<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/broadbeach-qld-4218">Broadbeach</a> offers plenty of reasons to live vertically, but moving from a substantial family home into an apartment can expose the compromises of high-density living. Privacy, room for guests and usable living space tend to matter more when an apartment is intended as a permanent home rather than an occasional coastal base.

A typical residential floor at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-eveleigh-broadbeach-7-9-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Eveleigh</a>, on Surf Parade,&nbsp;contains just four apartments. The 94-residence development by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a> is predominantly made up of expansive three-bedroom homes, with a limited collection of half-floor penthouses above.

Across the apartment floors, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> has used the relatively limited number of residences to give each home greater access to natural light and outlook. Living spaces extend towards full-height glazing, while a series of bay windows frame selected views across the Pacific Ocean, city and hinterland rather than treating the building edge as a continuous wall of glass.

&nbsp;

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“The apartment floors deliver a collection of homes that embrace controlled outlook via a series of bay windows deliberately framing moments of view,” Rothelowman Director Kim Lowman said.

From outside, those projecting forms contribute to the tower’s faceted profile. Strong horizontal and vertical elements establish its proportions, while the changing position of the sun alters the light, shadow and reflection across the façade throughout the day.

The same attention moves inside the apartments, where the material palette combines warm timber, natural stone, metallic detailing and softer curved forms. Kitchens sit within the main living zone, with stone island benches, integrated joinery and European appliances, before the living areas extend towards the glazing and the outlook.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360981]

Three genuine bedrooms provide room to accommodate family and guests, while two secure car spaces and storage address some of the practical considerations that can become more noticeable when moving from a larger home. Feedback from the display suite has centred on the warmth and restraint of the interiors, with buyers commenting that the residences feel like homes rather than conventional coastal apartments.

A limited collection of half-floor penthouses occupies the upper levels, increasing the scale of the living spaces and adding private balconies and elevated finishes. From this position, the outlook extends between the ocean and hinterland.

Outside the private residences, The Eveleigh separates its shared spaces between the podium and rooftop. The podium is centred on wellness, with subtropical landscaping surrounding a swimming pool and pool terrace, yoga garden, private gymnasium, sauna and hot and cold plunge facilities. Landscaped retreats and pavilions provide additional places to sit away from the main recreation areas.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360966]

Higher in the building, a rooftop pavilion and private dining suite sit alongside resident lounge, barbecue and outdoor dining areas, opening towards panoramic views across the ocean, city and hinterland.

“Buyers are no longer just looking for an apartment, but a lifestyle where they can relax, reset, and enjoy a balanced way of living,” Hirsch &amp; Faigen Director of Sales Matt George said.

Interest to date has come from established owner-occupiers and interstate lifestyle purchasers, including buyers planning a future move to the Gold Coast. Many are coming from larger homes and want to reduce ongoing maintenance without giving up space for family and guests, privacy, two car spaces or the ability to entertain at home.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360969]

Much of that daily life can also take place beyond the building without requiring a drive. Kurrawa Beach and Pratten Park are an easy walk from Surf Parade, while Pacific Fair, Oracle Boulevard, The Oasis, restaurants, cafés, entertainment and public transport are also within walking distance.

The Eveleigh is Hirsch &amp; Faigen's fourth Gold Coast development since entering the market in 2021, following The Hemingway at Palm Beach, The Emerson at Kirra and Yves at Mermaid Beach. Each of the preceding projects sold out before completion.

“Broadbeach had been on our radar throughout our time operating on the Gold Coast,” the developer said. “Following our projects in Palm Beach, Kirra and Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach represented the natural next step for the business.”

The Surf Parade site brought together proximity to the beach, protected coastal outlooks and walkability to dining, shopping and recreation. Hirsch &amp; Faigen also identified the street as an emerging premium residential address, with enough separation from Broadbeach's busier destinations to retain a quieter environment at home.

The Eveleigh is now under construction by Maxcon, with completion forecast for mid-2028. Three-bedroom residences are currently available from $2.87 million.

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Joel Robinson

The Eveleigh brings house-like apartments to Broadbeach

A long-stalled Campbelltown development site is back in play, with new plans for 139 apartments set to supersede a mixed-use scheme approved almost a decade ago but never built.

The new proposal for 28 Cordeaux Street would deliver 116 market and 23 affordable apartments in a part 14-storey building, bringing a substantial new project into a Campbelltown market where new apartment supply remains limited.

Plans have been filed over the 3,092 sqm corner site at Moore-Oxley Street, around 600 metres from Campbelltown Railway Station and the city-centre retail core.

The site already carries a mixed-use residential approval dating to 2016. Doroch Architects has now been engaged on a larger replacement scheme, which is progressing as a State Significant Development Application following a Housing Delivery Authority determination in August 2025.

The apartment mix comprises 39 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom residences. Two-bedroom apartments make up just over half of the project, while three-bedroom homes account for 20 per cent.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="136dd5b9-3791-4da6-9e31-76f533f5b4de" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da2.png?VersionId=LgOSy9nwf5u.MGswBBwaGGxuX8QpHSl_" />

Of the 139 apartments, 23 will be delivered as affordable housing under the in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP. The affordable component represents 15 per cent of the residential gross floor area and will be managed by a registered Community Housing Provider.

Doroch has sought to break the scale of the building into two distinct elements, with a masonry podium of around four storeys establishing the street edge before the residential tower steps back above.

The corner position has shaped that approach. Cordeaux Street faces toward the commercial and civic centre, while Moore-Oxley Street leads into the lower-scale residential neighbourhood to the south, and the design verification report describes the site as "bridging the commercial core to the north and established residential areas to the south."

The podium will be expressed predominantly in face brick, while the upper levels shift to brushed and grooved concrete cladding with darker metal detailing. Recessed sections, deep balcony edges and landscaping break down the upper form, with an approximately 11.8-metre setback to the northern boundary addressing the adjoining St Peters Anglican School.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8b3d2d3-c561-4bfc-a5d9-a68c0c10dac1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da1.png?VersionId=AeAEyJU02Gk2k5noUj2StziCvdQ7fW4B" />

Campbelltown has been starved of new residential developments in the last decade.

The only other notable development set to come to market this year is ALAND's Queen Square, a mixed-use precinct on over two hectares that will comprise apartments above a vibrant ground-level retail and hospitality dining precinct.

First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site

First Look: Sherlock Construction pitches apartments for low-rise Deception Bay

Queensland builder-developer MAYD has revealed the first look at its major North Kirra beachfront development, lodging amended plans that reduce the number of apartments and increase the proportion of larger residences.

The project is planned across a substantial 4,742 sqm amalgamated site spanning seven lots at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/2-6-pacific-parade-bilinga-qld-4225">2-6 Pacific Parade</a> and 27-33 Golden Four Drive in Bilin​ga, directly opposite Nor​th Kirra Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD</a> secured the site for $32.5 million in 2025, in what was one of the Gold Coast's largest property transactions of the year.

The development will be delivered across two stages, with the first stage carrying an estimated gross realisation value of around $360 million.

The latest amendments seek to reduce the overall apartment count and shift the project further toward the owner-occupier market, with larger residences designed for buyers wanting considerably more space than traditionally offered in a beachfront apartment.

The residential mix will include townhomes, oversized two-bedroom apartments, substantial three-bedroom residences and four-bedroom homes.

MAYD has appointed Cera Stribley to lead the architecture and interiors, with the Melbourne-based design practice drawing on the beachfront setting through a series of ocean-facing terraces and heavily landscaped balconies.

Strong horizontal forms and curved balconies will define the exterior, with subtropical landscaping integrated throughout the building to soften the built form and increase the connection between the residences and the beachfront.

The project will also include an extensive collection of resident wellness and lifestyle facilities, continuing the broader shift across the Gold Coast's luxury apartment market toward larger homes supported by resort-style amenity.

<img alt="MAYD" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d1bcbb05-e659-4b47-8bd4-1e595315e2ad" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%202.05.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=jj0XEud1X1DuLt7_KyElhjMdZGOXmLHP" />

MAYD Founder Todd Mould said North Kirra was increasingly appealing to buyers attracted to the more established, lower-density character of the southern Gold Coast.

"North Kirra presents one of the most compelling luxury residential opportunities currently emerging in Australia, combining absolute beachfront with the character and authenticity that buyers are increasingly seeking, and the same sense of tight-knit community that defined Burleigh and Currumbin perhaps 10 or 15 years ago," Mould said.

"With Gold Coast Airport on its doorstep, it also offers a level of accessibility that broadens its appeal across almost every market demographic."

The project comes as the southern Gold Coast continues to attract an increasing share of high-end apartment development and buyer activity.

Kirra in particular has emerged as one of the region's more tightly held beachfront markets, with its relatively low-density character, established surf and hospitality scene and proximity to Gold Coast Airport differentiating it from the higher-density markets further north.

Mould said those characteristics had informed the approach MAYD and Cera Stribley had taken to the project.

"We've worked closely with Cera Stribley to create a vision that is deeply connected to its surroundings," he said.

"Inspired by the coastline itself, the architecture has been shaped around space, privacy and resort-style living, creating a collection of homes that reflects the next generation of luxury on the southern Gold Coast."

MOTIV Managing Director Carly Cottam, who has been appointed to market the project, said buyer attention had continued to move south along the Gold Coast.

"Purchasers who may once have defaulted to Broadbeach, Main Beach or Surfers Paradise are increasingly recognising the value of a genuine beachfront location that offers lower density, strong amenity and a more established sense of community," Cottam said.

"Kirra has a powerful combination of growing demand and genuine scarcity. Beachfront supply is inherently constrained, the area remains relatively low density, and buyers are increasingly placing a premium on locations that feel established, uncrowded and authentic rather than heavily developed."

Cottam said the proximity to Gold Coast Airport was also proving increasingly important for interstate and second-home buyers.

"Being minutes from Gold Coast Airport makes it particularly compelling for interstate buyers, frequent travellers and second-home purchasers who can access an authentic coastal lifestyle almost immediately after stepping off a flight."

The acquisition takes MAYD's active development portfolio to more than $500 million, with the North Kirra project representing one of its largest undertakings to date.

MAYD is targeting an early 2027 launch.

First look at MAYD's North Kirra mixed-use precinct

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Castle Hill, the longtime hub of the Hills District, has been one of the major beneficiaries of Sydney's Metro expansion, with improved connectivity helping drive continued population growth, development and buyer demand across the Hills District.

But despite that growth, the suburb has seen relatively few major new apartment projects brought to market over the past 18 months.

Hills District developer Reve Group is looking to fill that gap with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nova-r-ve-castle-hill-2-garthowen-crescent-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Nova Rêve</a>, a major new mixed-use precinct on the corner of Garthowen Crescent and Old Castle Hill Road, a short walk from Castle Hill Metro Station and Castle Towers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377679]

The project will comprise three residential towers alongside a hotel, restaurants, cafes and a skybar, more than 1,600 sqm of ground-floor retail and almost an acre of landscaped gardens.

It represents the largest project undertaken by Reve Group, the development arm of the Kassis family, which has been building across the Hills District for more than 30 years through Kassis Homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377675]

Nova Rêve also represents a significant step up from the family's first apartment development, Grand Rêve, which was delivered nearby on Garthowen Crescent.

Grand Rêve introduced larger, house-like apartment layouts and premium inclusions including Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances to the Castle Hill market.

Nova Rêve takes that approach to a precinct scale, combining the residential component with hospitality, retail and substantial public and resident landscaping.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377685]

Reve Group Managing Director Sam Kassis said the project reflected the family's three decades of building in the Hills, which has evolved from trophy homes on quarter-acre blocks to larger-scale apartment development.

"Grand Rêve was our first apartment project here and it showed us what this pocket of Castle Hill could be. Nova Rêve is the refinement of that idea: not just apartments, but a place the whole suburb can use," Kassis said.

A key part of that approach is the hotel, which has been designed to operate as an amenity for the wider Castle Hill community rather than solely hotel guests.

It will include restaurants, cafes, skybars and all-day dining, alongside conference and event facilities catering to business functions, community groups and private events.

At ground level, more than 1,600 sqm of shops and cafes will open onto the surrounding streets and landscaped areas.

Almost an acre of gardens designed by Land and Form Studios will run through the precinct, incorporating pathways, seating, barbecue areas and children's play spaces.

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Reve Group's Romio Georges said creating an active ground plane had been central to the planning of Nova Rêve.

"There are gardens with pathways, barbecues, seating and play areas, shops and cafes opening onto the street, and a hotel with restaurants and a skybar that anyone in Castle Hill can walk into," Georges said.

The project's elevated position on one of Sydney's highest ridgelines will also provide apartments with outlooks toward the Sydney skyline, surrounding parkland and the Blue Mountains.

More than 80 per cent of the apartments will occupy corner positions, with Turner responsible for both the architecture and interiors.

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Nova Rêve arrives as Reve Group bets on Castle Hill's next growth phase

Development

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A 3,231sqm site in Melbourne's Doncaster is on the market with an existing permit for a 174-apartment mixed use construction.
The potential development, <a href="https://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-land+development-vic-doncaster-502008746" target="_blank">600 Doncaster Road Doncaster</a>, has an existing planning permit for a 12 storey mixed-use development as well as 174 apartments and a ground floor commercial space of 710sqm with 229 car parks. It has been designed by BKK Architects and is not he market through Colliers International’s Hamish Burgess, Peter Bremner and Trent Hobart, in conjunction with Robert Kelly and David Minton of Gorman Kelly.
The development has been designed with a ‘green tree’ theme which extends vertically along a central building.
Hamish Burgess said it is a gateway site opposite Westfield Doncaster, offering a spectacular CBD outlook and equally fantastic surrounding amenity.
“The Doncaster Activity Centre Precinct, or ‘Doncaster Hill’ as it is known, is highly regarded as a residential locality with a number of medium and high density projects having been completed successfully over the past two to three years," he said.
 “Significant local amenity, which is dominated by the super-regional Westfield Doncaster shopping and entertainment complex, as well as spectacular views to the Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs, are unique factors which have contributed to the ongoing demand for quality apartment accommodation in the precinct.
“The demand in the area has been staggering. Growth in the median house price of 26 percent in the past 12 months to $1,260,000 has underpinned the demand for apartments in the area, spurring developers to compete strongly for residential development sites.”
The site also includes a single level office complex comprising four suites and onsite parking.
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Mixed use and apartment development slated for Doncaster

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The diversity of projects being undertaken by architects in South Australia were honoured at the Australian Institute of Architects' 2016 SA Architecture Awards. 
Four projects from the Tonsley redevelopment have collected seven awards across education, heritage, commercial, sustainability and urban design, cementing the project as a unique place with a strong identity for South Australia to celebrate its manufacturing history. 
<img src="/images/2016/07/04/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-04%20at%2011.52.35%20AM.png" alt="">
The role of architects Woods Bagot and Tridente in deciding to retain the Main Assembly Building (MAB) structure and surrounding building pods along with vibrant urban spaces designed by Oxigen, was judged a testament to both the vision of the client, the skills and collaboration of the designers and the urban design guidelines developed for the site, the jury said.
South Australia's Drill Core Reference Library by Thomson Rossi provides an important gateway to the huge 61-hectare Tonsley site,which is currently transforming into an education, research and business hub. HASSELL's Flinders University building further defines the former MAB along with the TAFE campus to the south.
Public architecture was dominated by projects that provide significant social and cultural benefits to our communities with the integration of public spaces becoming integral to the design process. The coveted Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture, is awarded to the Stretton Centre by HASSELL, which the jury praised as an architecturally accomplished focal point for the wider northern suburbs community.
Continuing the accolades for projects in the public realm, commendations were awarded to Henley Square Remade by TCL with Troppo Architects, Glenunga Community Hub by Greenway Architects and the Zoos SA Nature's Play Ground by Phillips/Pilkington Architects and WAX Design, which also won the community's vote for the City of Adelaide Prize People's Choice Award.
The new technology incubator, Base 64 in Kent Town (below) was designed by Williams Burton Leopardi within a heritage building, and has been honoured with both the Keith Neighbour Award for Commercial Architecture and David Saunders Award for Heritage.
<img src="/images/2016/07/04/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-04%20at%2011.51.26%20AM.png" alt="">
Base 64 (below) has a unique quality that is difficult to define — part co-working, domestic, gallery, retreat and public space.It provides clues as to how contemporary workplaces might evolve to be more collaborative, networked, and personal, the jury said.
<img src="/images/2016/07/04/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-04%20at%2011.49.50%20AM.png" alt="">
Two of South Australia's leading design advocates have been recognised at the 2016 South Australian Architecture Awards.
The past Chapter president and life fellow of the Institute, Francesco Bonato has been awarded the prestigious Sir James Irwin President's Medal for his commitment to advocating great design and promoting the relevance of what design professionals contribute to the wider community.
Bonato is a founding director of Tectvs, a collaborative architecture and design studio that has received over seventeen Architecture Awards since its inception in 1989, with offices in both Adelaide and Melbourne.
Full list of winners:
Public Architecture
Jack McConnell Award - Stretton Centre by HASSELL Commendation - Glenunga Hub by Greenway Architects Educational Architecture
Dr John Mayfield Award - Flinders at Tonsley by HASSELL Commendation - Cardijn College Music Centre by Tridente Architects Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
The John S Chappel Award - West End Residence by Ashley Halliday Architects Award - Tusmore Residence by Grieve Gillett Andersen Award - Grass Trees by Max Pritchard Gunner Architects Commendation - Friedrichstrasse House by Troppo Architects Commendation - Waitpinga Retreat by Mountford Williamson Architecture Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations &amp; Additions)
The John Schenk Award - Veil and Mortar by KHAB Architects Award - Fade to Grey by Grieve Gillett Andersen Commendation - LOCH by John Adam Architect Commendation - Cawley Tree House by C4 Architects Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing Commendation - Gibson &amp; 7th by Williams Burton Leopardi Commercial Architecture
Keith Neighbour Award - Base 64 by Williams Burton Leopardi Award - South Australian Drill Core Reference Library by Thomson Rossi Commendation - Beresford Wines Cellar Door &amp; Tasting Pavilion by Alexander Brown Architects Heritage
David Saunders Award - Base 64 by Williams Burton Leopardi Award - Tonsley Main Assembly Building and Pods by Woods Bagot and Tridente Architects Commendation - Torrens Island Quarantine Station by Habitable Places Commendation - Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral Pipe Organ Project by Grieve Gillett Andersen Interior Architecture
Robert Dickson Award - Oggi by studio-gram Award - UniSA Student Lounge by Phillips / Pilkington
Architects Award - Centre for Senior Learning, Pulteney Grammar School by Walter Brooke &amp; Associates Commendation - Elders Head Office by JPE Design Studio Urban Design Commendation - Riverbank Bridge by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, Taylor Cullity Lethlan and Aurecon Commendation - Tonsley by Oxigen Commendation - Henley Square Remade by T.C.L with Troppo Architects Small Project Architecture 
Marjorie Simpson Award - House on Mayfair by Grieve Gillett Anderson Award - 4 Structures at Henley Square by Troppo Architects and T.C.L Commendation - Waterfall Gully Shelter and Toilet Block by Flightpath Architects
Sustainable Architecture Award - Tonsley Main Assembly Building and Pods by Woods Bagot and Tridente Architects Award - Tonsley by Oxigen Enduring Architecture Jack Cheesman Award - South Australian Forensic Science Centre by SA Public Buildings Department, Government of South Australia
Colorbond® Award for Steel Architecture Award - South Australian Drill Core Reference Library by Thomson Rossi The City of Adelaide Prize Prize Winner - Pink Moon Saloon by Sans-Arc Studio Commendation - Zoos SA Nature's Play Ground by Phillips/Pilkington Architects and WAX Design
"Fran Bonato, understands that good design and great architecture comes from hard work and dedication – summed up by the three P's of Practice, Profession and Perseverance," the SA Chapter President David Homburg said in awarding the medal.
This year's Emerging Architect Prize was awarded to Anthony Balsamo of Walter Brooke &amp; Associates for his substantial contribution to the practice of architecture in South Australia.
Early in his career, Anthony saw a gap between university graduation and the practice of architecture. In 2004 he co-founded the group New Architects Group, now known as NAG, which has had a huge impact on the whole industry, especially for young graduates, and is an initiative that has now been formalised across all Chapters of the Institute, under the national banner EmAGN, the jury noted.
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SA architectural awards recognise Tonsley project

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The site of Adelaide's former Trims Family Clothing Store is to be developed into a $275 million 5-star luxury residential and commercial twin tower mixed-use property.
The property, 322 King William Street, is being developed by Gerry Karidis and will be renamed Three Two Two. When completed it will cover seven floors of car parking, nine floors of commercial suites and nine floors of residential apartment accommodation.
Both towers will feature 63 apartments.
Steve Testar of Savills Residential said Three-Two-Two will be an outstanding residential development that will offer world class luxury.
"The residential component will comprise of six penthouses and a selection of studios, one, two and three bedroom apartments and are being offered via an expressions of interest campaign," he said.
The towers will feature 20 floors of commercial floor space for either purchase or lease and an additional two floors of retail space including restaurants and other services. 
The Savills team appointed to market Three Two Two King William consists of: Rino Carpinelli, Savills SA Managing Director, – Retail Leasing &amp; Sales Peter Isaksson, Savills SA Director Capital Transactions, – Commercial Office Sales Adam Hartley, Savills SA Director Office Leasing, – Office Leasing Steve Testar, Savills SA State Director Residential, – Residential Sales
For more information, <a href="https://www.karidis.com.au/developments/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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$275 million mixed-use development slated for Adelaide

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A Brunswick development site has been sold by Raine &amp; Horne at $1.2 million.
Its town planning permit consist of 10 generous two bedroom apartments, 1 one bedroom apartment and a 52sq metre office on the ground floor.
Set within walking distance to cosmopolitan Sydney Road, the <a href="https://www.rhcommercial.com.au/properties/15-breese-street-brunswick-3056-victoria-cd7744c8-1283-4440-958e-0cd86e076c66" target="_blank">Breese Street property</a> was offered by Raine &amp; Horne agent Tim Frian.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Brunswick development site sold by Raine & Horne Commercial

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
This May, urbanists around the world have been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jane Jacobs.
The American-Canadian author and activist’s spirited defence of inner-city neighbourhoods inspired a generation of urban activists and place-makers. So what might Jacobs have to teach a new generation of urbanists and planners?
Much of Jacobs' legacy stems from the successful “David and Goliath” campaigns she led in the late 1950s and 1960s against the development plans of Manhattan’s “master builder” Robert Moses.
Her first battle, to prevent an extension of Fifth Avenue that would have torn apart her beloved Washington Square Park, was followed by a series of protracted community campaigns. These ultimately saved some of Manhattan’s most iconic neighbourhoods – Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy – from “slum clearance” and demolition. 
At this time, many Americans were retreating to the suburbs, and city planners – epitomised by Moses, then head of the powerful Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, which managed vast tracts of land in New York City – imposed their “comprehensive city plans” on neighbourhoods, with scant input from local communities.
Working under the spell of Le Corbusier’s vision of the “Radiant City” (Ville Radieuse), planners like Moses saw themselves playing the heroic role of a city’s surgeon. They justified their radical urban plans through appeals to natural or scientific principle. For Le Corbusier, automobiles were machines of circulation, the “lifeblood of the 20th century”; cities needed them to avoid stagnation.
<h2>In love with the ‘sidewalk ballet’</h2>
Jacobs resisted this vision. In her first and most influential book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs attacked planners for ruining the cultures of cities. She saw the modernist vision of cities as:
"the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served."
Jacobs wrote:
When city designers try to find a design device that will express, in a clear and easy fashion, the ‘skeleton’ of city structure (expressways and promenades are current favourites for this purposes) they are on fundamentally the wrong track. A city’s very structure consists of a mixture of uses … We get close to its structural secrets when we deal with the conditions that generate diversity.
Instead of city spines and clean lines, she asked her readers to look more closely at what makes a street really work. She loved the “intricate sidewalk ballet”, a complex order that helped to maintain public safety and wellbeing through a “constant succession of eyes”.
The complexity of a place made it impossible to replicate.
The ballet of the good city never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place it is always replete with new observations.
Jacobs’ polemic against urban planning would become its orthodoxy. Death and Life has been required reading for students of urban planning for decades. Today they learn of the failed spaces created by modernist planners and the geographies of single-use enclaves and far-flung highways they spawned.
Jacobs' campaigning inspired urban activists around the world to stage protests in their own cities. This helped usher in a new era of citizen-centric planning frameworks.
As Saskia Sassen wrote recently, it was Jacobs who first urged the need to recognise the value of “place” when considering the implementation of urban policies.
<h2>Is Jane Jacobs still relevant or useful?</h2>
Although Jacobs is a profoundly influential figure in 20th-century urbanism, in many respects her radicalism can feel like it belongs to another era.
The Manhattan districts she fought to preserve represent some of the most expensive real estate in the world, so it’s hard to disagree that a city’s dense, historic core might be worth preserving. Economist Edward Glaeser talks about “Jacobs Spillovers” – the transfers of knowledge and activity that help to explain the generation of wealth in cities like New York and London.
Some might even ask: was Jacobs simply one of the first to fly the NIMBY flag against any developments taking place within the prized neighbourhoods they helped to gentrify?
But if we take a closer look at what Jacobs had to say – and how she said it– it becomes clear her ideas remain as radical and important as they were in the 1960s.
This is perhaps no more so than in relation to rise of the “smart city”.
<h2>Smart cities and the rise of a new urban science</h2>
Today’s smart cities are big business, powered by the potential for big data and the internet of things to improve the efficiencies of urban systems. Smart cities offer solutions to improve transport management, make better investment decisions, improve accountability and promote transparent decision-making.
The premise is that with so much data (big data) being produced, planners, governments and researchers can better understand cities as complex systems, and make better decisions about how they are planned and managed. 
This explosion of data in cities – from traffic data, through mobile communications data to sensor data capturing the behaviour of natural systems and the everyday uses of infrastructure assets – is giving rise to a new “urban science”.
This incorporates machine learning, predictive analytics and complexity science. Its champions – such as Mike Batty and Luis Bettencourt – argue that we are starting to see the emergence of Jacobs' “sidewalk ballet” in data-driven form.
But while the rise of big data and smart cities opens up possibilities for cities that were previously unthinkable, we should also be wary of the limitations.
<h2>The fine arts of urban observation</h2>
Jacobs wasn’t simply claiming that cities should be understood as complex systems.
At a perhaps deeper level, Jacobs was arguing against visions of the city over-determined by the technologies that produce them: for LeCorbusier, as for Moses, the view of the city enabled by the innovation of flight helped give rise to new urban utopias like the Radiant City.
In writing Death and Life, Jacobs was also resisting the dominance of expert knowledge about a city, in favour of a democracy of lived experiences and everyday insights. She once reflected that:
"learning and thinking about city streets and the trickiness of city parks launched me into an unexpected treasure hunt."
As a new generation of planners are taught of the possibilities of a data-driven urban science, we need to remember that Jacobs' love of the sidewalk ballet also gave voice to the multiple languages, meanings, experiences and knowledge systems that underpin a vibrant urban culture.
Not all of these can be rendered by data-driven systems. Hopefully, the best insights into a city’s infinite complexity won’t only be produced by those trained with the skills to generate insights from big data.
The “data exhaust” of our daily lives will increasingly shape the way cities are understood. Much work remains to be done to ensure a cities data infrastructure is valued as a fundamental public asset.
But I can hear Jacobs issuing a word of warning: don’t forget to keep taking unexpected treasure hunts through city parks and keep your eyes on the street (not on your phones!). And keep listening out for different lived experiences and ways of knowing a place – not only those that can be rendered real-time as the data flows of complex systems. 
Sarah Barns is Urban Studies Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-barns-110278" target="_blank">here</a>.
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What might Jane Jacobs say about smart cities?

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A developer has paid $8 million for a 1,194sqm site in South Melbourne with permit approval for an eight level mixed use development comprising 83 apartments and ground floor commercial space.
The site, 15-35 Thistlethwaite Street South Melbourne (above), was sold by Colliers International to a private Chinese developer with local ties.
Colliers International’s Hamish Burgess said interest in the Fishermans Bend precinct is going from strength to strength on the back of a number of projects in the precinct achieving strong pre-sales with encouraging sales rates.
"Plot ratio changes in the Melbourne CBD have also put further supply pressure on ‘developable’ land, making fringe precincts such as Fishermans Bend attractive alternatives,” he said.
Colleagues Andrew Ryan and Ted Dwyer sold a two level 953sqm office building at 11-21 Buckhurst Street to local developer Alpha14 for $5.5 million. 
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$8 million South Melbourne mixed use redevelopment sale

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SPONSORED POST
Sydney developer Longton Property Group is working on a $300 million Avantra apartment project in Mascot that is designed to imitate a suburban street, but going up instead of a horizontal orientation.
The 328-apartment complex plus ground floor retail has been designed with a sense of community by architects MD+A and interior designer Archer + Wright.
The apartment block will include communal areas such as a shared rooftop area in which residents can swim, barbeque and interact with views of the Sydney skyline.
Covering 8,762 square metres, Avantra is oriented vertically, akin to “streets in the sky”, according to MD+A architect Brent Marvin.  
“We have six metres between front doors which is typical of a small lane, and we have pocket parks at each level where residents can sit in the sun. Within the building we have areas where residents can work or socialise, entertainment zones, a full-scale pool and BBQ areas. Instead of these elements being spread out at ground level we have designed them in the sky,” he said.
Avantra will be centred around a large courtyard garden designed for communal use. The designer, Daniel Blaffsky of 360 Degree Landscape Architects, aimed to create a sense that “the whole area is your garden.”
“Our philosophy is to create a beautiful landscape, but also a setting for community, for people to have chance interactions, as well as to have spaces for privacy and to relax.”
Longton aims for Avantra to be a community unto itself.  
One way it achieves this is through technology: each apartment will come with an iPad and the myiButler app, with which residents will be able to order shopping or house cleaning without leaving their unit.
All Avantra residents will also be part of a single virtual network, or iCommunity, allowing them to share information. Residents will be able to check updates on news, weather or finance, to be accessed either on their phones or iPads, or on an electronic noticeboard in each lobby.
For more information on Avantra, <a href="https://www.avantra.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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Avantra homes in Sydney's Mascot akin to 'streets in the sky' 

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New Sky Group's 88 Melbourne tower, the $100 million 55 storey development, is being marketed as offering apartment homes, some 219 residences designed for empty nesters looking to transition from the family home.
The tower, designed by architectural practice Rothelowman in conjunction with KPDO, will be Melbourne’s first apartment building to feature hand-crafted kitchen appliances by Sub-Zero and Wolf. 
Rothelowman principal Chris Hayton said the building would be a timeless and elegant addition to Melbourne’s skyline and architecturally distinct due to its illuminated form. 
“88 Melbourne will have a sophisticated presence in the city and change the way people think of apartment living,” he said. 
“It will be an iconic Melbourne address and a lasting moment in the evolution of local architecture and how we design for changing life-stages.” 
Stage one of 88 Melbourne will release the tower’s first 42 levels followed by a second and final release of the building's remaining 12 levels in the coming months. 
88 Melbourne is the second project of Melbourne developer New Sky Group and primarily features two and three bedroom apartments, with 12 upper levels devoted to three-bedroom residences, sub-penthouses and two full-floor penthouses. 
KPDO director Kerry Phelan said 88 Melbourne translates the features of a luxury hotel into an apartment setting, with a key focus creating zoned living areas to enhance privacy and enjoyment. 
“Interiors have personality and encourage the display of objects collected during a life well travelled, rather than hidden away as many new apartment designs require, ” she said. 
The building also offers five-star resident facilities across a dual-height whole-floor space on level eight. This area is devoted to an indoor lap pool featuring a spa, steam room and sauna. 
A private wine cellar for residents features a tasting area and bar, plus its own private outdoor terrace.
The 88 Melbourne display suite can be seen at 88 Queensbridge Street, Southbank.
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New Sky Group creates first vertical community for empty nesters

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Globally, interest in national urban policy peaked in the late 1970s and declined sharply thereafter. The trend held true for Australia, peaking under the Whitlam government.
The decades after the Whitlam government produced a variety of federal housing and other urban policies. None had the scope of a national urban policy.
Not until 2011, with Labor’s Our Cities, Our Future, was a national urban policy launched. This did not mirror a similar resurgent interest in Western countries. These countries promote intergovernmental decentralisation, while Australia has increased centralisation.
Australian exceptionalism – both its “unique model of metropolitan governance” and its extreme <a href="https://theconversation.com/renewing-federalism-what-are-the-solutions-to-vertical-fiscal-imbalance-31422">vertical fiscal imbalance</a> (VFI) – provides the setting for federal policy that assumes the prerogatives of state and metropolitan urban policy.
<h2>Commonwealth role rarely challenged</h2>
Urban academics and professional organisations such as the Planning Institute of Australia celebrated Our Cities, Our Future – perhaps due to the increased prominence accorded urban affairs.
Few questioned the rationale for federal engagement in matters such as metropolitan strategic planning, infrastructure investment and housing. No significant urban outcomes can be attributed to Our Cities, Our Future.
Yet the policy environment at the time did have a legacy, following the creation in 2008 of Infrastructure Australia. In a context of VFI, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd sought to rationalise federal infrastructure funding based on the “business case” for projects. He tasked the COAG Reform Council with preparing guidelines for capital city strategic planning systems that would provide an “evidence base” for federal decision-making.
In 2014, the remit of Infrastructure Australia was expanded. It was to undertake an Australian Infrastructure Audit and prepare an Australian Infrastructure Plan. The plan, finalised in 2016, holds that:
The Australian government should drive change in the planning and operation of Australia’s cities through the use of Infrastructure Reform Incentives.
This approach would:
 …tie the provision of additional funding for infrastructure to the delivery of a range of city-based reforms, focused on improving the quality of planning, development and infrastructure across Australia’s cities.
This is an extraordinary assertion of power over planning for, and infrastructure investment in, cities. It has no constitutional foundation. VFI, however, frees the pens of the drafters of urban policy and the presumptions of their political masters.
Lest we forget, at the time the plan was being finalised, for 99 days there was a minister for cities and the built environment. Again, responding to the attention given to urban affairs, urban academics and professionals feted the creation of this position. No significant urban outcomes can be attributed to the ministry.
Following Jamie Briggs’ misadventure and the appointment of Angus Taylor as assistant minister for cities and digital transformation, the Smart Cities Plan was launched. Its potential significance is huge. Its ambition is to “rethink the way our cities are planned, built and managed”, with the Commonwealth to lead the rethinking.
<h2>So what’s in the latest plan?</h2>
The plan contains much that is interesting, but little that is substantial. It has the appearance more of a think-piece than a substantive policy document. Some prominent ideas are plugged in, then ignored.
An example is the “30-minute city”. It gets headlines, but it is difficult to identify what this adds to the urban agenda once the actual commitment to public transport is considered.
What the 30-minute city concept does do is reveal the extent of federal presumption about city planning. Can one really argue that this is the job of federal government?
Together, the Australian Infrastructure Plan and the Smart Cities Plan amount to a new national urban policy based on metropolitan strategic planning, infrastructure funding and City Deals.
While acknowledging the states' constitutional prerogatives to undertake metropolitan strategic and infrastructure planning and to implement projects, VFI makes federal presumptions possible. The views of a metropolitan community of interests are not a consideration.
The federal commitment is to:
<ul>
<li>
A$50 million for infrastructure planning;
</li>
<li>
establish an infrastructure financing unit; and
</li>
<li>
invite state and territory governments to partner the Commonwealth on City Deals.
</li>
</ul>
Any federal discussion about financing infrastructure in Australia’s cities is interesting and the Smart Cities Plan does appear to presage innovative public and private financing opportunities.
As for City Deals, these are to be based on federal and state/territory partnerships to “drive national priorities tailored to local needs”. So, at the local level, national priorities prevail. The federal government knows best.
In the UK, City Deals are premised on “devolution” and the creation of metropolitan governments. Deals are negotiated with local and metropolitan governments and business leaders, with reference to civil society as well. Metropolitan governments are seen as desirable because it is believed the economic growth of cities is best promoted by city leadership.
However, neither Labor nor Coalition conceptions of national urban policy envisage city leadership serving a metropolitan constituency. Representative, revenue-generating metropolitan government, which can enter the infrastructure finance market, would threaten federal and state power and influence.
<h2>How can federal policy make a difference?</h2>
There are two preconditions for effective federal engagement in urban policy.
The first is a policy that survives the next election. Because the Labor and Coalition approaches incorporate urban issues from local to federal, they are essentially political treatises. Long-lived policies are unlikely.
The second precondition is to recognise that most policies are urban in a country that is 90% urban. The unintended urban consequences of federal policies have outweighed those of policies having urban intent. Examples include negative gearing, immigration and climate-change policies. The criterion of urban consequences should be integral to federal policy formation.
A federal concern with urban policy requires locating responsibility and funding for policies to the level of government where they are most effectively addressed. Often this will be at a metro scale. It is then best undertaken by metropolitan government.
Rather than tied infrastructure and social grants, untied fiscal decentralisation is desirable. Australia should welcome policy and expenditure differences, experimentation and mutual learning among metros.
The way forward is to consider what level of government is best placed to resolve contested urban issues, in partnership with the private sector and civil society.
A federal urban policy should be limited to issues that explicitly require federal intervention. The determination of these issues will be subject to debate. But the operating assumption should be federal policy modesty in relation to states and cities, devolution of responsibilities, and fiscal decentralisation.
Richard Tomlinson is professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-tomlinson-10016" target="_blank">here</a>.
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New name, new look for latest national urban policy, but same old problem

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The Malaysian property grouo SP Setia has spent around $10 million on an 850-square-metre development site in Prahran, Melbourne. 
The 103-105 High Street site is close to Chapel and Greville streets.
It came with approvals for a seven-level mixed-use project with ground-floor retail, an office floor and 63 car spaces.
It is SP Setia's fourth land purchase in Melbourne. 
Colliers International's Hamish Burgess marketed the property.
The site's private seller bought it for $6.2 million in 2014, realising more than 60 percent in return, selling at a unit rate of $212,766.
The architects Rothelowman are working on the project.
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