Media

The Urban Observer – a new magazine by CUR

23 May 2017

We are delighted to announce the release of our first edition The Urban Observer - a bi-monthly bulletin of CUR’s cutting edge and policy-relevant research that provides an easy to read snapshot of our work, and offers opportunities for you to contact and collaborate with our researchers.

News

Residential wild-life gardening for collaborative public-private biodiversity conservation

23 May 2017

In cities, matching conservation action is needed on public and private land to conserve biodiversity: protecting patches of native habitat on public land, extending buffers around them, and improving connections between them through corridors and stepping stones in gardens and other land-use areas.

News

Indigenous people and planning: How Australian planning practice has miserably failed

23 May 2017

While planning is undoubtedly important in creating better places for people, the connection between people and place, for Indigenous people globally, in all their diversity, is even more profound and central to everyday life.

News

Insects and the city: Conserving the little things that run our city

23 May 2017

All species in this planet are delicately interlinked to each other in a beautifully complex network of ecological interactions. In cities, insects are key components of urban ecological networks and are greatly impacted by human activities.

News

Smart home industry: Do convenience and energy efficiency always go together?

23 May 2017

The smart home is no exception in its ambition for easier living achieved through digital and connected consumerism. At the crux of this idea is the enrolment of internet-enabled devices and appliances in the creation of an even more convenient lifestyle.

News

Reusing wastewater & stormwater: Will it cure water insecurity in the city?

23 May 2017

Water is one of our most precious resources. The management of urban water has evolved over time to address new challenges faced by cities

News

2017 Vice-Chancellor Fellows at CUR

23 May 2017

The Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellows are researchers with an excellent track record who can make a significant contribution to RMIT's research priority areas.

News

Introducing Billie Giles-Corti: Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platform Director

23 May 2017

This year, RMIT University had the pleasure of welcoming Distinguished Professor Billie Giles-Corti to RMIT’s Enabling Capability Platform (ECP) as the Urban Futures Director.

Blog

Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable

05 May 2017

Cities are home to more than just people. We also need to accommodate the critters and plants who live in them.

News

Decolonising Settler Cities Symposium — call for participants

04 May 2017

This event is the joint initiative of the Urban Geography Study Group and the Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledges and Rights Study Group of the Institution of Australian Geographers.

Blog

We must plan the driverless city to avoid being hostage to the technology revolution

28 April 2017

As with Uber and the taxi industry, public sector planners and regulators will be forced to respond to the anger of those displaced by the new products the IT and automobile industries will bring to the market. But can we afford to wait?

Blog

Writing retreats: Academic indulgence or scholarly necessity?

28 April 2017

It’s not uncommon for academics to attend conferences that cost thousands of dollars and require time away from our usual place of work.

Media

Flight to safer land post NZ quakes increases housing prices: study

19 April 2017

Higher awareness of earthquake risks among residents in Christchurch, New Zealand, has led to increased prices for houses on safer land, a new RMIT study suggests.

Blog

What can the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals do for cities?

19 April 2017

Our cities are increasingly beset by a lack of affordable housing, inequality, lagging infrastructure – the list goes on.

Blog

Making sense of the global infrastructure turn

06 April 2017

This is the final article in our series Making Cities Work. It considers the problems of providing critical infrastructure and how we might produce the innovations and reforms needed to meet 21st-century needs and challenges.

Blog

How do we restore the public’s faith in transport planning?

04 April 2017

This is the third article in our series Making Cities Work. It considers the problems of providing critical infrastructure and how we might produce the innovations and reforms needed to meet 21st-century needs and challenges.

Blog

What’s critical about critical infrastructure?

03 April 2017

This is the first article in our series Making Cities Work. It considers the problems of providing critical infrastructure and how we might produce the innovations and reforms needed to meet 21st-century needs and challenges.

Blog

Gas crisis? Energy crisis? The real problem is lack of long-term planning

20 March 2017

If you’ve been watching the news in recent days, you’ll know we have an energy crisis, partly due to a gas crisis, which in turn has triggered a political crisis.

News

The Victorian Planning System: Practice, Problems and Prospects

20 March 2017

Dr Stephen Rowley discusses his new book 'The Victorian Planning System' – the perfect introduction to the Victorian planning systems for new planners and the wider public who need to deal with the planning system.

Blog

Not everyone wins from the bank of mum & dad

15 March 2017

The “bank of mum and dad” is helping young Australians with more than just their housing aspirations. 

Media

Poor lending reforms may deprive most vulnerable of home basics: study

13 March 2017

Changing lending rules to restrict access to financial services could deprive low-income people of home basics like white goods, furniture and internet access, a new RMIT study suggests.

News

Gentrification and local democracy in Europe: Q&A with Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud

09 March 2017

Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud, visiting scholar to RMIT's Centre for Urban Research, discusses urban development and the need for social mobilisation to address challenges faced by city resident.

News

‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ key to get kids ahead in education, start-ups: study

08 March 2017

Adult children inheriting or being gifted wealth from their parents are more likely to have completed university degrees, be self-employed and have higher bank account balances, a new study finds.

Blog

Airport privatisations have put profit before public safety and good planning

28 February 2017

The plane crash at Essendon Airport last week shows the folly of allowing runways to co-exist with commercial development.