Blog

Think taxing electric vehicle use is a backward step? Here’s why it’s an important policy advance

26 November 2020

The South Australian and Victorian governments have announced, and New South Wales is considering, road user charges on electric vehicles.

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Transforming smart cities: Observations on smart city integration

17 November 2020

As smart city technology continues to develop at exponential rates, cities are looking at how to best integrate the new technologies into their communities.

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Aged care isn’t working, but we can create neighbourhoods to support healthy ageing in place

29 October 2020

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed issues and inequities across society. How we plan for ageing populations and older people is one critical issue that has been neglected for decades.

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Mapping COVID-19 spread in Melbourne shows link to job types and ability to stay home

30 July 2020

We mapped the connection between occupation types, indicating the ability to work from home, and the locations of COVID-19 cases across Melbourne in the recent second wave.

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Business as Usual or a “New Normal” for Cities?

16 July 2020

COVID19 is tragic for individuals, families, communities and the economy in Melbourne and across the globe yet provides an opportunity to stop and think about the implications for our cities.

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Melbourne tower lockdowns unfairly target already vulnerable public housing residents

06 July 2020

This week, the Victorian government unilaterally placed the residents of nine public housing towers in inner Melbourne under “hard lockdown” due to the “explosive potential” of increasing COVID-19 cases.

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Councils often ignore residents on social media. How can digital platforms ensure they have a say in planning?

16 June 2020

Local governments across Australia are mandated to consult their residents on urban development issues. They are increasingly using digital platforms to do this.

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Climate change is the most important mission for universities of the 21st century

04 June 2020

This essay is based on an episode of the UTS podcast series “The New Social Contract” that examines how the relationship between universities, the state and the public might be reshaped as we live through this global pandemic.

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A time to embrace the edge spaces that make our neighbourhoods tick

01 June 2020

As we emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, it is timely to reflect on how the design of our neighbourhoods and the ways we interact with them affect our lived experience.

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4 ways our streets can rescue restaurants, bars and cafes after coronavirus

28 May 2020

As Australia re-opens, the bars, cafes and restaurants that give life to our streets face a tough ask: stay open and stay afloat with just a fraction of the customers.

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Public land is being sold exactly where thousands on the waiting list need housing

27 May 2020

The need for public housing is greater than ever before – Australia has a shortfall of at least 433,000 dwellings. Using public land for public housing is a no-brainer. But, at the time of writing, the Victorian government is preparing to sell over 2,646 hectares of land.

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Reforming land policy for affordable and inclusive housing

13 May 2020

How policy makers regard and manage the ownership and use of land has profound consequences for the affordability of our homes and the inclusiveness of our neighbourhoods.

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Physical distancing is here for a while – over 100 experts call for more safe walking and cycling space

30 April 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically shifted our lives and the ways we move about our cities.

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Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being

21 April 2020

We are witnessing changes in the ways we use our cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The liveability of our local neighbourhoods has never been more important.

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Australia had rent control in wartime. War on coronavirus demands the same response

15 April 2020

In this coronavirus “war”, governments should take inspiration from the past and again implement rent control.

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Where the wild things are: how nature might respond as coronavirus keeps humans indoors

08 April 2020

COVID-19 has taken a devastating toll on humanity, and this is nothing to be celebrated. But as Australians stay at home and our streets fall quiet, let’s consider how wildlife might respond.

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The average regional city resident lacks good access to two-thirds of community services, and liveability suffers

16 March 2020

The way our growing cities are planned and built is becoming ever more important in building healthy, liveable and sustainable communities.

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Thousands of city trees have been lost to development, when we need them more than ever

26 February 2020

Trees often feature prominently when talking about solutions, but our research shows trees are being lost to big developments – about 2,000 within a decade in inner Melbourne.

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Want to help save wildlife after the fires? You can do it in your own backyard

24 February 2020

Here we provide various practical tips on things people can do in their own backyards and neighbourhoods to help some of the species hit hard by the fires.

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No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better

18 February 2020

The more immediate need is to focus on improving conditions in our major cities. Our smaller towns matter, but we can’t neglect the urgent need to get better at doing the bigger ones right.

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No food, no fuel, no phones: bushfires showed we’re only ever one step from system collapse

06 February 2020

This summer’s bushfires were not just devastating events in themselves. More broadly, they highlighted the immense vulnerability of the systems which make our contemporary lives possible.

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Rebuilding from the ashes of disaster: this is what Australia can learn from India

27 January 2020

A key question facing us all after Australia’s unprecedented bushfires is how will we do reconstruction differently? We need to ensure our rebuilding and recovery efforts make us safer, protect our environment and improve our ability to cope with future disasters.

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Bushfire education is too abstract. We need to get children into the real world

22 January 2020

Children and young people have been deeply impacted by the current bushfire crisis. Schools have been destroyed and thousands of houses have burnt down.