Despite adopting the goal of creating medium-density neighbourhoods to end urban sprawl, our cities have struggled to achieve it. Confused debates about ‘good density’ are part of the problem.
The Los Angeles skyline and the four-level interchange where the freeways meet in June 2023.
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An analysis by scholars at the University of California, Davis showed that just a small number of cities in California actively consider racism when developing their plans.
Scores of people walk home along the N2 highway after being left stranded by a taxi strike.
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The centralisation of planning power is exactly what Sydney doesn’t need. While not perfect, the commission broke the mould of top-down, siloed planning and broadened the focus across the whole city.
Our largest cities, home to 80% of the population, are central to achieving sustainability in a time of climate change. The federal government has begun to act on the need for coherent urban policies.
Civil registries in the U.S. are spread across different local jurisdictions.
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Vital records document the birth, death, marriage and divorce of every individual. A more centralized system in the US could help public health researchers better study pandemics and disease.
Accra’s population has doubled over the past decade.
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Stephen Appiah Takyi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Owusu Amponsah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Accra could keep its political role while some of its other functions are distributed around the country.
The Hoddle Grid that dictates the flow of vehicles and people in central Melbourne has had its day. It can be remade to reduce the dominance of cars and create a liveable city for the 21st century.
The zoning policies that planners introduced to create vibrant and resilient mixed-use neighbourhoods have had the opposite effect, as services and residential developments crowd out light industry.
A building under construction in Toronto. According to Canada’s national housing agency, Ontario needs to build 1.8 million new homes to alleviate the housing crisis.
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Ontario’s first Growth Plan won awards that recognized the province as a leader in the field. But since then, successive changes to the policy have sabotaged the original plan’s progress.
The view of Barangaroo from Millers Point, still a leafy suburb on the edge of the development.
Dallas Rogers
A bid to amend plans for the final stage of the Barangaroo project would once again favour developers’ interests over the public interest. It shows how badly the planning process has been undermined.
Women use energy in different ways to men.
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Most new capitals are dreary, overpowering, underserviced and unaffordable. Here’s how Nusantara, Indonesia’s new planned capital, can avoid the same pitfalls.
In 1989, Newcastle was hit by Australia’s deadliest earthquake, but high-rise development in the city’s CBD has continued nonetheless. Australia needs a consistent planning code for earthquake risk.
Underground and underwater.
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Images of water gushing into subway stations filled social media following heavy rain in New York City. Solutions are at hand – but it takes money and political will, an expert explains.