Before the pandemic, the country was making great strides towards creating more compact, sustainable and liveable cities.
Cities are going to be reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed public parks, decreased traffic and put pressures on housing.
(Nathan Shurr/Unsplash)
Cities can learn from past pandemics to see how communities and lifestyles are shaped by outbreaks.
African Canadian communities in Nova Scotia use community green spaces like parks, parking lots and other open spaces to gather, celebrate and strengthen community ties.
(Shutterstock)
Nova Scotia’s African Canadian communities have grappled with racism for decades. By looking at community green spaces, we can see how they serve the community’s unique needs.
As one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world, Melbourne’s suburban sprawl has many costs.
Nils Versemann/Shutterstock
John Stanley, University of Sydney; Janet Stanley, The University of Melbourne, and Peter Brain, National Institute of Economic and Industry Research
State and local governments can’t do much about the rapid population growth in Melbourne, but they can take steps to reduce the costs of growing disparities between the outer suburbs and inner city.
New housing estates on the city fringes might be soulless, cookie-cutter developments, but communities can invest them with layers of meaning that create a sense of place.
Lukas Coch/AAP
A sense of place matters for people and communities. When a suburb is created from scratch, close attention needs to be paid to the cues from the landscape and meanings people attach to the area.
Residents of the outer suburbs like the green spaces and sense of community, but lament the lack of access to transport and other services.
theskaman306/Shutterstock
Much of the growth in our cities is in the outer suburbs, now home to around 5 million people. And that creates problems like traffic that detract from the advantages residents see in living there.
A woman is helped out of the wrecked car of a train that derailed at the station of Pioltello Limito, on the outskirts of Milan, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018.
(AP Photo)
The development of suburban infrastructure depends on political, technical and financial priorities. A train derailment in an Italian suburb has highlighted the need to retrofit infrastructure.
Without medium-density housing being built in the established suburbs – the ‘missing middle’ – the goals of more compact, sustainable and equitable cities won’t be achieved.
zstock/shutterstock
Residents of established middle suburbs are slowly coming round to the idea, but governments and the property sector lack the capacity to deliver compact cities that are acceptable to the community.
The mall’s inventor, Victor Gruen, envisioned thriving hubs of civic activity, rather than bland, asphalt-enclosed shopping centers. Is his original vision now being realized – or further corrupted?
What new and innovative infrastructure is likely to emerge from the suburbs?
Roger Keil
Suburban areas feel infrastructure stress most acutely. Having to deal with severe inadequacies, suburbs offer fertile ground for infrastructure experimentation and innovation.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel rescue stranded residents in Baton Rouge on August 14, 2016.
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Wikipedia
Recent floods in southeast Louisiana were the most severe U.S. natural disaster since 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Suburban sprawl and slow execution of flood control projects worsened the damage.
Banksia woodlands are home to thousands of plant species.
Rob Davis
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.
Sydney’s farms on the urban fringe produce 10% of the city’s fresh vegetables.
Alpha/Flickr
Home teardowns are often unnecessary and costly, in more ways than one.
Santana Row, located in San Jose, California, is one of many Lifestyle Centers cropping up around the country. Parading themselves as a Main Street from a bygone era, these new retail centers hope to recreate what was lost in the rush to cover America with large malls from the 1950s through the 1990s.
Santana Row
When you look out of your window in the morning, how many trees do you see? Your answer might depend on what suburb you live in. As you go further from the city centre, the amount of tree cover in a suburb…
Some rat, possum and mozzie species thrive when living close to people.
Mark Philpott/Flickr
Our world is becoming increasingly urbanised. In 1950, just 30% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This number is now over 50% and rising. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population are…
Beautiful – but most greenbelt is on private land.
Barry Batchelor/PA
Paul Cheshire, London School of Economics and Political Science
What a strange place the UK is - when the most important thing Britons spend money on becomes even less affordable, it’s received as good news. Because that is what “confidence returns to the housing market…