Flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Can the region rebuild infrastructure so that it can better withstand extreme weather events?
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
After extreme weather events like Hurricane Harvey, city planners need to think about the smartest way to rebuild. Here are some no-regrets infrastructure investment ideas.
After decades of sustainability initiatives, key environmental indicators keep getting worse.
The Capital Wind Farm, REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
Why, after decades of international agreements, are we still damaging the environment? New research, looking at dozens of unsuccessful policies, has uncovered the basic elements of failure.
A floral wreath made from vegan leather designed by Sofia Moreno-Marcos and York Hon John Liang in 2014.
QUT media
Alice Payne, Queensland University of Technology; Dean Brough, Queensland University of Technology, and Peter Musk, State Library of Queensland
Conventional leather is fraught with ethical and environmental issues. But leather grown from fermented kombucha tea offers consumers a glimpse of a DIY, sustainable future.
Nne-star-rated ‘Catalyst’ houses built to maximise passive solar principles were evaluated against seven control houses built to DHHS standards.
Trivess Moore
Emerging research challenges the idea that sustainable housing is unaffordable. It shows sustainability and good design can be affordable when analyses include social, health and wellbeing benefits.
Reinforced concrete is everywhere. But unlike plain concrete, which can last for centuries, reinforced concrete can deteriorate in decades as the reinforcing bars succumb to rust.
Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif turned the humble lemon squeezer into a piece of classic industrial design.
Tilemahos Efthimiadis
Pedalling our televisions could save us a fortune in electricity – and keep us in great shape, too.
City residents are embracing the bike as the fastest, most convenient transport in areas like Brunswick, yet an apartment building has been blocked for not providing car parking.
flickr/Takver
It's up to state governments to ensure urban planning rules properly reflect both the desires of residents in the 21st century and the principles of sustainability.
Changing our thinking about car design.
How Hwee Young/EPA
Wendy Miller, Queensland University of Technology; Dale Steinhardt, Queensland University of Technology, and Karen Manley, Queensland University of Technology
Memories of school demountables might cause some people to sneer at prefabricated buildings. But they can be stylish too, not to mention offering a possible way to ease the housing affordability problem.
Don’t tread on woodchips.
Rick Kimpel/Wikimedia Commons
The outcry over the government's plan to allow wood burning from native forests under the revamped Renewable Energy Target belies the fact that woodchips can be useful and sustainable if harvested responsibly.
Hong Kong: a showcase for Asian urban development.
CarolSpears/Wikimedia Commons
Nobel Laureates met recently in Hong Kong to sign a memorandum calling for cities to help guard against climate change. As the most creative places on the planet, big cities are the perfect place to meet this challenge.
Beautifully rendered: rammed earth walls don’t typically need decorating.
Rammed earth has been used for centuries, for buildings that have stood the test of time, including China's Great Wall. It's also cheap and environmentally friendly, so why aren't modern architects embracing it?
Yobarnie at North Richmond in the 1960s. The area is the subject of a disputed development that featured at ICAC last week.
Yeomans, P.A. (1965, 1968). Water For Every Farm. Sydney, NSW: The K.G. Murray Publishing Company Pty Ltd.
Last week the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began investigating a political donation of A$18,000 made by Nathan Tinkler’s Buildev corporation. The 2010 donation helped…
Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it would be better if we built buildings from wood than from concrete, brick, aluminium and steel. We use millions of tonnes of these modern materials every year…
Trees cool cities down, naturally.
emmett anderson
Air conditioners across the country are running on full this week as Australia battles a heatwave – but are we missing an obvious, leafy solution? Trees, which provide shade and act as natural air conditioners…
The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute building may inspire architects and scholars globally.
Peter Barnes
Is it a spaceship piloted by a friendly alien, a metallic pine cone or a giant cheese-grater? No, it’s Adelaide’s South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (the SAHMRI building for short…
Products that were once new and expensive are quickly treated with disdain.
Gareth Fuller/PA
Reducing waste should be uncontroversial. While the government’s newly published waste prevention programme represents an improvement on previous strategies, it could have been – should have been – far…
If Australia is to reduce its emissions enough to limit the impacts of climate change, all sectors are going to have to pull their weight. It’s a big job: scientists tell us we need reduce emissions by…
