Nine things to make Melbourne even better

30 October 2018

Here our experts share everything you need to know about how policymakers can make Melbourne more liveable, improve our liveability, reduce commuter crushes and increase housing affordability.

RMIT research inspires community gardening for wildlife state-wide

04 September 2018

The new community initiative Gardens for Wildlife, based on RMIT research, will serve as a role-model across Victoria to encourage gardening to support local wildlife.

Researchers inviting participants for transport project

22 August 2018

A team of researchers at RMIT University are seeking interview participants for the project “Early delivery of equitable and healthy transport options in new suburbs: Critical reform and tools”.

Buy, protect, resell: Revolving natural heritage protection?

10 August 2018

Finding ways to conserve and protect heritage assets on privately owned and managed property is an ongoing challenge for policy makers.

Rethinking ‘place’ in more-than-human cities

Connecting people with place is a popular and appealing pursuit in Australian cities.

Creating healthy cities for all needs collaborACTION

There is over 30 years of research on how aspects of the built environment can be shaped to support health and wellbeing. Despite knowing better, we are still building neighbourhoods without public transport, good parks and footpaths.

Why public Wi-Fi? The rise of public networks in Australia

Investment in public Wi-Fi provision by Australian local government authorities (LGAs) has surged in recent years. But why do LGAs choose to operate public networks, and what are these networks used for?

Informal greenspaces: Values, perceptions and use

Apart from formal parks and gardens, street verges and other planned greenspaces, most cities have pockets of unplanned vegetation and leftover open spaces, including vacant lots, railway verges and drainage channels.

Filling the space between trams and place

How is movement and place represented across Melbourne’s tram network?

Implementing sustainability in the built environment

09 August 2018

Why we should be challenging the status quo to increase the role and effectiveness of the building and planning system in delivering sustainable cities

Ask not what nature can do for you

In our recent paper, we ponder whether the increasingly prevalent trend for framing nature in terms of ecosystem services is actually helping to build public engagement in conservation.

August 2018 edition of The Urban Observer out now

With Australia’s population reaching 25 million this month, the liveability of our cities has become critically important for our national prosperity and sustainability.

Urban researcher wins Graduate Women Victoria scholarship

18 July 2018

RMIT PhD student Ani Landau-Ward has been awarded the prestigious William and Elizabeth Fisher Scholarship for her research on property registration for marginalised communities.

New study probes links between apartment design and mental health

02 July 2018

Researchers are investigating how to improve apartment design policy to enhance the mental health of residents.

New book calls for policy to branch out to nature for healthier cities

28 June 2018

Dr Cecily Maller’s new book challenges how we create healthy liveable cities and calls for planners and urban policymakers to integrate ways for humans to live better with nature and other life forms.

New research puts the brakes on city car parking glut

22 June 2018

New research by an RMIT urban academic has revealed that up to 40 per cent of apartment parking in central areas of Melbourne are going unused.

Urban researcher wins new Thinker in Residence award

04 June 2018

Dr Hannah Badland from RMIT Centre for Urban Research has been awarded the prestigious Thinker in Residence by the Australian Health Promotion Association for her contributions to health promotion.

Remaking Cities: 14th Urban History Planning History Conference Proceedings

30 May 2018

Remaking Cities was the theme of the 14th Urban History Planning History conference, a biennial and multi-disciplinary gathering of scholars and practitioners with interests in the histories of cities and urban planning.

May 2018 edition of The Urban Observer out now

18 May 2018

This third edition of our dedicated Centre magazine The Urban Observer, is testament to the strength of our research effort. This issue reports a remarkable volume of thinking and analysis across a diverse array of topics.

Remaking imperial power in the city: The case of the Barak building

On 3 March 2015, the enormous drapes that had been covering a new building in central Melbourne were thrown off to reveal an extraordinary sight: a colossal image of a face staring down the city’s civic spine.

Dry zones and other temperance hangovers

Anti-alcohol measures like dry zones are not just a part of history: their legacy continues to feed into our approach to urban planning today.

The evolution of metropolitan planning

If one were to conduct an opinion poll among all the urban planners currently employed by local government authorities across metropolitan Melbourne with regard to the issue of state government regulation and interference, one might be reasonably safe to assert that the survey response would be ‘there is too much.’

The struggles over empty space

Why are there empty spaces in our cities? Does it matter? I’ve been thinking a lot about vacancy lately. Firstly this was because my family received a ‘Notice to Vacate’ late last year.

Can remote sensing help answer planning and transport policy questions?

With cars stationary 95 percent of the time, car parking is essential to car-based travel. Parking is also a widespread and controversial policy concern in planning and land use decisions.