Redesigning spaces of conflict starts with creating life on the edges. Geelong offers contrasting examples of city centre spaces: one with problems inherent in its design and a nearby one that works.
Simple features, like a thoughtfully sited bench, can make a big difference to older people’s ability to enjoy public spaces in the city.
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Desley Vine, Queensland University of Technology dan Laurie Buys, Queensland University of Technology
Several key aspects of public open space can encourage older people to get out and about. And badly designed and maintained facilities have the opposite effect and can harm their wellbeing.
What can we do to avoid clashes between users of shared paths?
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Unlike vision or touch, sound is much more difficult to control or avoid; music in particular spills across thresholds and intrudes into situations where it is unwelcome.
Scott Morrison has recently broadened the range of affordable housing policy options he’s considering, and moving beyond simplistic supply-side solutions would be a positive development.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The housing supply solution our leaders are advocating will only work if affordability is simply a problem of supply. In fact, Australia is almost a world leader in rates of new housing production.
It turns out cul-de-sacs may be better than we realised for creating a safe and inclusive community within a community.
Wikipedia
Understanding what makes a neighbourhood street a good place to live for adults with intellectual disability can help create places that are good for everyone.
People go to the beach in large numbers and for many different reasons, and sometimes that’s a recipe for conflict.
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In many ways, the conflict we see on our beaches may be a small price to pay for the free and open access to our beaches, which Australians have long fought to preserve.
Apartments near the greenbelt in Vienna are more expensive than otherwise similar apartments in that city.
Max Pixel
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?
A polarising election issue in Western Australia, the Roe 8 project illustrates the need for better and more democratic decision-making.
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One reason Perth’s Roe 8 project is the subject of passionate protests is that it’s a case of a government asserting power over people rather than exercising power with local communities.
The scene of the fatal crash at Essendon Airport, where authorities allowed extensive development between the runways and surrounding housing.
Joe Castro/AAP
Airport operators enjoy the privileged position in Australian planning law of being able to decide their own futures. Their exemption from state planning rules threatens orderly planning and safety.
Smart cities work on developing a shared vision of their preferred future.
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Smart cities do more than develop products to increase productivity and prosperity. Mayors, CEOs and leaders engage entire communities in shaping the future of cities.
If a second airport creates another centre of activity in western Sydney, then it won’t just be air travellers who benefit.
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Our big cities increase incomes faster than population growth, but most residents miss out on the extra income growth. Creating multiple centres of activity may help make bigger better for everyone.
This Melbourne traffic jam shows the system’s vulnerability to congestion. A data-based integrated transport approach may help it cope better with inevitable disruptions.
Julian Smith/AAP
Reckless government investment decisions are sadly the norm when it comes to transport infrastructure. Three key checks on the decision-making process can help ensure taxpayers get value for money.
With the steelworks under a cloud, Whyalla continues to fluctuate between hope and despair.
Gary Sauer-Thompson/flickr
Decades of expansion for Whyalla were followed by decades of contraction. Whyalla has seen optimism and idealism but also, if not despair, then its close neighbours, alienation and apathy.
New South Wales is the state that has suffered the biggest fall in available public housing stock since 2009. This has led to protests.
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Although the federal-state agreement does it inadequately and lacks transparency, an enduring program of federal funding for operational expenses is essential to sustain the social housing system.
A public backlash against council amalgamations appears to have forced the NSW government to shift its position.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The proposed amalgamation of 40 NSW councils has generated heated opposition. While public resistance has now won out in several regional communities, it’s a different story in the city.
Fencing goes up along the route of the Roe 8 highway construction project in Perth.
Richard Wainwright/AAP
Any attempt to improve security for tenants should not deprive them, or their landlords, of the flexibility that many also want. The key problem is landlords’ ability to give notice without a reason.