A landmark former orphanage site in Surrey Hills could be transformed into a new residential community under plans lodged by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/antipodean-land-developments">Antipodean Land Developments</a> that would deliver 76 apartments and townhouses while restoring some of the suburb's most significant heritage buildings.

The burgeoninng Melbourne-based developer has submitted plans for the 9,158 sqm site at 1 Kent Road and 24 Durham Road, home to the former St Joseph's Home for Destitute Children, a historic institutional complex dating back to the late 19th century. The proposal seeks to adaptively reuse several heritage buildings while introducing two new four-storey residential buildings set within extensive landscaped grounds.

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/woods-bagot">Woods Bagot</a> and Kerstin Thompson Architects, the project has been conceived as a contemporary residential village embedded within a restored heritage precinct. The development team describes the design approach as "The Village in the Garden," with new buildings positioned among mature landscaping by OCULUS and significant heritage structures.

<img alt="First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led apartment community in Surrey Hills" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="44ec8c1b-c0b6-44ae-859e-5811b3e6a023" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%281%29.png?VersionId=p.p1_KFh4iQoV4nisdnPfQBAsWNi7m79" />

The proposal would deliver 76 dwellings comprising a mix of apartments and duplex-style residences, significantly increasing housing supply on one of the largest privately held residential landholdings in Surrey Hills. The development includes 127 car spaces, 24 bicycle spaces and more than 1,000 sqm of communal amenity, with the existing chapel building earmarked for conversion into resident facilities.

According to the planning submission, the project centres on the restoration and adaptive reuse of the site's most significant heritage assets, including the original c.1889 St Joseph's building, the chapel designed by architect Augustus Andrew Fritsch, and the historic brick perimeter walls and entry gates. The proposal also incorporates the retention of other contributory buildings including the former infirmary and school building.

Tract Consultants, in the planning report accompanying the application, said the scheme had been shaped through extensive heritage analysis and design development.

"The shared vision for the Site by the project team has culminated in a scheme which successfully breathes life back into a historic site while delivering upon the objectives of Victoria's Housing Statement in a carefully curated and contextually responsive manner."

<img alt="First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led apartment community in Surrey Hills" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7263b7d8-95ea-400f-9531-6ca7d22c3c33" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%282%29.png?VersionId=4cR1tiWOsDpgxEOwZi5vVFcyvvOsYkIE" />

The proposal is being assessed under Victoria's Significant Residential Development with Affordable Housing pathway. As part of the application, three per cent of the project's residential development cost would be contributed to the Social Housing Growth Fund. The development would also provide a diverse mix of one, two and three-bedroom residences targeting a broader range of buyers than typically found in Surrey Hills' detached housing market.

Sustainability initiatives include an anticipated 66 per cent BESS score, natural cross-ventilation to 80 per cent of apartments, 28 per cent deep soil landscaping and a canopy cover outcome exceeding local planning requirements. The proposal also sets aside more than 1,083 sqm for communal indoor and outdoor resident amenity spaces.

<img alt="First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led apartment community in Surrey Hills" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="33fad46f-fe26-4d0a-acfd-6b776e1c6a3d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Untitled%20design.png?VersionId=D9F6WVSyYCtGvSUmith35LRp6R7PQkw_" />

Planning documents describe the property as one of the largest underutilised residential sites in Surrey Hills, arguing it presents a rare opportunity to introduce "missing middle" housing in an established inner-eastern suburb while preserving and revitalising a significant heritage precinct.

Antipodean Land Developments has built a reputation for design-focused residential projects across Melbourne, particularly in the medium-density sector. Previous developments include Neighbourhood in Brunswick East, delivered with Breathe Architecture, and Balfe Park Lane, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

They've been very active in site acquisition as they build out their future development pipeline. They recently launched Thornubury House, 45 apartments above a mix of commercial, retail, and food and beverage tenancies, and have plans for a boutique project in Fitzroy and another <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/vic/antipodean-plan-apartments-for-deepdenes-missing-middle-on-whitehorse-road">"missing middle" project</a> on Deepdene's Whitehorse Road.

Joel Robinson

First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led apartment community in Surrey Hills

Developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/auyin-property-development">Auyin</a> is the latest to turn to the Victorian Government's Development Facilitation Program in an effort to secure approval for its long-planned, mixed-use project in Elsternwick.

In 2018, Auyin lodged plans with Glen Eira City Council for a 14-storey building, however Council approved a reduced eight-storey scheme. A subsequent VCAT appeal in 2019 upheld the eight-storey height limit.

The project was later amended to nine storeys, but Auyin is now seeking to revive something closer to its original vision. The developer argues that the planning context has evolved significantly over the past decade, particularly within the Elsternwick Activity Centre, where higher-density development has increasingly been encouraged along Glen Huntly Road.

The proposal would transform the 1,239 sqm site at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/7-12-horne-street-elsternwick-vic-3185">7-15 Horne Street</a>, opposite Elsternwick Railway Station, into a 13-storey residential and retail development designed by CBG Architects, with 40 apartments

The site currently comprises three commercial properties.

<img alt="First look: 13-storey mixed-use tower planned for Elsternwick activity centre" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5f465dd4-509b-4082-a669-0253b313914b" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/elsternwick%20podium.png?VersionId=72frWi0SmQ5AVJ3ARRhX5ILUYObhTm7x" />

The proposed apartment mix comprises 25 two-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom residences above 200 sqm of retail space at ground level. Residents would have access to a 90 sqm wellness facility, a 351 sqm communal indoor and outdoor terrace on the third level, and extensive landscaped areas throughout the development. A publicly accessible 135 sqm plaza would be created on the north-east corner of the site, providing seating, landscaping, and a new gathering space adjoining Horne Street.

The design adopts a four-storey podium that references the finer-grain character of the surrounding streetscape, with the upper tower recessed behind generous setbacks on all boundaries.

<img alt="First look: 13-storey mixed-use tower planned for Elsternwick activity centre" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e637e763-2abc-4c34-a0aa-5c7ad36fae18" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/elsternwick%20open.png?VersionId=J1AoOpZgTyaF.KeeFSX6lMjEScX8KKRi" />

A key element of the proposal is the reconfiguration and widening of the surrounding laneways. Vehicle access would be retained from Lois Lane, with upgraded pedestrian connections linking Ross Street and Horne Street. The development would provide 58 residential car spaces, two retail car spaces, and 52 bicycle spaces across two basement levels and ground-floor facilities.

Architecturally, the building draws inspiration from the established character of Elsternwick Village. The façade combines dark charcoal brickwork, textured concrete, bronze-toned metal detailing, and extensive planting integrated into podium and tower levels. The design also incorporates a chamfered corner treatment and publicly accessible plaza intended to strengthen pedestrian activity around the station precinct.

Elsternwick's last new development completion was&nbsp;EVA Elsternwick by Pitard late last year. <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/milieu-property">Milieu</a> is working away on its nature-led neighbourhood, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/elsternwick-gardens-by-milieu-8-gordon-street-elsternwick-vic-3185">Elsternwick Gardens</a>, on Gordon Street, with its first stage expected to complete next year.

First look: Auyin seeks mixed-use apartment project in growing Elsternwick Activity Centre

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/otium-parkdale-123-125-como-parade-east-parkdale-vic-3195">Otium Parkdale</a>, the 13-residence boutique development by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/huxtable-property">Huxtable Property</a>, has entered its final stages of delivery, with completion expected within the coming month and more than half of the residences sold.

The Como Parade East project is nearing the finish line at a time when opportunities to purchase new apartments in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/parkdale-vic-3195">Parkdale</a> remain exceptionally limited. Fewer than 10 per cent of dwellings in the bayside suburb are apartments, making developments like Otium a relatively rare addition to a market traditionally dominated by detached housing.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134974 project_image_fid=5427]

The three-level development comprises 13 residences, including ten two-bedroom apartments and three larger three-bedroom homes, all positioned above a secure basement car park.

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/almeida-architects">Almeida Architects</a> with a strong connection to its coastal surroundings, Otium combines red brick, exposed concrete and dark metal detailing with integrated landscaping and greenery. Expansive glazing, generous balconies and terraces have been incorporated throughout the design to maximise natural light and reinforce indoor-outdoor living.

Inside, the residences feature engineered European oak flooring, natural and reconstituted stone benchtops, Bosch kitchen appliances, ducted heating and cooling, lift access and secure entry systems. The larger three-bedroom residences on the upper level have been designed with house-like proportions, while the two-bedroom apartments prioritise functionality, flexibility and low-maintenance living.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134974 project_image_fid=5421]

The project is now in its final stages, with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/labco">Labco</a> completing the remaining landscaping and external finishing works following the completion of the residences' interiors.

Otium's location within the heart of Parkdale continues to underpin its appeal. Residents will be just steps from local cafés, restaurants, shops and the newly elevated Parkdale Station, while the beach is less than a kilometre away.

With the project tracking ahead of schedule, buyers can currently secure a residence with a five per cent deposit and benefit from settlement terms of up to eight months. The advanced stage of construction also provides buyers with the opportunity to walk through the near-complete residences and experience the quality and finishes firsthand ahead of completion.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134974]

Otium Parkdale enters final month before completion as rare apartment opportunity nears sellout

A new boutique apartment development is entering the market in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/chermside-qld-4032">Chermside</a>, with Brisbane-based developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/ausdev">Ausdev</a> bringing 33 residences to a well-connected pocket of Brisbane's north.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/parkdrive-apartments-chermside-25-sammells-drive-chermside-qld-4032">Parkdrive Apartments</a>, at 25 Sammells Drive, will comprise a mix of one- and two-bedroom residences positioned within walking distance of Westfield Chermside, The Prince Charles Hospital, and Bradbury Park.

Established in 1989, Ausdev has a long-standing presence across both development and construction, with Parkdrive Apartments representing its latest residential project in Brisbane's northern suburbs.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152125 project_image_fid=363778]

The development has been designed around open-plan living and natural light, with residences featuring stone benchtops, timber cabinetry, BOSCH appliances, and private balconies that extend the living areas outdoors.

Kitchens are positioned as the centrepiece of the homes, incorporating natural material palettes and integrated appliances, while bathrooms have been designed with a focus on functionality and understated finishes.

Residents will have access to a communal barbecue and entertaining area on Level 3, providing shared outdoor space within the development. Secure parking and lift access are also incorporated into the building.

The project will deliver a limited collection of 33 apartments, with one-bedroom residences priced from $749,000.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152125 project_image_fid=363782]

Beyond the building itself, the location places residents within easy reach of several of Chermside's key amenities. Bradbury Park is around 350 metres away, while Westfield Chermside is approximately 1.3 kilometres from the site. The Prince Charles Hospital is located within 750 metres, and the Chermside Bus Interchange is around 1.5 kilometres away, providing connections across Brisbane.

Parkdrive Apartments adds to the growing residential pipeline in Chermside, a suburb that continues to evolve as a major retail, healthcare, and transport hub for Brisbane's north.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152125]

Ausdev introduces boutique Parkdrive Apartments to Chermside's growing centre

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/skymark-group">Skymark</a>'s boutique Cronulla development Solis has secured a 10-year Latent Defects Insurance policy through Resilience Insurance, providing buyers of the 16-residence building on Ewos Parade with structural and waterproofing protection that extends a decade beyond the building's completion.

Currently under construction and due for completion in late 2027, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/solis-cronulla-8-ewos-parade-cronulla-nsw-2230">Solis</a> is one of a small number of new developments in the Sutherland Shire to carry Resilience LDI coverage, a distinction that carries increasing weight as buyer confidence in the off-the-plan sector continues to be shaped by how developers stand behind their product.

Latent Defects Insurance, which entered the Australian market in 2022 when Resilience Insurance was approved to offer the cover, protects buyers against major structural or waterproofing defects for ten years post-completion. Unlike traditional statutory warranties, it operates as a first-resort policy, if a covered defect arises, the insurer responds directly, without the buyer needing to pursue the builder or developer through a lengthy claims process.

Resilience Insurance CEO Corey Nugent has noted that the product addresses something fundamental to the new apartment market.

"The overarching feedback from prospective buyers in the new development space is that they want more confidence and assurances around the quality of the build," Nugent says.

"Resilience Insurance Latent Defects Insurance not only gives them complete peace of mind for 10 years, but it shows the developer they are buying from is standing by their product."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150499 project_image_fid=370898]

For Solis, the Resilience LDI policy adds a meaningful layer of accountability to an already considered project. The development comprises nine two-bedroom and seven three-bedroom residences, including one dual-level three-bedroom apartment, across a five-storey building on Ewos Parade, positioned between Shelly Beach and South Cronulla.

Garden apartments connect directly to private landscaped courtyards, while upper-level homes capture beach views to the east from level four and above.&nbsp;

All 16 residences include at least one balcony or courtyard, and select apartments on the upper floors feature bar areas and secondary flexible living spaces.

Hiba Sander, Managing Director of Skymark, says Solis offers a rare balance, nestled between the quiet beauty of secluded beaches and the lively charm of South Cronulla's esplanade.

"It's a place to choose your pace and live gracefully, seaside'," Sander says.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150499 project_image_fid=370900]

The architecture, designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/ida-design-group">IDA Design Group</a>'s Michael Trinh, draws from the natural erosion patterns of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/cronulla-nsw-2230">Cronulla</a>'s sandstone headlands, translating the organic forms of the coastline into soft curves, pavilion-style massing, and a material palette chosen for longevity in a salt-tinged environment.&nbsp;

Textured natural stone, soft renders, and timber-look battens reference the tones of the surrounding cliffs, while the building has been oriented to maximise natural light and passive ventilation, with primary living spaces facing north and east to capture morning sun and sea breezes.

"At Solis, our aim was to create architecture that feels quietly confident, grounded in natural materials like stone and timber, and elevated by light and landscape," Trinh says.&nbsp;

"The buildings are designed to sit gently within their coastal surrounds, with expansive glazing and abundant greenery creating a seamless dialogue between inside and out."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150499 project_image_fid=370897]

Interiors by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/hot-black">Hot Black</a> carry the same material language through to every room. Kitchens feature integrated Gaggenau appliances, sculpted stone benchtops, and Lo &amp; Co joinery, while bathrooms feature natural stone, timber, and brushed metal finishes.&nbsp;

Hot Black Founder and Design Director Sophie Safrin describes the intent as one of considered restraint: "At Solis, every detail has been thoughtfully considered to create a timeless coastal retreat, calm, refined, and effortlessly liveable. From natural finishes to seamless indoor-outdoor flow, Solis offers a quiet elegance that's deeply connected to its surroundings.

The landscape, designed by Julian Brady of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/sitedesignstudios">Site Design Studios</a>, treats green space as an integral part of the resident experience rather than an afterthought.&nbsp;

"Gentle curves and layered native plantings mirror the ebb and flow of the ocean," Julian Brady says, "creating a serene connection between architecture and place."&nbsp;

Coco Republic has provided bespoke furniture packages tailored to the project's coastal palette.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150499 project_image_fid=370899]

Skymark has an established track record in the Sutherland Shire, with a portfolio spanning Cronulla, Woolooware and Burraneer that includes Isla, Sylva, Bask, Shells, Sula and Mist. Securing LDI on Solis reflects a broader shift in how the developer is positioning its buildings to buyers, at a time when Resilience Insurance expects the policy to become mandatory in New South Wales by 2028.

Sales at Solis are launching soon through Ray White Projects, with an official event scheduled for 11 June. Enquire for more information.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150499]

Skymark takes out 10-year Resilience Insurance LDI at Solis Cronulla

Urban Living

<html><body>
COVID-19 is challenging many conventions within urban development across the globe.
While the pandemic is seeing Australians adopt unprecedented social distancing measures, potential lockdowns require residents to live, work, learn, and shop for daily needs and undertake passive recreational activities within their own neighbourhoods.
One of Australia’s leading urban planners and designers believes that the crisis will spur governments, urban planners and developers to think more seriously about creating more healthly, resilient, self-sufficient, attainable and liveable communities in 2021 and beyond. 
Globally, since the beginning of 2020, we have witnessed a significant reduction in carbon emission levels in China and the United States due to limited numbers of people comuting to work in cars.
Moreover, employees of an array of businesses are rapidly becoming proficient in video conferencing from home. This has effectively reduced congestion and removed the need for the debilitating daily commute.
Residents now have time in the morning and the evening to walk, run and cycle in and around their neighbourhoods. Two instructive, institutional recreational amenities, Melbourne’s ‘Tan Track’, the 3.8 kilometre uninterrupted recreational trail around the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the walking and cycling Capital City Trail along the Yarra River, both of which prohit access by cars and bikes has, since the pandemic, become a a mecca for walking and jogging.
Mike Day is Co-founder and Director of award-winning Australian urban planning and design practice RobertsDay (<a href="https://www.robertsday.com.au/">robertsday.com.au</a>) and a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia.
He says most of the master-planned communities in Australia that have recently been approved or under construction follow the conventional suburban model of the 1970-1990s in which residential areas are beyond walking distance of shops, jobs and open space areas. Mike believes Australia needs to undergo a complete rethink of community design, one that is aligned with timeless urbanist principles to enable our planners and urbandevelopers to shape and deliver transit based, mixed-use, walkable urban neighbourhoods.
Mike says: “The issue that we see in many Australian cities, especially in the outer suburbs, is the frequent emergence of monocultural suburban housing developments that are not connected or walkable. Many of these areas have limited public transit connections to remote business centres, which compels residents to use a car to get around; and residents have sparse green spaces to share across expansive suburbs. 
Mike cites RobertsDay’s celebrated, Ellenbrook new town, on Perth’s north-eastern fringe as one of the best examples of a self-sufficient and livable community. 
Ellenbrook is Australia’s most awarded new town, with over 30 state and national awards, including the 2015 FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Award from the International Real Estate Federation for the World’s Best Masterplanned Community. 
It is a masterplanned community that will ultimately deliver 11,500 dwellings, approximately 8000 jobs and be home to over 30,000 people when the last phase – Ellenbrook Town Centre – is complete by around 2025.
It is one of the largest and fastest growing new town developments in Australia. Ellenbrook has spearheaded reforms on many fronts, including: the structuring and design of mixed use and connected neighbourhoods, each designed to support local identity, walking/cycling and a genuine sense of place and community, and a town centre that successfully assimilates an open-air, main street mixed-use strip with an enclosed shopping centre environment.
Each neighbourhood has its own discernable civic centre and community hub, a well defined edge, and contains spaces and services that provide resident’s daily needs within talking distance, providing indepence of movement and to help resident’s stay connected.
Mike says that Australia needs to focus on the importance of creating new neighbourhoods in our urban growth areas where essential services – schools, shops, and workplaces – are provided early in the life of these ventures, easily reached from home on foot or by bike, and where the aim is not only to provide housing affordability but also attainable and over liveability.
“Nearly all Australian suburban neighbourhoods priorise vehicles over pedestrians. As the cost of owning and running cars in the growth areas of our capital cities is beginning to exceed the cost of housing, ‘liveability’ – rather than ‘affordability’ – has become the new catch cry.
"In self-sufficient cherished inner city neighbourhoods of our capital cities, where there are often mixed-use developments, such as townhouses and residential apartments, serviced by trams or trains and built above shops, residents can leave their homes to get their groceries on a daily basis – without relying on the car. Coupled with this increased level of walkability, is the need to provide a diverse range of civic spaces and parks, which give these communities a unique sense of, intimacy, identity and soul.” 
He adds: “In light of the deep societal challenges posed by the coronavirus, I predict more mixed-use developments will emerge to create self-contained communities built around pedestrians, cyclists, and ‘light’ modes of public transport, such as e-bikes, trackless trams, and small scale electric buses. Australians in their teens and 20s, in particular, will drive the demand for more compact, connected, mixed-use, liveable neighbourhoods that have these characteristics.”
Mike Day reveals the qualities that make up seven liveable ‘urbanised’ neighbourhoods in Australia’s metropolitan growth areas: 
The Village in Wellard, Perth. A sustainable master-planned development situated only 30 minutes from Perth’s CBD, The Village has a diverse range of housing types to cater for the growing and varied demographic population mix in Perth, which is moving towards 3.5 million by 2050.[1] With almost 30 hectares of natural bushland and wetlands, it provides a variety of landscape parks, walking trails and nature retreats that encourage residents to walk and ride bikes – as an alternative to driving. Wellard Station Train is central to the urban neighbourhood, and includes a K-12 Anglican community school and early learning centre. The Heart Foundation has produced an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIl970o-zSM" target="_blank">exceptional video</a> of the preventative health benefits of living in The Village at Wellard and <a href="https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/case-studies/the-village-at-wellard" target="_blank">published their findings</a> on the benefits of living in the Village. Mike says: “Liveable outer-suburban neighbourhoods must be connected with sustainable forms of transport – and The Village ticks this box.”
Lightsview in Adelaide. A multi-award-winning master-planned property development by RenewalSA and Peet, Lightsview, which is forecast to be completed next year, is designed on the philosophy that where you live should be inspirational. It brings together a variety of housing options, from townhouses to apartments to studios, which are designed to maximise light and space. Residents also benefit from increased walkability, with extensive parks and reserves within 300m of every dwelling, tennis facilities, and bus routes to encourage residents to use public transport. Additionally, residents have childcare facilities and cafes and restaurants located within the neighbourhood, while shopping centres and schools are within walking and cycling distance.  
Fitzgibbon Chase in Brisbane. Designed by the Urban Land Development Authority/ Economic Development Queensland in consultation with Brisbane City Council, Fitzgibbon Chase is a vibrant, walkable, inclusive community that is set among natural bushland and centred around a multipurpose park. Its 1300 residents have everything they need from local schools, train station and bus routes just minutes away, shopping centres, health and fitness venues, cafes and local clubs – all with the goal of encouraging them to participate in their neighbourhood. 
Rouse Hill Town Centre. Rouse Hill Town Centre, located along Windsor Road in the Baulkham Hills Local Government Area, developed by the GPT Group. The urban hub combines the traditional values and streetscape of a contemporary town centre with the latest, residential, business, shopping, dining and lifestyle choices, and has set a new standard for transit based, sustainable, mixed-use developments. By integrating shops and cafes on the ground level of apartment buildings, residents are within walking distance of these services, and they have developed a sense of community from being closer together. Residents within the Rouse Hill Town Centre are also conveniently located between two metro stations – Tallawong and Rouse Hill – and a public school, both within 2km from the development. This is crucial to liveability. 
Laurimar in Doreen, Greater Melbourne. Mike is firmly of the view that the most liveable neighbourhoods recognise walking as the privileged or preferred mode of transport. This is the concept behind Laurimar – a new Lendlease community in Doreen, 30km north of Melbourne’s CBD. Laurimar was designed with the intention that residents live within walking distance to the Town Centre – this includes a supermarket, medical precinct, bank, gym and day spa, post office, restaurants, cafes and wine bar, and other specialty stores. Laurimar Primary School and Larimar Child Care and Early Learning Centre are also centrally located within the neighbourhood, enabling families to walk with their children to school, community facilities and shops. As a result, Laurimar evokes the friendliness and charm of Melbourne’s traditional ‘high streets’, while maintaining a community country feel. It also has 20km of walking, hike and bike trails.
Harvest Edge, Atwell Perth. Harvest Edge is an award-winning urban neighbourhood set within Landcorp’s Harvest Lakes project – WA’s first large-scale Greensmart community. Bringing the benefits of city living to the suburbs, the defining challenge of this project was to bring the amenity of inner-city living to the southern suburbs of Perth. Rarely achieved in practice, a diverse range of townhouses, maisonettes and apartments were integrated into the existing suburban development. A short walk to both the Harvest Lakes town centre and the Success train station, Harvest Edge demonstrates how well executed transit oriented developments can be a community and commercial success in a greenfield setting. A core part of the project’s success was a unique alliance the State’s urban developer built with a leading Perth townhouse and cottage home builder, and its focus on the quality and diversity of parks and public spaces. 
Cockburn Central West in Perth. The configuration of this mixed-use site, containing 1100 dwellings, by Development WA, has been significantly influenced by the the landscape. Mike says that by embracing walkable urbanism and sustainable transport modes the urban hub has been designed to foster liveability as residents will feel at home in a mixed use urban setting encircled by the natural landscape. Residents have access to a public oval, parks and wetlands, with Cockburn Central West also home to the Fremantle Dockers Football Club. Shops, restaurants and cafes, and businesses have been designed around the sporting hub. Designing buildings that frame and enhance quality public spaces, striving for design excellence and sustainable development – which Development WA is doing – is also an integral part of this new urban community.
</body></html>

j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

How resilient, walkable and self-sufficient communities could be shaped in COVID-19's wake

<html><body>
EXPERT OBSERVER
Australia’s urban areas contain disproportionately more threatened species than non-urban areas. In fact, recent research shows that 30 percent of Australia's <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about/epbc-act-lists" target="_blank">EPBC-listed threatened species</a>, or a total of 370 species, come from our cities and towns. These ﬁndings highlight and reinforce the global significance of planning, designing, procuring and managing urban landscapes to conserve and enhance biodiversity. 
21st century cities are awe inspiring in their complexity and scale, and in the context of climate change they can appear excessive, overwhelming and unmanageable. Climate change challenges the public’s capacity to make sense of the world, but for landscape architects who work between representation and reality, it’s our responsibility to make sense of the city. 
George Marshall in his 2014 book Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change, emphasises the importance of creating proximity to help address this existential threat, “to design for the here and now, not for future threats, far away people and non-humans”.  
But the earth’s ecosystems are declining at rates unprecedented in human history, and species’ extinctions are accelerating, with potentially grave impacts for people around the world. One million of the world’s species are now under threat of extinction, according to the biggest-ever review of the state of nature on Earth - this is no longer a future threat, this is our here and now.  
For Marshall our sense of loss looks backwards not forwards; people are, it seems, more motivated to restore lost environmental quality than they are to improve current environmental quality. Through considered integrated planning and design at a range of scales we can use green or living infrastructure to restore these past losses. Living infrastructure incorporates biological systems to provide environmental, social and economic benefits and reduce harm to natural systems. 
By designing living infrastructure, we can create new buildings, landscapes and infrastructure that combine nature and technology to create 21st century cities that capture the public imagination. By incorporating living infrastructure, we can foreground sensation to help people make sense of the world around them, drawing on our shared human affinity with nature not abstraction, and restoring our connection with each other and our environment. We can help to restore temperatures and reduce related morbidity and mortality; restore energy consumption levels and reduce costs; restore physical and mental wellbeing, and community cohesion, productivity and concentration; restore urban ecologies, habitat and hydrological systems and air quality and learn from <a href="http://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/news/connecting-victorian-kids-with-indigenous-culture-and-the-environment" target="_blank">indigenous culture</a> and “ways of viewing, interacting with and respecting nature.” 
Living infrastructure provides a strategic approach to conserving and enhancing ecological and biological functions across a range of urban scales from a suburb to a metropolitan region.
A living infrastructure strategy for enhancing biodiversity can support planning and land use decision making. Many challenges facing urban environments demand collaborative responses that are cross jurisdictional and cross disciplinary in nature. A strategic living infrastructure approach to evaluating, prioritising and resourcing actions and interventions is essential to conserving and enhancing ecological and biological resources. Living infrastructure helps to regulate and support the flow of water, energy, materials and organisms that maintain urban ecological functions.
Urban development generates high amounts of pollution, and according to <a href="https://oceanprotect.com.au/" target="_blank">Ocean Protect</a> 80 percent of ocean plastic comes from land-based resources, with the lack of stormwater treatment assets and the inadequate maintenance of those assets increasing this prevalence of plastic. By setting tangible targets and improving the design, installation and maintenance of stormwater treatment assets within urban developments, we can reduce the significant detrimental impact of urban development on marine biodiversity.
According to Sarah Bekessy, Professor/ARC Future Fellow at RMIT University, measuring biodiversity is difficult, but “critical to demonstrate value, for transparency and accountability and to monitor and evaluate outcomes”. Similarly Dr Arne Geschke, from the Integrated Sustainability Analysis School of Physics, Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, recommends that we need to start to understanding the biodiversity footprint of our urban developments by assessing the expenditure of projects, linking those expenditure categories to the biodiversity supply chain framework and plugging that data into supply chain calculations.
Landscapes are an integral part of our networked cities whether for recreation, movement, habitat or a sense of place. The coalescence of private ownership and the existential threat of climate change demand the reconceptualization of urban development to unlock their true public value. Ecological systems don’t discern between public and private and no one government agency, private corporation or professional discipline can deal with this complexity. 
The evolution of planning mechanisms, whether codified or discretionary, incentivised or mandatory, have necessitated rigorous needs assessments across Australia. As we develop massive swathes of Australia we need to utilise these assessments to avoid, minimise and offset, in order to protect, maintain and advance biodiversity. International initiatives like Seattle’s Green Factor, China’s Sponge City and the London Plan illustrate how we can combine the diversification of public space with improvements to landscape character and ecological performance.
AILA is calling on the Australian Government to develop a living infrastructure strategy and strengthen its draft Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2018-2030 to set tangible, measurable targets for the protection and enhancement of Australia’s biodiversity. The Government needs to accelerate its work with state, territory and local governments, non-government organisations, tertiary institutions and community groups to ensure the resilience of our cities and our communities, and to further protect our native species habitat.
We can’t design our way out of massive uncertainty, but we can advocate, innovate and legislate to put the environment not just people, at the centre of place-making. We need to engage Australians in the fundamental decisions being made about our landscapes and in difficult conversations about the future of our cities.
Claire Martin is a Board Director of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, an Associate Director of OCULUS Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, a contributing editor of Landscape Architecture Australia, a member of the Office of the Victorian Government Architect’s Victorian Design Review Panel and RMIT University’s Landscape Architecture Industry Advisory Committee. 
 
</body></html>

jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Restoring past losses: The biodiversity emergency

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
When we think about public spaces, we often imagine large open areas such as squares and parks. The humble footpath is overlooked, although it is an equally if not more important public space for urban social life. Every day, most people will at some point use a footpath. Their ubiquity makes them a fundamental part of cities.
Due to their narrow form and seemingly undesigned nature, it is easy to neglect footpaths. Urban design research tends to favour the bigger picture of streets and streetscapes, or focus on architectural elements such as building forms and frontages. And planning policies tend to treat footpaths as road and transport assets, rather than as public space.
However, footpaths in urban areas support complex social systems and a wide variety of uses. They are a vital public space and deserve more attention in the planning and design of our cities.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271273/original/file-20190428-194612-4a3g50.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Daily life on Footscray’s Paisley Street. Yvonne Meng, Author provided
The case for footpaths
In rapidly densifying suburbs such as Footscray in Melbourne’s inner west, footpaths can become a valuable asset to accommodate daily life. Of the 23 hectares that make up Footscray’s commercial core, only 1% is public open space⁠. This is well below the <a href="https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Building-planning/Current-and-future-planning/Strategies-and-policies/Open-Space-Strategy" target="_blank">9.9% average</a> in the wider City of Maribyrnong area.
Despite the lack of public open space in Footscray, activity on the streets is lively due to a <a href="https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC20929" target="_blank">diverse social and cultural mix</a> and changing tempo of street activity.
Gentrification, population growth and multi-storey apartment developments are rapidly changing the physical and demographic landscape. Over the next 20 years <a href="https://forecast.id.com.au/maribyrnong" target="_blank">Footscray’s population is forecast to grow by 153.19%⁠</a>. This means more people will need access to limited public space.
There are efforts to create more open space in Footscray. For example, in 2016 the City of Maribyrnong <a href="https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/News/Little-Saigon-Plaza-Carpark-open-in-Footscray-BID-Grants-awarded" target="_blank">redeveloped an open-lot car park at Byron Street</a> as a multilevel car park with an adjacent plaza. However, solutions of this sort have limitations because publicly owned and underdeveloped land is not readily available.
If we rethink definitions of public space to include footpaths, we can start to establish these as spaces for social interaction rather than merely paths for getting from A to B.
More than walking
Modern footpaths are relatively recent urban space. In Western cities, records of footpaths date back to the third century BC, but only in the <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22716510?q=Spiro+Kostof%2C++The+City+Assembled%E2%80%AF%3A+&amp;c=book&amp;sort=holdings+desc&amp;_=1556848373536&amp;versionId=181963025" target="_blank">mid-18th century did they become prevalent in Europe</a>. Before this there was <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sidewalks" target="_blank">no real physical separation between pedestrians and the carriageway</a>.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271277/original/file-20190428-194616-b9yuyc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271277/original/file-20190428-194616-b9yuyc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Paisley Street shops in Footscray, where part of the footpath becomes an internalised space. Yvonne Meng, Author provided
In Melbourne, footpaths were scarce at the time the <a href="https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/hoddlegridheritage" target="_blank">Hoddle Grid</a> was laid in 1837. Not until the 1880s were the city’s footpaths <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/229576802?q&amp;versionId=252404600" target="_blank">properly paved</a>.
In their most pragmatic form, footpaths provide a safe zone for people to walk, away from moving traffic. However, they can also be an extension of the abutting buildings. Retail goods spill out in front of shops and on kerbs, creating internalised regions. Cafes set up chairs and tables for patrons to sit outside, extending trade into the public realm.
In addition, people use footpaths to congregate or socialise. There are buskers, beggars, authorities, people waiting for transport, or simply those taking a moment to stop.
As a result, footpaths are an ever-changing hybrid of social, commercial and recreational use. Although there can be friction between different activities, the value of urban footpaths is that they are many things to many people.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271278/original/file-20190428-194620-yxltrk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271278/original/file-20190428-194620-yxltrk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
By offering a seat for passers-by, a window bench improves the footpath’s amenity as public space. Yvonne Meng, Author provided
Yet, despite being such a heavily used space, footpaths in Melbourne are often categorised in planning strategies and policies as road and transport assets. This approach is problematic as it treats them as infrastructure to be managed rather than spaces for human use.
Some cities such as New York do consider footpaths as people-oriented places. The city planning department provides <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/active-design-sidewalk/active-design-sidewalk.page" target="_blank">design guidelines</a> to help architects and designers. Footpaths are conceptualised as a “room” with four surfaces: the horizontal pavement, the wall of the building facing the street, the roadside, and the canopy.
This type of thinking acknowledges that footpaths are immersive spaces and the experience of walking them is integral to the success of a street.
Learning from footpath users
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271274/original/file-20190428-194620-1coqr4j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
 Appropriating a doorway space with fake grass and plastic stools. Yvonne Meng, Author provided
People devise many creative and adaptive ways of using them, and architects and planners can learn from these uses. For example, nooks and indents in buildings abutting footpaths enable people to socialise outside in opportunistic ways. However, when unplanned and unmanaged, footpaths can become a jumble of electrical boxes, signposts, café tables, and other disconnected objects.
Footpaths are also the site of temporary events such as markets, which help activate the streets. With local council support, these events not only unlock the potential role of footpaths in community-building, but also help strengthen existing cultural identities.
The weekly <a href="https://www.starweekly.com.au/news/footpath-traders-return-footscray/" target="_blank">Mini Green Market</a> on the corner of Hopkins and Leeds streets was born out of a longstanding tradition of informal street vending in Footscray. Despite some conflict and uncertainty in 2018, vendors can use a wide portion of the footpath to sell their wares in a regular organised event.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271276/original/file-20190428-194612-2zm49t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
 The Footscray Mini Green Market occupies the footpath on the corner of Hopkins and Leeds streets. Yvonne Meng, Author provided
The conundrum facing footpaths is that, despite being a site for many diverse activities, they are not often considered an important public space in their own right. What makes a space “public” is its capability to enable a wide range of uses and allow for interaction between people. Footpaths do exactly that.
To make the most of our footpaths, Melbourne and other Australian cities need a change in mindset in how we view these public spaces. If footpaths were more carefully considered in city design and planning, they could contribute even more to the quality of the urban realm.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115151/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Yvonne Meng, PhD Candidate, Department of Architecture, Monash University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-forget-the-footpath-its-vital-public-space-115151" target="_blank">original article</a>.
Main photo: In an urban setting like central Footscray, where only 1% of the area is public space, the value of the humble footpath needs to be recognised. Yvonne Meng, Author provided <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yvonne-meng-499093">Yvonne Meng</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a>
</body></html>

Don’t forget the footpath – it’s vital public space: Yvonne Meng

<html><body>
EXPERT OBSERVATION
The announcement by the City of Sydney Council of new rules to support the night-time economy is good news for the many people living in urban apartments.
The character of inner city areas like Surry Hills, Glebe, Barangaroo, Green Square and Waterloo has changed significantly with the arrival of so many people living in apartments in these areas.
It is good that the City of Sydney has responded to this evolving urban lifestyle by relaxing trading hours to support a night time economy.
In the lead up to the recent New South Wales election there was significant concern raised by some politicians about the extent of apartment development, and that they did not seem to support the new lifestyle that comes with greater density.
Apartment dwellers, particularly millennials, are looking for a ‘sharing’ lifestyle where they live close to amenities and an exciting urban scene.
The moves by the City of Sydney, driven by Councillor Jess Scully, to reactivate the night time economy in the urban precincts will be strongly supported by the community.
The Urban Taskforce has developed a campaign to support young apartment dwellers and their more sharing lifestyle called ‘<a href="http://www.welcomehome.org.au" target="_blank">Welcome Home</a>’  where we profile the stories of younger apartment dwellers and their more urban and more sharinglifestyle.
One example is James who lives in an apartment in Summer Hill.
“I love the local music scene here in Summer Hill. I’m just a stone’s throw from my local bar that has live music every Thursday, everyone knows everyone.” says James.
The initiative by the City of Sydney will help many inner city residents get to interesting music venues and night time bars.
Sydney is a global city and an important part of our diverse community are the younger people who want a lively, creative music and arts scene.
The Urban Taskforce recommends other councils, like the City of Parramatta and North Sydney, should follow the initiatives of the City of Sydney and establish vibrant night time economies as more apartments are built in their centres which are occupied by young people wanting to explore the surrounding activities that come with a night time economy.
CHRIS JOHNSON is the Urban Taskforce CEO.
</body></html>

cjohnson-8xfqfuuCSq

A thriving night-time economy needs urban apartment density: Urban Taskforce's Chris Johnson 

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Since the pioneering work of architecture professor Roger Ulrich, who found that patients with a view of a natural scene recovered more quickly from surgery, research has shown that exposure to the natural environment is associated with a wide range of health benefits.
We have focused our work on asthma, and our research, published today, shows that children who live in greener neighbourhoods are less likely to develop it.
Not all greenness was equally effective, however. If a child was exposed to a broader range of plants, they were even less likely to get asthma. Exposure to landscapes with low plant diversity, such as gorse and exotic conifers, on the other hand, were a risk factor for asthma. Thus, greenness is good, but more biodiverse greenness is even better.
How nature protects against asthma
One intriguing explanation is provided by the hygiene hypothesis, which proposes that for children’s immune systems to develop properly, they need to be exposed to a broad range of microbes in early life. Without this exposure, children may be more susceptible to immunological diseases, like allergies and asthma.
The hygiene hypothesis explains why children living on farms, where they are exposed to a wide range of animals, are less likely to develop asthma. However, it’s not only farm children who benefit from exposure to animals. Having a pet in the house can also help protect against asthma. Similarly, children with more siblings are less likely to be asthmatic.
Living around a more diverse range of plants may also increase a child’s exposure to microbes. In fact, past studies have shown that people who live in more biodiverse areas have more diverse skin bacteria. Exposure to the natural environment may, therefore, improve our health by increasing the diversity of microbes living on our skin and in our gut.
This, in turn, may promote a healthy immune response and reduce the risk of allergies and asthma. Reduced stress and increased physical activity, associated with living close to green space, may be another reason for the observed protective effects.
Tracking children’s environment
This study used the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is a large database of individual-level data maintained by Stats New Zealand. Currently, it contains 166 billion pieces of information on education, benefits, tax, families and households, health, justice and migration.
Using these data, we were able to track where children lived from birth until age 18, calculate the greenness of their neighbourhoods using satellite imagery and land-use data, and link to health records throughout each child’s life. This was all done anonymously, in a secure data lab, to safeguard the children’s privacy.
This study is an unusual collaboration between economists at the US Forest Service and epidemiologists in New Zealand. It contributes to our understanding of why asthma is on the rise.
Our results may lead to some innovative strategies to combat asthma, although there is a need to elucidate the underlying immunological mechanisms.
Improved prevention and treatment options for asthma are urgently needed as the burden of asthma is considerable, with 334 million people affected worldwide. Asthma prevalence in English-speaking countries such as New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK is particularly high, with approximately one in six people suffering from it.
Good for people, good for the planet
Showing a link between biodiversity and human health may also change how we manage natural resources, especially in cities. Unfortunately, biodiversity is declining around the world due to population growth, climate change and intensive agricultural practices. Our work suggests that this is not just an ecological problem, but may also present a significant threat to public health.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96190/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">Other studies have suggested that the exposure to the natural environment also protects against low birth weight, heart disease, mental health disorders and breast cancer, although results have not always been consistent. Therefore, as the diversity of our natural environment and resultant microbial exposure declines, we may see further increases in diseases, such as childhood allergies and asthma.
Jeroen Douwes, Professor of Public Health; Director, Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University
Geoffrey H. Donovan, Economist, United States Forest Service
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-living-in-green-neighbourhoods-are-less-likely-to-develop-asthma-96190" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Children living in green neighbourhoods are less likely to develop asthma

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Loneliness is a hidden but serious problem in cities worldwide. Urban loneliness is connected to population mobility, declining community participation and a growth in single-occupant households. This threatens the viability of our cities because it damages the social networks they rely on.
One response to these trends involves “third places”. These are public or commercial spaces that provide informal opportunities for local people to mix socially on neutral ground.
The concept of third place, developed by Ray Oldenburg, is distinct from first and second places. A first place is the private space of home. Second places are where people spend significant time, often formally. These include schools, universities and workplaces.
Common examples of third places in cities include community gardens, libraries, public swimming pools, cafes, men’s sheds, farmers’ markets and dog parks.
Researchers at the Cities Research Institute are investigating whether these “third places” can reduce urban loneliness. Here, we report and discuss some insights from that work.
How can third places reduce loneliness?
There is growing understanding of the negative outcomes and costs associated with loneliness. These include fractured communities, declining trust, stress, depression and disease. Clearly this is neither desirable nor sustainable.
More than a century ago the sociologist George Simmel observed how mobility disrupts social connection and creates isolation. The urban migrant leaves behind their own social ties and often struggles to connect to their new community. This challenges both the migrant and their new neighbours.
Third places can help by creating or enhancing a sense of community on a smaller, more human scale – a relief from the overwhelming sensory experience of a large and unfamiliar city. The village-like feeling of third places can reduce people’s anxieties and make them more comfortable with trying a new social experience.
Third-place interactions encourage conversation in a homely atmosphere. Regulars who are local to the area often help with this.
In third places, people are free to come and go without obligation. The status and backgrounds of users are largely irrelevant. These places are generally designed to be accessible, accommodating and inviting for all ages, low-profile, comfortable and conversational.
Third places bring people together based on shared spaces, which become more important than individual histories. This can reduce wariness of strangers and create social connections. Third places can lead to more resilient and better-connected communities, building up social capital, while reducing loneliness.
Providing quality third places
There are steps that can be taken to design and safeguard third places. Local councils and urban planners have important roles, given their central place in directing land uses.
Perhaps the most important thing is to understand the valuable social capital that successful third places offer. Once planners understand the value of third places, they can actively work to support them.
Walkability is an important factor. Third places encourage familiarity through repeated incidental interactions between locals, both regulars and newcomers. Ideally, people connect within their local neighbourhoods. Being able to visit without needing a car can encourage more people to use a place.
Space for third places can be designed into neighbourhoods and urban areas. Sections of parkland can be given over to public facilities such as outdoor gym equipment, dog parks or skate parks. Dedicated trading areas can be provided for farmers’ markets.
Third places are most effective when they encourage interactions between locals. Providing facilities and activities creates a purpose to interactions and reasons to start chatting.
Local councils can support citizen-led activities such as community gardens and men’s sheds. They can also provide activities such as Tai Chi classes.
Protecting existing third places is as important as providing new ones. For example, a local council may be tempted to allow housing to take over the site of a community garden. While there may some be reasons to support that idea, it should be carefully considered against the loss of social capital and the risk of entrenching social isolation.
Valuing and promoting third places
We live in an age of urban mobility with no historical comparison. Many of us have been strangers in a new city. Loneliness is an unwelcome and growing feature of this urban mobility. Third places offer a useful and tested model for reducing loneliness by improving community.
Yet many city dwellers see these spaces but don’t use them. In this sense, perhaps the biggest barrier is our willingness to make the time to seek out and participate in third places. For those people who do, banishing loneliness could be one of the greatest benefits.
Tony Matthews, Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning, Griffith University
Joanne Dolley, PhD Candidate, Griffith University
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-people-feel-lonely-in-the-city-but-perhaps-third-places-can-help-with-that-92847" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Many people feel lonely in the city, but perhaps 'third places' can help with that

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVER
Australian urban design has historically focused on providing and improving access to public green spaces. As cities increase in density, this is a crucial part of creating healthy, engaged communities. But Australian urban designers often fail to consider the “other half” of public space – the town square.
Public squares or plazas were, and are, the centres of daily public life in many European towns and cities. Today they still influence the perception of place and help shape local identity. In Australia, Federation Square is an outstanding example of a space where Melbourne comes together.
However, public plazas need not be limited to the city centre. Social isolation is a major health concern in both suburbs and cities. Public spaces that offer opportunities for incidental interactions help build healthier and less isolated communities.
There’s more to public space than green space
In Australia, priority is given to green space – sporting grounds and parks. These are often segregated from the “flow” of a community. Of course, green spaces provide a necessary escape and respite, but they should not be considered the only way to provide community space in our suburbs.
When done right, plazas are nodes of vibrancy. Places like this are needed alongside green open spaces to accommodate unexpected and planned events and enrich the everyday life of communities.
Plazas accommodate a broad variety of activities, bringing people together without separating them from the street. Successful plazas encourage people to travel across them. This is achieved by embedding them within the street network.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204970/original/file-20180206-14067-b0mjbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Many European plazas, like this one in Como, Italy, are approached through narrow streets, offering a welcoming open space to mingle. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
Especially evident in historic European towns, the approach to a plaza may be through windy, tight streets with limited direct sunlight. This makes the open, sunlit space of the square a welcome change. At entry, a momentary slowdown and a catching of breath occurs as the diluted intensity offers relief from the busy streets just passed and often teeming with tourists.
Plazas are a visual and psychological marker within the street network. They help us navigate the city and contribute to the identity of an area.
And by acting as neighbourhood living rooms, these shared spaces offer a place for residents to sit and meet, sometimes incidentally. A sense of community and belonging is fostered slowly in these spaces as formal and informal connections grow.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204969/original/file-20180206-14072-e0bfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
A good plaza serves as a neighbourhood living room where people feel comfortable spending time together. This one is in San Gimignano, Italy. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
What makes a good plaza?
Characteristics of successful plazas vary, but a set of basic conditions exists.
Influential architect and design theorist Christopher Alexander suggests that squares should be made much smaller than first imagined. This maxim holds true in many modern cities where overly large squares become empty, windswept voids, such as Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasilia.
Designers need to consider a balance between accommodating large gatherings and the likely number of occupants at most other times. Providing for relative intimacy will ensure that spaces are inviting and feel lively.
As Jan Gehl notes, for a neighbourhood square to function, faces need to be recognisable. Face recognition occurs from a distance of about 70 to 50 metres. At 25m, facial expression and details are understood.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204975/original/file-20180206-14104-hrw1cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The contained, human-scale plazas of places like Como, Italy, are more inviting than large empty expanses. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
Locating a square at a confluence of streets will ensure that it is connected to the surrounding area and is a desirable thoroughfare.
The edges of the space are critical in supporting a lively atmosphere. Ground floors of surrounding buildings should house various attractions to provide pockets of activity. A mixing of functions will ensure activity from morning through to late in the evening.
Protection from negative sensory influences, such as sun, traffic or rain, is important for creating a pleasant and comfortable environment in which people wish to remain. Formal and informal seating, such as steps or building ledges, should also be provided.
Alongside elements, such as fountains and play areas, that provide a focal point, varied shop windows, building materials and design can provide visual complexity. All these elements help create a rich, inviting and memorable place.
The recently completed Greville Street upgrade in Prahran, Melbourne, shows a change in attitude within Australia’s approach to suburban development. Greville Street has become a shared zone with a new small square connected to Grattan Gardens.
The square offers a variety of convenient places to sit and people-watch, as well as respite without disconnection. When the fountain is running, children and pets playing with water jets provide entertainment for all.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204972/original/file-20180206-14093-320hoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The creation of Greville Street square shows a shift in the planning of suburban public space in Australia. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
Gehl observes: "Whether people are enticed to walk around and stay in city space is very much a question of working carefully with the human dimensions and issuing a tempting invitation."
This invitation holds the key to improving physical and mental health, and increasing civic pride. Within these inviting shared spaces, incidental interactions – the momentary glances and shared moments between strangers – can decrease feelings of loneliness and increase a sense of belonging to a community. This is important for general societal wellbeing, especially considering the prevalence of loneliness today.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91065/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">Successful neighbourhood squares allow for incidental encounters. They encourage lingering and interaction. Most importantly, they bring an area to life and give the community a space in which everyone is invited to participate and belong.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205434/original/file-20180208-74470-7s3yjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
A successful plaza, like this one in Venice, is a place where people naturally linger. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
Dina Bacvic, Architect and Urban Designer, Plus Architecture, and Tutor, University of Melbourne
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/neighbourhood-living-rooms-we-can-learn-a-lot-from-european-town-squares-91065" target="_blank">original article</a>.
Main photo: Public spaces that encourage people to sit and linger, as seen here in San Gimignano, Italy, promote social activity. Dina Bacvic, Author provided
</body></html>

Neighbourhood living rooms – we can learn a lot from European town squares: Dina Bacvic

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVER
Two cities on opposing continents, Santiago and Cape Town, have been brought to their knees by events at opposing ends of the climate spectrum: flood and drought.
The taps ran dry for Santiago’s 5 million inhabitants in early 2017, due to contamination of supplies by a massive rainfall event. And now Cape Town is heading towards “day zero” on May 11, after which residents will have to collect their drinking water from distribution points.
It’s probably little comfort that Santiago and Cape Town aren’t alone. Many other cities around the world are grappling with impending water crises, including in Australia, where Perth and Melbourne both risk running short.
In many of these places governments have tried to hedge their bets by turning to increasingly expensive and energy-ravenous ways to ensure supply, such as desalination plants and bulk water transfers. These two elements have come together in Victoria with the pumping of desalinated water 150km from a treatment plant at Wonthaggi, on the coast, to the Cardinia Reservoir, which is 167m above sea level.
But while providing clean water is a non-negotiable necessity, these strategies also risk delivering a blowout in greenhouse emissions.
Water pressure
Climate change puts many new pressures on water quality. Besides the effects of floods and droughts, temperature increases can boost evaporation and promote the growth of toxic algae, while catchments can be contaminated by bushfires.
Canberra experienced a situation similar to Santiago in 2003, when a bushfire burned through 98% of the Cotter catchment, and then heavy rain a few months later washed huge amounts of contamination into the Bendora Dam. The ACT government had to commission a A$40 million membrane bioreactor treatment plant to restore water quality.
At the height of the Millennium Drought, household water savings and restrictions lowered volumes in sewers (by up to 40% in Brisbane, for example). The resulting increase in salt concentrations put extra pressure on wastewater treatment and reclamation..
The energy needed to pump, treat, distribute and heat water – and then to convey, pump, reclaim or discharge it as effluent, and to move biosolids – is often overlooked. Many blueprints for zero-carbon cities underplay or neglect entirely the carbon footprint of water supply and sewage treatment.
Some analyses only consider the energy footprint of domestic water heating, rather than the water sector as a whole – which is rather like trying to calculate the carbon footprint of the livestock industry by only looking at cooking.
Yet the growing challenge of delivering a reliable and safe water supply means that energy use is growing. The United States, for example, experienced a 39% increase in electricity usage for drinking water supply and treatment, and a 74% increase for wastewater treatment over the period 1996-2013, in spite of improvements in energy efficiency.
As climate change puts yet more pressure on water infrastructure, responses such as desalination plants and long-distance piping threaten to add even more to this energy burden. The water industry will increasingly be both a contributor to and a casualty of climate change.
How much energy individual utilities are actually using, either in Australia or worldwide, will vary widely according to the source of supply – such as rivers, groundwater or mountain dams – and whether gravity feeds are possible for freshwater and sewage (Melbourne shapes up well here, for example, whereas the Gold Coast doesn’t), as well as factors such as the level of treatment, and whether or not measures such as desalination or bulk transfers are in place.
All of this increases the water sector’s reliance on the electricity sector, which as we know has a pressing need to reduce its greenhouse emissions.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205222/original/file-20180207-28333-18qd6w9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205222/original/file-20180207-28333-18qd6w9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Desalination plants: great for providing water, not so great for saving electricity. Moondyne/Wikimedia Commons, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a>
One option would be for water facilities to take themselves at least partly “off-grid”, by installing large amounts of solar panels, onsite wind turbines, or Tesla-style batteries (a few plants also harness biogas). Treatment plants are not exactly bereft of flat surfaces – such as roofs, grounds or even ponds – an opportunity seized upon by South Australian Water.
But this is a large undertaking, and the alternative – waiting for the grid itself to become largely based on renewables – will take a long time.
A 2012 study found large variations in pump efficiency between water facilities in different local authorities across Australia. Clearly there is untapped scope for collaboration and knowledge-sharing in our water sector, as is done in Spain and Germany, where water utilities have integrated with municipal waste services, and in the United States, where the water and power sectors have gone into partnership in many places.
The developing world
Climate change and population growth are seriously affecting cities in middle-band and developing countries, and the overall outlook is grim. Many places, such as Mexico City, already have serious water contamination problems. Indeed, in developing nations these problems are worsened by existing water quality issues. Only one-third of wastewater is treated to secondary standard in Asia, less than half of that in Latin America and the Caribbean, and a minute amount in Africa.
The transfer of know-how to these places is critical to reaching clean energy transitions. Nations making the energy transition – especially China, the world’s largest greenhouse emitter – need to take just as much care to ensure they avoid a carbon blowout as they transition to clean water too.
Just as in the electricity sector, carbon pricing can potentially provide a valuable incentive for utilities to improve their environmental performance. If utilities were monitored on the amount of electricity used per kilolitre of water processed, and then rewarded (or penalised) accordingly, it would encourage the entire sector to up its game, from water supply all the way through to sewage treatment.
Water is a must for city-dwellers – a fact that Cape Town’s officials are now nervously contemplating. It would be helpful for the industry to participate in the strategic planning and land-use debates that affect its energy budgets, and for its emissions (and emissions reductions) to be measured accurately.
In this way the water industry can become an influential participant in decarbonising our cities, rather than just a passive player.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82822/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">This article is based on a journal article (in press) co-authored by David Smith, former water quality manager for South East Water, Melbourne.
Peter Fisher, Adjunct Professor, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-cities-water-crises-could-send-our-climate-targets-down-the-gurgler-82822">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Fixing cities' water crises could send our climate targets down the gurgler: Peter Fisher

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVER
Green and public spaces must be safe, inclusive and accessible for all. In Australia, however, most young women do not feel safe in public spaces, especially after dark or when walking alone. Welcoming public spaces are also in decline in the US.
Calls to enhance the built environment for the benefit and well-being of half of humanity, the 3.5 billion people living in cities today, have never been so strong, especially since Habitat III.
Universal access to safe and inclusive public spaces is a key target of Sustainable Development Goal 11. A follow-up placemaking training event at the ninth World Urban Forum (WUF9), starting this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will continue this global discussion on co-creating inclusive public spaces.
Yet improving public space requires significant investment. To ensure that city governments, private developers and citizen experts continue to make meaningful investments in creating better public parks, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks, we need to be able to assess the public value of such spaces.
So what are the ingredients of success?
For a public space to be seen as safe, comfortable and successful, a diverse range of people need to actively use it. In a workshop at the 2017 EcoCity World Summit in Melbourne, experts discussed challenges in everyday practices of developing and maintaining inclusive public spaces. The discussions led to a common understanding of what these spaces look like.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202683/original/file-20180121-110121-1i0ofzy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
A workshop at the EcoCity World Summit in Melbourne. Author provided
Several key elements of successful public space were identified:
<ul>
<li>
Public space should not favour specific groups or promote gentrification. Sometimes, architectural design of public spaces can restrict the free use of space.
</li>
<li>
Inclusive spaces work by encouraging a diverse mix of people who feel safe and comfortable in them. This mix should be intergenerational as well as intercultural.
</li>
<li>
Inclusive spaces can thrive only when they are open, free and accessible. The space should allow some flexibility in its use to suit changing needs. When streets and plazas accommodate multiple activities, they are activated at all times, even if used differently at different times.
</li>
<li>
Inclusive spaces must respect and acknowledge the needs of all genders and recognise children as active users of space. World Vision International, for instance, engages children as change agents who inform planning decisions for better and safer spaces.
</li>
<li>
Public space is accessible when it is well integrated and connected with surrounding land uses and transport options. If we design for people rather than cars, we can create places that more people are able to access and use.
</li>
</ul>
Inclusion depends on real participation
Participatory processes are incomplete without integrating community voice, building place-based relationships, fostering a sense of belonging and encouraging open communication in communities.
To achieve long-term success, it is important to understand how citizens can contribute to creating more inclusive spaces. Any space-changing project needs to nurture community and foster a sense of belonging among neighbouring residents.
Co-designing with the local community is crucial for a space to have a long-term sustainable impact and maintain continuous engagement. In Hobart’s Macquarie Point, for example, in addition to successfully building partnerships between multiple stakeholders, the project applied a phased activation plan, to allow the community to slowly engage with the spaces.
People have different ways of voicing their opinions. These different means of expression and participation need to be recognised when designing an inclusive space. Storytelling is one powerful tool to share and listen to local histories of place. It helps create meaningful city spaces that are valuable to the whole community.
Technology promises new and innovative ways of engaging communities. Crowdsourcing is one approach to tap into the community and encourage them to share their experience in their use of public space.
Plan International’s map-based community engagement tool allowed women to chart safe and unsafe spaces in the city and comment on them. This was an effective way for women with similar experiences to come together virtually and volunteer information.
However, easy translation of data into usable information to be shared widely is equally important for any participatory exercise.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204498/original/file-20180201-123833-1iy7ogt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Many elements go into creating an inclusive public space. Author provided
Evaluating success of public spaces
Workshop participants found it particularly challenging to find the most effective means to measure the success of public spaces. Few appraisal tools exist to measure the quality of public space.
The project evaluation component almost always falls by the wayside as the impact of public spaces takes longer to manifest but is crucial to sustaining these spaces.
The workshop discussion highlighted the need to further explore evaluation tools that help ensure projects and initiatives have lasting outcomes.
The next steps
Public space is a critical ingredient of liveable cities. It is also recognised as important for sustainable urban development.
Getting it right requires investment in research, programming, information and advocacy.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89961/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">Health, well-being and prosperity all depend on the rightful use of public space to create communities that are inclusive and connected for the benefit of everyone.
SriPallavi Nadimpalli, PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne
Iderlina Mateo-Babiano, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Melbourne 
Joyati Das, Associate, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-the-pieces-together-to-create-safe-public-spaces-for-all-89961">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Putting the pieces together to create safe public spaces for all

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVER
Two social trends that pose imminent challenges – and require policy responses – to sustainable futures in our cities are the rise of single-person households and homelessness.
One in four Australians live alone, either voluntarily or circumstantially. The ageing population is one factor. The rise of younger people choosing to live alone is another, and it’s historically and distinctively a new phenomenon.
The number of pension-aged people living alone has grown because that population itself has increased. However, the number of younger people living alone has grown in proportion to multi-adult households of working age in Australia and across the globe. We still have very limited understanding of this latter group.
The proportion of single-person households is expected to grow to 30-40% or more of households in most developed countries, including Australia, by 2030. At the same time, more people are dying alone.
Evidence suggests that these trends have significant health, sociocultural, economic and environmental implications. Japan, where these trends are further advanced, is already having to deal with these.
Lessons from Japan
Kodokushi (lonely death), genkai shuraku (village on the edge of extinction) and chihotoshi shometsu (the disappearance of regional towns) are major problems in Japan today. New services are emerging in Japan to cater to the needs of people who live alone. For example, one service plans and carries out the cleaning of someone’s home should they die alone.
For this reason, Japan is referred to as kadai senshin koku (frontier in solving global problems). Australia will soon need to face these problems too.
Digital and networked technologies, especially artificial intelligence and robots, are being explored as support mechanisms in homes, care homes and hospitals. Increasingly, though, the crucial role of human creativity and connection in care is becoming evident.
In neighbouring South Korea, cultural trends like mukbang (eat-casting) are said to have their origins in “the loneliness of unmarried or uncoupled Koreans, in addition to the inherently social aspect of eating in Korea”.
In this case, technologies are being used even to jeopardise people’s health, as individual “BJs” (Broadcasting Jockeys) are paid to broadcast themselves eating – often excessively – while interacting with their audience. Many of them are also eating alone while watching the show.
Problems associated with living alone will have an even more damaging impact on those without homes. In Australia, one in 200 people are homeless. Most of them are people under 35 or, increasingly, women over 55.
We must acknowledge the diversity of the homeless population, and the different factors that cause and sustain the experiences of living alone or being homeless. Such diversity will increase with the growing number of single-person households, income inequality, broader participation in the gig economy, and loss of jobs to automation.
What role for government?
Policy and regulatory measures to decrease housing prices will help. Australia ranks high for unaffordable housing among OECD nations.
The government could also play a central role in enabling collaboration among diverse stakeholders to seek new ways of creating and applying knowledge. This could be used to ask and answer difficult questions about even some of the most widely accepted concepts, like what is “home” for those living alone and homeless.
The answers should then guide us as we create data, tools and systems for care and with care.
It will be critical to ensure the focus is not predominantly driven by a technocentric vision. We need to consider the sociocultural implications that existing and often celebrated technocratic discourses – around smart cities, for instance – might have.
To avoid a technocratically determined fate, we must develop diverse and enduring narratives of Australian cities. This requires what this year’s Boyer lecturer, Genevieve Bell, might call a “bolshie” move. Part of that could involve bringing together interests and capacities across the public, private, community and research sectors to place urban futures as a key intellectual and social agenda.
We need comprehensive, transdisciplinary research and development for short to long-term goals. This must include ambitious innovation in research and practice, supported by new and emerging technologies, but most importantly, creative engagements beyond the usual suspects. This cannot be gesticulatory “co-design” workshops that are exclusive to certain participants.
Instead, we need inclusive engagement to produce new kinds of knowledge relevant to complex present and future urban conditions.
The Australian government’s role in the future development of cities should not be about cleaning up the technological hubris or proliferation of “feral” technologies that we’re generating. Rather, it should be about building individual and communities’ capacity to question and co-create “the wisdom or propriety of a particular developmental direction” of Australian cities.
This article draws on the author’s submission to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/DevelopmentofCities" target="_blank">parliamentary inquiry into the Australian government’s role in the development of cities</a>.
Jaz Hee-jeong Choi is senior lecturer in design at Queensland University of Technology
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-living-alone-together-in-todays-cities-and-that-calls-for-smart-and-bolshie-moves-85318" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Urban Living

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

Urban Living

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News