Developing the compact city. This project aims to investigate the operation of the higher density multi-unit residential development sector in Australia’s largest city. The project intends to draw on theoretical approaches to understanding the political economy of urban processes and innovative fine-grain analytical techniques. Expected outcomes include a novel analysis of the developers behind the higher density transformation of urban Australia and their relationship to the land use planning s ....Developing the compact city. This project aims to investigate the operation of the higher density multi-unit residential development sector in Australia’s largest city. The project intends to draw on theoretical approaches to understanding the political economy of urban processes and innovative fine-grain analytical techniques. Expected outcomes include a novel analysis of the developers behind the higher density transformation of urban Australia and their relationship to the land use planning system that facilitates this process via value uplift. The knowledge generated is intended to benefit planning policy makers and inform wider public debates on contemporary urban change by elucidating the rationale behind the key actors’ currently driving housing supply.Read moreRead less
Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected ....Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected outcomes of this project include practical, low-cost cooling strategies that can be implemented now, along with increased social input into planning for the hotter urban future. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhanced civic capacity to generate society-wide climate readiness. Read moreRead less
The precarious city: the suburban settlement in an age of uncertainty. This project will investigate the disintegration of two interrelated pillars of Australia’s post-war ‘suburban settlement’ – home ownership and income security – and the consequences of this for patterns of urban change. Drawing on the concept of social citizenship, the project will explore the implications of this process through the life trajectories of 25 to 40 year olds. The research will generate new knowledge by extendi ....The precarious city: the suburban settlement in an age of uncertainty. This project will investigate the disintegration of two interrelated pillars of Australia’s post-war ‘suburban settlement’ – home ownership and income security – and the consequences of this for patterns of urban change. Drawing on the concept of social citizenship, the project will explore the implications of this process through the life trajectories of 25 to 40 year olds. The research will generate new knowledge by extending our understanding of how structural changes in employment opportunities are disrupting established patterns of housing demand for this group. The knowledge generated will inform policy makers and wider debates on the longer term implications of the break-down of home ownership on the Australian model of citizenship.Read moreRead less
Universities as entrepreneurial urban actors. This project aims to critically analyse the role of universities in shaping Australian cities. By mobilising a detailed case study approach, the project expects to generate new theoretical and applied knowledge about how universities influence the planning, built form and social and economic functioning of our cities. Anticipated outcomes include a clearer understanding of how universities configure their local environment, how they are mobilised wit ....Universities as entrepreneurial urban actors. This project aims to critically analyse the role of universities in shaping Australian cities. By mobilising a detailed case study approach, the project expects to generate new theoretical and applied knowledge about how universities influence the planning, built form and social and economic functioning of our cities. Anticipated outcomes include a clearer understanding of how universities configure their local environment, how they are mobilised within planning documents to achieve urban objectives and how land development is now a core activity for universities. This will bring significant benefits to urban planning and communities via policy recommendations outlining social and economic improvements related to university development.Read moreRead less
A night shift: planning for night time economies and workers in Australia. We need to talk about the night. If cities are now increasingly recognised as ‘24/7’ places, little attention is paid to their nights and even less so to those workers who keep cities functioning afterhours by supporting a $134bn night-time economy. This project aims to deliver this needed shift to night-time thinking in urban planning and policy. It offers detailed assessments of the role of night-time work in 14 Austral ....A night shift: planning for night time economies and workers in Australia. We need to talk about the night. If cities are now increasingly recognised as ‘24/7’ places, little attention is paid to their nights and even less so to those workers who keep cities functioning afterhours by supporting a $134bn night-time economy. This project aims to deliver this needed shift to night-time thinking in urban planning and policy. It offers detailed assessments of the role of night-time work in 14 Australian capital and regional cities. It investigates conditions, contributions, voices and spaces that characterise night-time work. Partnering directly with local councils, it experiments with transferrable action-oriented and policy-ready methods, seeking to build capacity for ‘night literacy’ in cities and urban research.Read moreRead less
Reassembling the pandemic city: shifting geographies of creative work. This project aims to address the critical knowledge gap around COVID-19 disruptions to city centre economic geographies. It will longitudinally document and analyse post-pandemic reassembling of these geographies, focused on a bellwether sector—creative work—hard hit by the pandemic yet central to urban economic recovery planning. Spatial ethnographies of creative work will reveal shifts in space use, work practices, economic ....Reassembling the pandemic city: shifting geographies of creative work. This project aims to address the critical knowledge gap around COVID-19 disruptions to city centre economic geographies. It will longitudinally document and analyse post-pandemic reassembling of these geographies, focused on a bellwether sector—creative work—hard hit by the pandemic yet central to urban economic recovery planning. Spatial ethnographies of creative work will reveal shifts in space use, work practices, economic diversification, networks, and on-the-ground adaptations. The project will generate essential new practical knowledge of city centre reconfigurations and networks of creative industries across metropolitan spaces. Its benefits will include vital insights for urban policy to support resilient and inclusive recovery.Read moreRead less
The power of public spaces to connect communities and places. The project aims to uncover the vital role of public spaces during COVID-19 and in a time of climate change. Public spaces are not just places that are nice to have, they are an essential civic and environmental asset. The project adopts a collaborative framework to build dialogue, bridge academic and industry practice and promote debate about how to sustain public spaces now and in the future. Expected outcomes include new understand ....The power of public spaces to connect communities and places. The project aims to uncover the vital role of public spaces during COVID-19 and in a time of climate change. Public spaces are not just places that are nice to have, they are an essential civic and environmental asset. The project adopts a collaborative framework to build dialogue, bridge academic and industry practice and promote debate about how to sustain public spaces now and in the future. Expected outcomes include new understandings of the diversity of community connections to public space and the importance of Indigenous leadership in public space-making and design. Benefits include an interactive website that will communicate new roles for public space and provide a valuable resource for communities, educators and governments. Read moreRead less