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Where Will all the Trees Be?

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...
How to Design a Greenhouse

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...
Urban Designer Calls for Greener Neighbourhoods

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...
A Guide to Flood-resistant Urban Landscapes

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...
Major Changes to Cities in the 20s | Trend Forecast

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...
Big Doesn’t Always Mean Bad

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...
High-Rise Living Makes Social Life Difficult for Young Families

High-Rise Living Makes Social Life Difficult for Young Families

Families with young children living in high-rise apartments find it harder to meet and mix with other young families, according to new Deakin University research. The study from Deakin’s School of Health and Social Development found that a lack of both indoor and outdoor space together with noise and privacy concerns limit social interactions for...
Shaping the Future of Urban Living

Shaping the Future of Urban Living

In the coming 30 years, Australia’s population is projected to increase by 11.8 million people – the equivalent of adding a city the size of Canberra each year for the next 30 years. As Australia’s largest cities face a watershed moment in their growth and development, many are looking far and wide to the next...
Landscape Architects Can't Rely on Architecture-Centric Media

Landscape Architects Can’t Rely on Architecture-Centric Media

Landscape architects need to fly the flag for their profession if they are to receive the recognition they rightly demand and deserve, says Charles A. Birnbaum, president and CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The biggest problem facing landscape architects, according to a recent survey in World Landscape Architecture (WLA), an online magazine based in...
Are Our City Investments About to Have a Kodak Moment?

Are Our City Investments About to Have a Kodak Moment?

  In a world where five years, let alone ten, is an eternity in current technology advances, there is concern growing that our planned decade-long city infrastructure expenditure is not going to get us to where we need to be. With the pace of change from technology, urbanisation and a significant infrastructure investment catch up...
Five Cities That Made Their Streets Safer with Urban Design

Five Cities That Made Their Streets Safer with Urban Design

In 2015, the world community pledged to decrease half the number of deaths and grave injuries caused by traffic accidents by 2020. However, more than 3200 deaths caused by collisions occur every day, and with the growing number of vehicles, that number can only triple by 2030. As is expected, cities with poorly designed streets...
Are Rooftop Amenities the New Standard Inclusion for Residential Development?

Are Rooftop Amenities the New Standard Inclusion for Residential Development?

There’s no question that, as Australia’s population grows, high density living will become the way of the future, and with many young Australians looking to own their first home, it’s becoming the only affordable choice. Owning a two-bedroom apartment with sweeping skyline views is fast becoming the new Great Australian Dream and with affordable quarter-acre...