higher-density housing. Rich residential display projects may be the ideal catalyst for creating smarter cities.
Suburban expansion on Perth’s fringe pushes into the SouthWest Ecoregion. Richard Weller/Donna Broun

Squandering riches: can Perth realise the value of its biodiversity?

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.
Banksia woodlands are home to thousands of plant species. Rob Davis

EcoCheck: Perth’s Banksia woodlands are in the path of the sprawling city

The Banksia woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain are home to thousands of species, many unique. But they are gradually being swallowed by Perth, one of the world’s most sprawling cities.
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

The planner’s new best friend: we can now track land-use changes on a scale of centimetres

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.
The way forward? Light rail helps urban development far more than roads do - the challenge is how to pay for it. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

How to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse

Light rail is good for cities, but it’s also expensive, which is why many Australian cities have opted for buses instead. But there is a way to get top-drawer public transport using private dollars.
A new research expedition is documenting the deep-sea denizens of the Perth Canyon, such as this flytrap anemone and basket star. UWA/Schmidt Ocean Institute

We are finally learning the Perth Canyon’s deep-sea secrets

The Perth Canyon, off Australia’s west coast, is twice the size of the Grand Canyon. But only now, with the help of remote-controlled submarines, are researchers finding out what lives in its depths.
Hefty problem: a local council was left with a huge clean-up bill after a dead whale washed up in Perth last year. AAP Image/City of Stirling

Dead whales are expensive – whose job is it to clear them up?

Dead whales can cost beachside ratepayers a lot to clean up. The alternative is to tow them away before they wash up - but the legal question of who does the job is far more complex than it sounds.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses a motza. Jarrad Seng/Sydney Festival

Forget passion – unpaid work keeps fringe festivals afloat

Perth’s Fringe World 2015 is currently sauntering through the Western Australian capital. Featuring more than 2,000 performers, the annual festival has perfected a blend of cabaret, circus, theatre, film…
Wind and humidity affect how easy it is to cool off in a heatwave. Big swimming pools help, too. AAP Image/Dan Peled

Bad luck, Brisbane: muggy cities will feel future heat even more

Several Australian cities, such as Adelaide and Perth, have greeted 2015 with scorching weather as summer hits its stride – the kind of conditions that leave us crying out for an air conditioner, rather…
The AAL Fremantle, borne along by a meteotsunami, hits the rail bridge next to Fremantle Harbour. ‏@Mattiegeesu via Twitter

Explainer: how weather can trigger dangerous tsunamis

At around 10pm on Sunday 17 August 2014, the container ship AAL Fremantle was being unloaded after arriving in Western Australia’s Fremantle Harbour, when it broke away from its mooring and collided with…
The once-popular Loch McNess north of Perth has dried up almost completely after a decades-long dry period. ron_n_beth/Flickr

Saving water in a drying climate: lessons from south-west Australia

Since 1970, average rainfall in the south-west of Western Australia has decreased by nearly a fifth, and the science suggests that this is linked to human-caused climate change. Across Australia, CSIRO…

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