Blog
12 September 2023
CUR researchers have contributed to sessions on the climate action day at the 6th Pacific Urban Forum, held at the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat Conference Centre in Suva, Fiji (5–7 September). The event was attended by 300 delegates from across the region. The Pacific Urban Forum (PUF) is the premier event for urban practitioners, thinkers, […]
Blog
09 August 2023
The multitude of challenges facing the construction industry in Australia seems to keep accumulating. Supply chain shortages, labour shortages, price increases, insurance and financial difficulties, mental health issues, and gaps in skills and training have variously exacerbated during, or as a result of, the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges not only impact workers within the industry and the ability […]
Blog
04 May 2023
Sharing knowledge for the recovery of Ukraine Executive Summary This executive summary is from full report authored by Oleksandr Anisimov and Pavlo Fedoriv (New Housing Policy, UA), Oleksandra Tkachenko (UNUN), Julie Lawson (RMIT Centre for Urban Research) and Edwin Buitelaar (Utrecht University) and published by PBL, the Dutch government’s National Agency for Environmental Assessment. This […]
Blog
08 March 2023
Two new projects led by Dr Lucy Gunn aim to improve our health by understanding the health impacts of our neighbourhoods.
Blog
02 March 2023
Semester 1 began this week at RMIT and to celebrate, Sustainability and Urban Planning hosted a great event to welcome new and returning students and to celebrate the achievements of the 2022 graduating classes.
Blog
28 February 2023
The Forum for Dwelling Justice, held in Naarm (Melbourne) in August 2022, aimed to examine the colonial relations of housing precarity and forge solidarity between sites of resistance. The Forum brought together leaders, activists, community-based practitioners, scholars and film-makers to stage a conversation about precarity, racial violence, incarceration and dispossession and how these dynamics shape […]
Blog
14 December 2022
Heat pumps are becoming all the rage around a world that has to slash carbon emissions rapidly while cutting energy costs. In buildings, they replace space heating and water heating – and provide cooling as a bonus.
Blog
09 December 2022
On December 1, CUR members and partners gathered to reflect on the impact of the Centre over the past decade and consider the future of urban research.
Blog
07 October 2022
The election of a Labor Government at the 2022 federal election has brought new attention to policies for climate change mitigation and energy transition, with an accelerated minimum target of 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 now legislated. Cities and suburbs will be central to achieving the climate target as concentrated sites of […]
Blog
06 September 2022
On Friday August 26, the Centre for Urban Research hosted the Forum for Dwelling Justice, at the Capitol Theatre, organised by David Kelly and Libby Porter. The Forum brought together more than 600 scholars, grassroots campaigners, activists, people with lived experience, and practitioners to identify the radical potential for resistance to dispossession, displacement and precarity […]
Blog
01 September 2022
The consequences of Russian military aggression on Ukraine has led to considerable loss of life and the devastation of many homes, livelihoods, services and infrastructure. Millions of civilians have been displaced. Most people want to return but they cannot, as this requires having safe, secure and adequate home and neighbourhood to return to. Realizing these […]
Blog
31 July 2022
It’s Homelessness Week and this year the theme is “To end homelessness we need a plan.” The right plan is in reach.
Blog
19 May 2022
There is a growing understanding that bees are crucial to food security, biodiversity and a healthy environment, but bees are much more than stripey, hive-dwelling, honey-makers. This World Bee Day, open your eyes to the rich world of bees!
Blog
22 April 2022
Professor Billie Giles-Corti was a “lone wolf”, she says, when she started her research career. In 2022, the time has come for public discourse about the direct links between city planning and health. She is part of a global network making the connections between liveability and health outcomes.
Blog
17 March 2022
To ensure that shelters in informal settlements across the Pacific Island region are disaster resilient, policymakers and relief agencies must work closely with local communities to implement sustainable solutions, Darryn McEvoy, Mittul Vahanvati, Deb Kuh, and Usha Iyer-Raniga write.
Blog
08 March 2022
This International Women’s Day calls for gender equity today, for a sustainable tomorrow. Researchers on the Climate Resilient Honiara project are seeking to contribute to just these issues, in a city struggling against the realities of rapid urbanisation and climate change.
Blog
03 March 2022
With the beginning of a new semester and a new year, students of the Sustainability and Urban Planning program could finally gather on campus to celebrate their achievements and look ahead to the new year. The welcome and awards event held yesterday presented an opportunity for current students and recent graduates to meet and mingle […]
Blog
27 January 2022
Marco Amati Biological metaphors for the city abound in daily use. You may live close to an “arterial” road or in the “heart” of a metropolis. You may work in one of the city’s “nerve centres” or exercise in a park described as the city’s “lungs”. The ready use of such metaphors indicates an underlying […]
Blog
07 December 2021
This year, our Urban Futures Photography Competition, sponsored by Villawood Properties, asked entrants to reflect on spaces where nature and cities collide, and how nature benefits the urban environment.
Blog
12 November 2021
Australian planners and economists are currently debating the role of planning policies and regulations in dwelling production as part of the federal parliamentary inquiry into housing supply. Meanwhile the New Zealand government has announced it intends to dramatically roll back residential zoning across the country’s major cities in response to high house prices. This simplistic policy poses risks for strategic metropolitan planning and Australia should pay attention.
Blog
29 October 2021
Right now there is very little discussion about this equity issue in our clean energy climate transition.
Blog
30 September 2021
A team of students from RMIT’s Urban Design Project course have been named among the winners of the C40 Cities’ international Students Reinventing Cities – Melbourne competition.
Blog
25 August 2021
Across the world, people worried about the impacts of climate change are seeking creative and meaningful ways to transform their urban environments. One such approach is known as “quiet activism”.
Blog
07 July 2021
The idea of transforming cities from concrete jungles to urban forests is a popular one, and there have been some truly inspiring, exemplar projects in recent years. But has your city actually turned into a lush oasis yet? No, neither has ours.
