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.
NSW is developing a comprehensive new planning policy with the goal of creating healthy places. A new study finds those people who work as placemakers want these goals embedded in laws and budgets.
Many people prefer the status quo as they struggle to imagine the alternatives. The pandemic has been the catalyst for urban experiments that have opened our eyes to new possibilities.
Urban planning and cultural policies often neglect electronic dance music. Now the pandemic is forcing the EDM world to come up with new strategies to survive.
Morten Gjerde, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Proposals to improve the capital’s urban design and density must also take account of the city’s unique streetscapes.
Eko Atlantic city in Lagos is described as the largest real estate project in Africa and dubbed the “Dubai of Africa”.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
When thinking about better uses for temporarily vacant buildings caused by the pandemic, Australia can learn much from the UK.
The Mary Cairncross Rainforest Discovery Centre respects and incorporates the local landscape.
Guymer Bailey/Scott Burrows/Norman Richards building design + interiors
The council, developers, architects and the local community got together to set the principles of what they consider good design in this fast-growing region.
Most local councils, developers and nonprofit providers want mandatory affordable housing requirements applied to all development. The current system of voluntary negotiations just isn’t working well.
Digital communications could be a force for greater local democracy in urban planning and development, but many councils use the technologies in ways that mirror traditional consultation.
Do we really want to go back to daily commuting as the default way of working?
David Moir/AAP
The change in our behaviour in response to COVID-19 has created an opportunity to build on this moment and transform our local neighbourhoods into vibrant mixed-use centres of activity.
How many of us have recently wished we could partition parts of our home, even to have a small second house? Being able to do this on existing blocks would help meet the many needs of families today.
Distancing rules will make life very difficult for smaller bars, cafes and restaurants. Our streets can be modified quickly to help save an important part of the life of cities and their economies.
Long before a fire season that destroyed 3,500 homes, more than 100,000 Australians were homeless. If only we showed the same urgency and innovation in housing them as we did for bushfire victims.
Body temperature being checked at the exit of a railway station in Fuyang, Anhui province, China, January 29 2020.
AN Ming/EPA