February, 2012

Increasing density in Australia’s cities is a good and necessary thing, but it’s not going to go well if regulators, investors and residents don’t understand that living cheek by jowl brings problems as well as opportunities. A new 32 storey building proposed by developer Highbury Focus has lessons for all Australian cities – if approved [...]

The CEO of Melbourne Airport, Chris Woodruff, has a gripe. The Victorian Government is pressing ahead with construction of a $250 million rail line to support his competitor – Avalon Airport – but is spending a mere $6.5 million to study the warrant for rail to Melbourne Airport. Yet as I noted once before, while [...]

A novel that deals with urban design, planning and the establishment of new cities is an unusual beast, but that’s part of what drew me to read the new book by veteran writer Frank Moorhouse, Cold Light. The protagonist, Edith Campbell Berry, works for a time at the body planning the development of Canberra in [...]

A before-and-after study done at the time the mandatory helmet law was introduced in Victoria indicates the often-cited reduction in cycling was largely confined to children

No point trying to talk urban policy while the Julia and Kevin show is in full swing, so here’s something not all that different – stars and celebs. The Urbanist’s angle is it’s the geography of New York stardom. Where do the stars live? The exhibit shows Manhattan south of the Garment District. If you [...]

Almost 60% of Australian adults reckon there’s at least one social disorder issue in their local area. Top of the list are concerns about noisy vehicles, dangerous driving, rowdy behaviour and offensive language. These findings are from the latest release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) national Crime Victimisation Survey. It was conducted from [...]

If people know only one thing about Jane Jacobs, it’s usually the phrase “eyes on the street”. She coined it to describe the idea that streets with plenty of activity and, most of all, custodians who care about what goes on in them, will be safe and secure streets. Jacob’s key objective in her famous [...]

Urbanists throughout Australia and the world were startled and amazed to read of the radical 20-50 year vision for expanding Melbourne’s CBD proposed last week by Victoria’s Planning Minister, Matthew Guy. According to the Herald Sun, which headlined its story Mega Melbourne plan for skyscrapers in suburbs, Mr Guy’s plan will “see skyscrapers stretching from [...]

As cycling gets more popular, conflict between cyclists and pedestrians is emerging as a hot topic of public debate (e.g. see here, here and here). There are two major areas of conflict – traditional pedestrian areas like footpaths, squares and parks on the one hand, and shared off-road paths/trails on the other. From the staunch [...]

This remarkable exhibit shows the quaintly named “Great Gatsby Curve”. It indicates the economic prospects of the next generation are strongly correlated with the degree of inequality of the country they and their parents live in. It is adapted from a speech given last month by the Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, [...]