When I started The Melbourne Urbanist I wasn’t sure what direction it would take. While primarily about planning and development issues, I imagined it might also have a major sideline in reading and literature. Hence the Reading page in the sidebar. As things have turned out, there hasn’t been much interest in reading and books. [...]
READ MOREDecember, 2011
Does public transport offer enough privacy?
There are many ways to measure the immense improvement in standard of living enjoyed by western countries over the millennia (although most especially over the last two hundred years). I think an important indicator – with implications for city managers – is the greater demand for physical privacy that comes with rising incomes. Much attention [...]
READ MOREDo cities have a distinctive ethos?
City managers love a catchy idea. Ten years ago it was “creative cities”; next it could be the idea that cities should discover their own “ethos” to protect them from the homogenisation of globalisation. Avner De-Shallit and Daniel A Bell have just published a new book, The spirit of cities: why the identity of a [...]
READ MOREDo great buildings make great cities?
I wish I could’ve been in Sydney on the 17th to attend UTS’s 10th Anniversary Special Zunz Lecture on the rather silly proposition that ‘Great buildings make great cities’. It would’ve been a giggle to see Nick Greiner, Elizabeth Farrelly, Graeme Jahn and Stuart White taking this pompous idea ever so seriously. It’s true there [...]
READ MOREWhat's Melbourne good at?
It’s natural in discussions of planning and development issues to focus limited energy on the areas where Melbourne could do better. But it’s easy to forget our blessings – the areas where Melbourne is doing well. That’s not to say that things couldn’t be better, but it acknowledges there are some areas where things could [...]
READ MORELinks for urbanists No. 6
Assorted links to some of the useful, the informative, the interesting, and sometimes even the slightly weird sources I stumble across from time-to-time: There are only one and a half days to go to win a copy of Jarrett Walkers new book, Human Transit. Follow this link (this competition closed 17 Dec 2011) Motoring helmets for [...]
READ MOREWould we use an airport train (as much as we say we would)?
Yesterday’s post on the unreliability of predictions fits nicely with the latest round of calls for a rail line to the airport. The stimulus this time is a report in The Age last week on Melbourne Airport’s plans to upgrade freeway access and build a new terminal. It set off a predictable and familiar landslide [...]
READ MOREAre helmet laws suppressing cycling?
A new Australian study has thrown more fuel on the fiery debate about whether or not bicycle helmets should continue to be mandatory. Its headline claim is 23% of Sydneysiders say they would cycle more if they weren’t obliged by law to wear a helmet. This isn’t merely saying that some people would prefer to [...]
READ MOREIs this building offensive?
The exhibit shows a proposed residential development in South Korea by Dutch architects MVRDV. The architects call it The Cloud because they want to create a sense of buildings rising through “the clouds”. Critics however reckon they look like the twin towers exploding. I see what they mean, but I’m not certain that would’ve been [...]
READ MOREDoes it cost less to drive to work than catch the train?
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is keen to make the case that it costs more to travel by public transport in Melbourne than it does by car. The PTUA says above-inflation fare rises over the last decade mean public transport now costs much more than “petrol in the car” for many trips. The PTUA [...]
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