Australia is counting on cooking the books to meet its climate targets

31 January 2019

A new OECD report has warned that Australia risks falling short of its 2030 emissions target unless it implements “a major effort to move to a low-carbon model”.

Business as usual? The Sustainable Development Goals apply to Australian cities too

19 September 2018

We are still settling Australian cities on unceded Aboriginal lands. With the global agreement on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, development has finally come home to the developed world.

Embracing the chaos

06 August 2018

By transcending disciplinary boundaries researchers can reconceptualise human-nature relations. Issues of the scale of mass species extinctions or climate change are never going to be solved by a single discipline acting alone. 

IPCC cities conference tackles gaps between science and climate action on the ground

14 March 2018

Some 600 climate scientists, urban researchers, policymakers and practitioners attended the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) first ever conference on cities last week.

Water or coal? The increasingly clear choice

31 October 2017

Questions about the future of coal are often presented as a rational choice between energy sources with different economic costs, greenhouse gas emissions, and levels of reliability.

This is why we cannot rely on cities alone to tackle climate change

07 September 2017

A lot of faith is vested in cities to tackle climate change, and with good reason.

Climate change – an opportunity to rethink, restore and reboot

16 June 2017

While climatic changes can be hard to put a finger on, many farmers agree that their rules of thumb for how weather behaves and seasons unfold increasingly feels a bit wobbly.

No dress rehearsal: why we must act now to save our cities

30 May 2017

Billie Giles-Corti knows what makes cities liveable. And she says we need to work together to design better urban spaces for everyone.

RMIT leads the conversation on climate change and the future of cities

25 May 2017

RMIT is teaming up with industry in Europe to plan for the impacts of climate change on cities, such as droughts and flooding, and to take stock of what city leaders around the world are doing.

Thinking about a sustainable retrofit? Here are three things to consider

16 January 2017

Sitting at home in the summer heat, your mind may start to wander to that fancy new air conditioner. But when it comes to making your house comfortable and sustainable, prevention is better than cure.

How urban planners are creating cities for the future

22 August 2016

Well-planned cities can encourage people to spend more time outside, commute more sustainably and connect with their communities. Good planning is central to making cities liveable and sustainable.

Planning to help our natural landscapes adapt to climate change

12 July 2016

Climate projections for Australia tell us that children born since the millennium can expect anything from 1.7oC to 5.1oC degrees of warming in their lifetimes.

Darebin Climate Forum 15 June 2016

07 July 2016

In Darebin, for World Environment Day 2016, a panel of prominent climate change experts discussed the current climate situation, why we should be taking action, and what local governments, other levels of government and individuals can do to address climate change.

Rockefeller Foundation elevates Melbourne’s commitment to resilience

06 June 2016

Melbourne’s new resilience project is helping local government frame conversations about resilience beyond emergency management to social and urban vulnerability, according to an RMIT study.

Meet Stephen Flood: expert in climate adaption

Recently, Stephen Flood Post Doctoral Fellow at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Victoria University of Wellington, and the Director of Research and Pacific Projects at SmartEarth Ireland, visited the Centre for Urban Research to discuss his working paper on the legal issues affecting coastal retreat as an effective response to sea level rise.