Almost everyone with an interest in the future development of Melbourne agrees that a key strategy for dealing with unprecedented population growth is to increase the supply of multi unit housing in the suburbs. Unfortunately there is also a consensus that this objective will be hard to achieve given the near certainty that existing residents [...]
READ MOREMarch, 2010
20 years of TAC campaigns
The Victorian Traffic Accident Commission’s montage of 20 years of road safety advertisements. This is very harrowing.
READ MORE"If London can do it, why can't Melbourne?"
If London can really grow without expanding its urban perimeter, why did our planning Minister, Justin Madden, seek to extend Melbourne’s urban growth boundary last year? As I noted on Friday (How big is Melbourne?), journalist Jason Dowling says that “forever outward expansion (of Melbourne) is not a necessity. London has barely touched its urban [...]
READ MOREMore on the Windsor Hotel redevelopment
I had a look on the weekend at the report of the independent Advisory Committee established by the Planning Minister, Justin Madden, to advise him on the application for a planning permit for the redevelopment of the Windsor Hotel. I’ve previously commented on this issue, here: Windsor Hotel Redevelopment. There is some interesting information in [...]
READ MOREThe hazards of restricting supply
An object lesson for city policy-makers – this is what happens in Dogtown when supply is restricted. Of course we humans would eliminate the queue by selling the tree to the highest bidder!
READ MOREHow to 'green' the Grand Prix
How could the QANTAS Australian Grand Prix be made greener? This is a pretext to post on Formula One because the Australian GP is being held in Melbourne this weekend, but it’s nevertheless an interesting question (almost as interesting as this morning’s news that Lewis Hamilton was caught doing donuts in St Kilda last night!).
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How big is Melbourne?
How big is Melbourne really? This issue is ‘front of mind’ this morning because of a recent claim in The Age that Melbourne “is already the eighth largest city in the world in geographical size, stretching about 100 km from east to west”. This is a common view. In June last year The Age’s editorialist said [...]
READ MOREWhat role for high-rise towers in Melbourne?
Do high-rise towers have a role in Melbourne’s future? Peter Newman thinks they do! This report by VECCI, Up or out? dealing with Melbourne’s population boom, nicely summarises two alternative approaches set out in The Age for planning Melbourne’s future growth.
READ MORESignage 'distorted' at Eureka carpark
This brilliant signage was designed by Emery Studio (Axel Peemoeller) for the carpark of Melbourne’s own Eureka Tower. The letters are distorted until the viewer is in exactly the right position, whereupon they can be read perfectly.
READ MORECycling in The Netherlands
Fascinating video of dedicated route followed by children cycling to school in The Netherlands. This gives a perspective on cycling that you wouldn’t get from the standard tourist spots. Note the suburban setting – it ties in with my earlier post arguing that the suburbs have greater potential for cycling than the inner city, not [...]
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