News
10 February 2023
A sound concept for affordable housing established early in Ukraine’s recovery process can sustain long lasting economic and social development and also build on Europe’s best practices, the report shows. According to the authors of Ukraine’s housing recovery requires a well-designed capital investment strategy, published by Housing Finance International, future efforts to rebuild the country present the […]
News
17 January 2023
Climate change is going just as badly for cities as we have been warned it would. Extreme weather is increasingly common and severe globally. Australian cities have endured a number of recent disastrous events. It’ll get worse, too. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) factsheet outlining impacts on human settlements is a very sobering […]
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.
News
11 December 2022
Brendan Wintle, The University of Melbourne; Martine Maron, The University of Queensland, and Sarah Bekessy, RMIT University The Albanese government has just released its long-awaited response to a scathing independent review of Australia’s environment protection law. The 2020 review ultimately found the laws were flawed, outdated and, without fundamental reform, would continue to see plants […]
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.
News
06 December 2022
The Solomon Islands has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, with informal settlements and the urban poor particularly sensitive to weather-related extreme events. A multi-disciplinary scientific team from RMIT University, led by Prof. Darryn McEvoy, is engaged in several projects that aim to increase the climate resilience of marginalised communities in the capital city, Honiara.
News
29 November 2022
New research reveals up to half of Melbourne’s on-street parking spaces could be converted into hectares of new green space, without a net loss of parking for the public.
News
18 November 2022
Marco Amati, RMIT University; Chris De Gruyter, RMIT University, and Salvador Rueda, Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC) For 185 years, Melbourne’s Hoddle Grid – the ordered layout of CBD streets and blocks designed in 1837 – has dictated the flow of people and vehicles in the city centre. But how well does the […]
News
15 November 2022
There are now 8 billion people in the world. Do we have enough food? What does this mean for nature? Are more humans a catastrophe for climate change?
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 […]
News
20 September 2022
“Work” – broadly defined – is what allows society to function. Like other old certainties, it is under threat from climate change.
News
10 September 2022
Trivess Moore, RMIT University and Nicola Willand, RMIT University The required energy-efficiency rating of new housing in Australia will increase from 6 to 7 stars from October next year. Some claim this will greatly increase housing costs. But is this true? Costs for new home owners are the sum of three things: capital costs to […]
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 […]
News
23 August 2022
This year the Centre for Urban Research, Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platforms and Social Change Enabling Capability Platform are presenting a number of events as part of Social Sciences Week. With online and in-person events, these sessions look at how social sciences help us make sense of an uncertain future. How to live in a […]
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.
News
28 July 2022
Benjamin Cooke, RMIT University; Aidan Davison, University of Tasmania; Jamie Kirkpatrick, University of Tasmania, and Lilian Pearce, La Trobe University You would have heard Australia’s environment isn’t doing well. A grim story of “crisis and decline” was how Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek described the situation when she launched the State of the Environment Report last […]
News
08 July 2022
A new project led by the Centre’s Deputy Director Hannah Badland has just been awarded a VicHealth Impact Research Grant
News
24 June 2022
This year, Melbourne was the only Australian city to take a top-10 spot in the Economist Intelligence Unit liveable cities index, sharing tenth place with Osaka. But how meaningful are these rankings?
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!
News
18 May 2022
The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) last night awarded the Planning Research award to the Centre for Urban Research project “Measuring the health impacts of transport modelling” and the Transport Health Assessment Tool for Melbourne (THAT-Melbourne), led by Dr Lucy Gunn. The award recognises an outstanding achievement in planning research. PIA noted that the research was an “innovative […]
News
18 May 2022
The animals and plants at risk of extinction finally made it onto the political agenda last week, as Labor and the Greens launched biodiversity policies ahead of the federal election.
News
13 May 2022
A new series, part of the Global Healthy and Sustainable City-Indicators Collaboration and led by Distinguished Professor Billie-Giles Corti, has been published in The Lancet Global Health. The ‘Urban Design, Transport and Health Series 2’ assesses city planning policies and the urban design and transport features of 25 cities across Australasia, Asia, Europe, USA, Central […]
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.
