Design / Design Concepts / Environmental Management / Green Walls & Green Roofs / Landscape / Landscape Architecture / Landscape Construction / Landscape Design
Where Will all the Trees Be?
Green v Grey: What will our cities look like as temperatures and populations rise? Australia’s largest urban greening initiative has revealed 67 percent of suburbs and cities across the country will face significant challenges in growing and maintaining green cover in the future, as our cities grapple with a rising population, and grey spaces expand...
Design Concepts / Environmental Management / Landscape / Landscape Architecture / Landscape Construction / Landscape Design
Should the Grass be Greener?
Not all Parks Should be Green: 10 Tips to Design Landscape Infrastructure Does it make sense to design green parks in desert cities such as Casablanca, Dubai, or Lima? Ostensibly it does because they contribute freshness and greenness to the urban environment. In exchange, however, they disrupt native local ecosystems, incur high maintenance bills, and...
Design / Design Concepts / Garden and Public Art / Green Walls & Green Roofs / Landscape / Landscape Structures / Landscaping - Soft
How to Design a Greenhouse
Since at least as early as ancient Roman times, humans have recognised the value of what is now known as controlled environment agriculture, allowing farmers to cultivate plants year-round rather than seasonally. Though they were invented hundreds of years ago, greenhouses continue to be the most popular means of controlled environment agriculture today, with innovations...
Design / Design Concepts / Erosion Control / Garden and Public Art / Green Walls & Green Roofs / Landscape / Landscape Architecture / Landscaping - Soft
Urban Designer Calls for Greener Neighbourhoods
Urban designer calls for a shift to greener, self-sufficient neighbourhoods with multifunctional streets in a post-pandemic world. The recent change in the way people live, travel and work presents a unique opportunity for urban developers and designers to improve issues such as the liveability of our neighbourhoods and access to public spaces. A Perth urban...
Design / Design Concepts / Environmental Management / Erosion Control / Landscape / Landscaping - Hard / Landscaping - Soft
A Guide to Flood-resistant Urban Landscapes
Climate change and rising sea levels are impacting the design and shape of our cities. Edward Barsley, author of Retrofitting for Flood Resilience: A Guide to Building & Community Design, outlines six key strategies for creating environments that are adapted to flooding. Yanweizhou Park by Turenscape In his book, Barsley outlines how urban and natural...
The Architecture of Health: Modern Lessons from the Medical Buildings of the Past
When UniSA architecture researcher, Dr Julie Collins, sat down a couple years ago to begin writing a book on the history of health and medical buildings, she could never have predicted the global situation she would eventually release it into. “I wrote a whole chapter on quarantine stations,” Dr Collins says, “and while I was...
Won’t Somebody Think of the Children? Why We Should Design Cities Without Cars
More than half of Australian households own two or more motor vehicles, while only seven percent own none – we are, without a doubt, a car country. However, while countless advertisements celebrate the freedom cars provide, University of South Australia urban planning researcher, Hulya Gilbert, says there are growing reasons to question the cost of...
Major Changes to Cities in the 20s | Trend Forecast
A drop in car ownership, smaller houses, walkability impacting property prices, residential blocks atop shopping centres, and ‘mini Melbournes’ in outer suburbs. These are the city trends that will begin to emerge next year and mark the beginning of a new decade in urban planning. The forecasts come from one of Australia’s most experienced and...
How to Apply DDA to Street Furniture: Seats and Tables
Urban and open space furniture specialists Street Furniture Australia offers expert advice on DDA compliance and street furniture. Under the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992, known as DDA, public places must be accessible to people with a disability. The DDA is relevant to many aspects of street furniture. This article focuses on two products: The...
Design Concepts / Landscape / Landscape Architecture / Landscape Construction / Landscape Design / Landscaping - Hard / Landscaping - Soft
New Guide to Universal Design
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has published a new Guide to Universal Design. According to the ASLA, one billion people, or 15 percent of the global population, experience some form of disability. The new guide explores the ways in how Universal Design means that everyone, regardless of ability or age, can access and...
Big Doesn’t Always Mean Bad
Provision of well-engineered transport, energy and other service infrastructure is essential to good urban functionality. But as Australia undergoes an infrastructure boom, let’s not forget these major works can and should contribute to the social, cultural and human qualities of our cities. Urban infrastructure can range in scale, from the metropolitan to the human, from...
Green the Street; A Community Experiment
Streets and roads are the dominant infrastructure concern of governments and most streets are conceived as conduits for vehicles. How might streets be reconceived to contribute more to communities? And how do green streets help grow caring and just communities? These questions have been the driving interest of Green the Street, a community group originally...
