News

Building Ukraine back better requires affordable, inclusive and green housing: report

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

As heatwaves and floods hit cities worldwide, these places are pioneering solutions

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

Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics

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

Our laws fail nature. The government’s plan to overhaul them looks good, but crucial detail is yet to come

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 The 2020 review ultimately found the laws were flawed, outdated and, without fundamental reform, would continue to see plants […]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

Urban Research in Transforming Times – 10 Years of the Centre for Urban Research

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

Implementing nature-based solutions to reduce climate risks in informal settlements, Solomon Islands

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

Melbourne revegetation plan calls for on-street parking to go undercover

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

How superblocks can free up and improve CBD space for the people of Melbourne – a step-by-step guide

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

You are now one of 8 billion humans alive today. Let’s talk overpopulation – and why low income countries aren’t the issue

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

Urban policy and infrastructure planning

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

‘Too hard to get to work’: climate change is making workers’ lives more difficult

20 September 2022

“Work” – broadly defined – is what allows society to function. Like other old certainties, it is under threat from climate change.

News

Will 7-star housing really cost more? It depends, but you can keep costs down in a few simple ways

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

Forum for Dwelling Justice

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

Rebuilding homes in Ukraine

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

RMIT joins Social Sciences Week

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

Homelessness all but disappeared in 2020, but it should disappear for good

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

Protecting 30% of Australia’s land and sea by 2030 sounds great – but it’s not what it seems

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

New project examines neighbourhood influence on early childhood development

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

Melbourne ranked 10th most liveable city, but what does it mean?

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

Green interventions, and blue bees: rethinking what we know about gardens

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

THAT-Melbourne wins national PIA Award for Planning Research

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

I want my vote to count for nature: how do the major parties stack up?

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

Australian cities out of step on walkability, transport: study

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

A passion project to make the heart sing: Urban planning for healthier lives

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.