Mark and Roy Makari are expanding their presence in Sydney’s South West with a second major proposal for Leppington, this time envisioning a 900-dwelling mixed-use development just 850 metres from their previously lodged tower trio on Fifth Avenue.

The latest application seeks approval for a multi-building project at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/230-rickard-road-leppington-nsw-2179">230 Rickard Road, Leppington</a>. The proposal seeks to establish a new focal point for the precinct through a high-density, transit-oriented development supported by diverse land uses.

According to the Scoping Report prepared for the Department of Planning, the scheme includes around 900 apartments across multiple towers, including 135 dwellings designated for affordable housing. A mix of market and subsidised apartments will be supported by ground-level activation through retail and office space, a childcare centre, and a hotel, forming a comprehensive urban precinct.

<img alt="Mixed Use Development 230 Rickard Rd Leppington" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="34797362-f3dc-4d84-8235-2657fc5f3bde" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Plan.png?VersionId=Uzckrz9tUpDQl5lX1_WMhjnv16bsr8wG" />

The Design Report by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/studiosc-0">Studio SC</a> notes that the project “intends to deliver a high-quality, high-density built form that supports the vision for the Leppington Town Centre, integrating mixed-use outcomes and public domain upgrades.” The development is expected to be delivered in stages, although a precise timeline is yet to be confirmed.

The project will be assessed through a future State Significant Development Application, with the Scoping Report indicating the team will seek design excellence via a competitive process or through an expert design review panel. Early massing diagrams suggest a series of mid- to high-rise buildings framing a central landscaped spine, with emphasis on pedestrian permeability and public space.

The planning documentation flags a strong sustainability agenda, stating that the development will “respond to the urban heat island effect, incorporate water sensitive urban design, and prioritise active transport”.

<img alt="Mixed Use Development 230 Rickard Rd Leppington" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="369d7b54-1279-4cde-88ec-dcb215594414" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Podium_1.png?VersionId=QArL7B2kkLt63vl5xvL0FNV_ardAlez4" />

The proposal follows in the footsteps of the Makaris’ nearby Fifth Avenue site, where they’ve submitted plans for three towers comprising nearly 500 apartments, with 10 per cent dedicated to affordable housing. That project features commercial podiums, a childcare centre, and a new public park that would occupy more than a third of the site.

Both developments are situated within walking distance of Leppington Train Station and fall under strategic precinct plans promoting higher density housing. The town centre is undergoing substantial transformation, driven by state government planning reforms aimed at fast-tracking housing delivery.

Together, the two projects represent a combined ambition of nearly 1,400 new homes across just under two kilometres of central Leppington.

Staff Writer

First look: 900-home mixed-use precinct planned for Leppington

Leading Australian integrated property development group, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aqualand-australia">Aqualand</a>, has released the signature penthouses crowning its landmark AURA by Aqualand precinct at 168 Walker Street in North Sydney, unveiling Il Magnate and La Divina as the largest and most luxurious penthouses in the suburb.

With prices anticipated to commence from $15 million, and each accompanied by a new Porsche Carrera 911 valued at over $500K, the residences mark the culmination of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/aura-by-aqualand-north-sydney-168-walker-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">AURA by Aqualand</a>’s decade-long journey and the beginning of its final sales chapter. 
&nbsp; 
Their release follows more than $850 million in record-breaking residential sales and the building’s completion and occupation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358868]

The Richards Stanisich-designed 284 sqm Il Magnate and 224 sqm La Divina penthouses, collectively known as The Icons of AURA, are conceived as grand luxury homes rather than apartments, with expansive proportions, elevated materiality and curated identities that reflect their status as one-off residences.&nbsp;

Il Magnate features a grande master suite, complete with substantial walk-in dressing area and ensuite, three other bedrooms, second ensuite and another bathroom, powder room, open plan kitchen, scullery, substantial dining area and generous living room divided by a feature fireplace, and a multifunction wintergarden, which is ideal for a study and adjoining office breakout space. &nbsp;

Meanwhile, the La Divina residence offers the same amenities, sans the powder room, on a slightly smaller alternate floor plan configuration.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358863]

Each occupies half of AURA by Aqualand’s topmost 28th level, comes with four secure car spaces and pairs sweeping Sydney Harbour panoramas with large-scale living spaces, refined detailing and a level of craftsmanship and amenity rarely offered in the North Shore market.&nbsp;

Penthouse residents will also receive Etymon’s ‘Black Key’ private concierge and lifestyle management service, an invitation only offering providing the ultimate in bespoke personalisation, including a range of everyday discrete services, from dinner party management, grocery deliveries, pet feeding or plants watered, dinners, snacks and coffee deliveries, event ticket sourcing, right up to organising travel visas and international airfares. Rarely seen in Australian properties, the service provides residents the benefits of living in a world-class luxury hotel-style home, akin to The Ritz, or the Waldorf Astoria.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358862]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/richards-stanisich">Richards Stanisich</a>’s Director, Kirsten Stanisich, said the studio set out to craft residences that feel profoundly considered, contemporary and deeply connected to their setting.

“From the outset, we approached these penthouses with the sensibility of a grand Parisian residence - generous in scale, elegant in proportion and designed to feel more like a handcrafted home than an apartment," Stanisich said.

“Their elevated position and sweeping harbour outlook informed every decision, creating a rare connection between urban sophistication and natural calm. We shaped each space with expressive materiality, sculptural forms and bespoke detailing that invite touch and interaction.&nbsp;

“The result is a pair of residences defined by volume, light and an inherent softness - refined, flexible and deeply personal. These penthouses are unlike anything else in North Sydney, offering a sanctuary of true luxury framed by some of the city’s most remarkable views.”

For Aqualand’s Head of Sales &amp; Marketing, Alex Adams, the collaboration with Porsche underscores the shared ethos behind the residences.

“Aqualand’s collaboration with Porsche underpins both brand’s sharing an obsession with craftsmanship, design excellence, and enduring value," Adams said.

“Our penthouses are created for those who appreciate the finer details and expect the extraordinary at every touchpoint. Including a Porsche simply extends that experience beyond the residence - it’s a continuation of the lifestyle our buyers already live.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=292862]

Aqualand’s Managing Director, Jin Lin, said the penthouses represent both the pinnacle of AURA by Aqualand and an important design benchmark for the company’s future pipeline.&nbsp;

“These stunning penthouses reflect the purest expression of Aqualand’s design ambition," Lin said.

“The unparalleled design intent makes them not only the glistening crown of AURA by Aqualand, but the crown of North Sydney itself. They’re essentially a thank you gift to a burgeoning community that deserves this level of quality and architectural consideration.&nbsp;

“We’re leveraging the unrivalled standard set here as the foundation for what comes next, including our upcoming Anderson Street, Chatswood; 15 Blue Street, North Sydney and Central Barangaroo projects. Purchasers of these penthouses will essentially be living inside the blueprint of Aqualand’s future.

“These landmark residences demonstrate how far North Sydney has evolved and the strength of demand for highly curated, bespoke luxury homes. They’re more than penthouses, they’re legacy residences.&nbsp;

“With AURA by Aqualand now a thriving new precinct with residents well and truly settled, and our in-house world-class lifestyle amenity activated, Il Magnate and La Divina represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure an extraordinary piece of North Sydney’s future.”

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=30959]

Joel Robinson

Aqualand launches North Sydney penthouses with free Porsche Carrera 911

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/bokarina-qld-4575">Bokarina</a> Beach has quietly evolved into one of the Sunshine Coast’s most complete coastal lifestyle precincts, defined not just by proximity to the ocean, but by how residential living, local retail and everyday amenity are stitched together.&nbsp;

Gardner Vaughan Group’s <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/bask-bokarina-38-bokarina-boulevard-bokarina-qld-4575">Bask Bokarina</a> now represents the final residential chapter in that transformation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333360]

Over recent years, the Bokarina Beach precinct has taken shape as a walkable, community-oriented neighbourhood, anchored by beachfront access, Lake Kawana to the west, and a growing mix of cafés, specialty retail and public open space.&nbsp;

With Zinc Bokarina already delivered next door by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/gardner-vaughan-group">Gardner Vaughan Group</a> (GVG), Bask is the last opportunity to buy a brand new apartment within the precinct, effectively rounding out a fully formed coastal village.

GVG has positioned Bask to strengthen that lifestyle framework. Nine ground-floor retail spaces are planned beneath the residences, extending Bokarina Boulevard’s existing activity and reinforcing the area’s everyday convenience, from casual dining and coffee to local services, within a short walk of the beach.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333359]

The residential component comprises 135 apartments across two buildings, Mydas and Caretta, with a clear shift toward larger three- and four-bedroom layouts and penthouses. That mix reflects a maturing buyer profile in Bokarina, where demand is increasingly led by owner-occupiers and active downsizers seeking space, permanence, and connection to place rather than short-term coastal accommodation.

Design and amenity have followed the same logic. Residents will have access to a heated plunge pool, gym, private dining room with a full kitchen, landscaped communal gardens with barbecues and a firepit, and a shared herb and vegetable garden, facilities intended to support daily use rather than resort-style turnover. Pet-friendly features, including a dog wash bay, acknowledge both buyer expectations and the area’s dog-friendly beach, located around 250 metres from the site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333366]

“Bokarina has become one of the Sunshine Coast’s most desirable beachside communities, and Bask represents the very last chance to buy new in this location,” GVG Director Sam Gardner said.&nbsp;

“Our focus has been to create spacious, functional apartments that meet the needs of locals who want to downsize without compromise, as well as those seeking a full-time coastal retreat.”

Positioned between the Pacific Ocean and Lake Kawana, Bask apartments have been oriented to capture outlooks toward the water or the Glass House Mountains, reinforcing the project’s connection to its natural surroundings. With parks, beachfront paths, hospitals, retail and public transport already in place, Bask arrives at a point where the broader precinct is no longer emerging, but established.

Construction is expected to complete in Q3 this year, with apartments ready to move into this Spring.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=141609]

Bask to complete Bokarina’s Sunshine Coast lifestyle precinct as final apartments are released

Property development giant <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/avid-property-group">AVID Property Group</a> is approaching completion, and sell-out, of its Surry Hills apartment development, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-rathbone-23-47-flinders-street-surry-hills-nsw-2010">The Rathbone</a>.

The Flinders St project has sold well over half of its 32 apartments, which will sit above two retail spaces.

Now hitting the market are the final 14 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, which start from $1.15 million. AVID is targeting a mid-2026 completion.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=5947 project_image_fid=51208]

AVID General Manager New South Wales Danny Boubli said as more apartments are introduced to increase housing options in inner-city areas, homebuyers are searching for a &nbsp;sense of belonging in addition to location, convenience and value.&nbsp;

“There are very few opportunities for new developments in Surry Hills, and since acquiring the site, we’ve even seen one early purchaser merge two apartments plans together, reflecting the demand for a spacious, premium offering in a prime location,” Boubli said.&nbsp;

“Demand has been strong since we launched to market – we don’t see these final apartments staying on the market for long.”&nbsp;

Architectural firm Studio SC has designed the building which pays homage to the former 1900s Rathbone Terraces that once sat on the 990 sqm island site.

Boubil said the team has made every effort to create "truly liveable apartments", through&nbsp;functional floor plans, security, storage, and the inclusion of quality fittings.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=5947 project_image_fid=51207]

&nbsp;

Sustainable design has also been implemented throughout the development, with natural light flooding each apartment, ventilation throughout, extensive landscaping and where possible, materials with a high level of recycled content and low volatile organic compound paints have been used. &nbsp;

Apartments range in size from 57 sqm for the one-bedrooms to the large-scale 165 sqm three-beds which are priced at $2,575,000.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=5947]

AVID launches final apartments at The Rathbone, Surry Hills

A wave of investment, renewal and precinct growth continues to shape the northern edge of Macquarie Park, where daily life is supported by a rare combination of university activity, corporate employment, major retail, and expansive green corridors. It’s this convergence of amenity and connectivity underpins the setting for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/urban-property-group">Urban Property Group</a>’s <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/la-vera-94-talavera-road-macquarie-park-nsw-2113">La Vera</a>, which has now topped out and is tracking toward completion in mid-2026.

Within this pocket of the precinct, residents move easily between the area’s key anchors. Macquarie Centre, home to more than 360 retailers, fresh food offerings, dining and entertainment, sits at the heart of local convenience and functions as a major transport interchange. The Metro, T1 rail line and extensive bus network place much of Sydney within quick reach, while surrounding arterial links support direct access to neighbouring districts.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134951 project_image_fid=5829]

Green space remains a defining feature of the immediate environment. Lane Cove National Park stretches along the northern boundary of the precinct, offering bushland trails, cycling routes and quiet riverfront pockets. Shrimptons Creek and the campus grounds of Macquarie University extend these recreational networks, softening the urban setting and creating a daily connection to nature that informs the project’s architectural response.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/cox-architecture">Cox Architecture</a> have shaped La Vera around these contrasts. The building’s northern elevation adopts an organic, curvilinear form that mirrors the natural topography of the national park. Three sculpted forms soften the tower’s profile and encourage a stronger transition between indoor living areas, balconies and the broader landscape.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134951 project_image_fid=223737]

Cox Director Felipe Miranda says the building’s outlook played a central role in the design process.

“The vision for the project was to conceive a building that adopted an organic and curvilinear form to the northern portion that faces the Lane Cove National Park… The residents that reside in the northern portion of the building benefit by having beautifully crafted curved balconies that speak to the natural context and heighten the relationship of their internal living spaces to the external balconies,” Felipe Miranda of Cox Architecture said.

Toward the city-facing side, the design shifts to a more urban expression. A gridded facade and extensive glazing capture CBD views, creating a dual strategy that blends ecological outlooks with metropolitan orientation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134951 project_image_fid=5827]

La Vera delivers 169 residences across one- to four-bedroom layouts, reflecting the needs of young families, downsizers, first-home buyers and investors seeking long-term certainty within a high-amenity location. From the project, residents can walk to Macquarie University, Macquarie Hospital and nearby corporate offices, reach national park trails within minutes, and enjoy retail and dining without relying on a car.

The project is delivered by Urban Property Group, a 4.5-star iCIRT-rated developer-builder with more than three decades of experience. The company has become a leader in adopting 10-Year Latent Defects Insurance (LDI), first introduced on its Parq Bexley development and now embedded into its pipeline.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134951 project_image_fid=223727]

La Vera is the first development in Macquarie Park approved to offer this 10-year LDI policy, adding another layer of protection for purchasers and reinforcing the transparency of the construction process.

Urban Property Group CEO Patrick Elias says this assurance has become increasingly important for buyers navigating the off-the-plan market.

“Consumers are a lot more weary and a lot more concerned in buying off the plan than they ever have been… Having LDI is a tool to portray the confidence that we have in our product, and a confidence we want buyers to share,” Urban Property Group CEO Patrick Elias said.

Urban Property Group's in-house construction team is forecasting a mid-2026 completion, with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/home789">HOME789</a> appointed as the project marketer.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134951]

La Vera delivers a nature-connected address within Macquarie Park’s core

Urban Development

<html><body>
EXPERT OBSERVERS
Not everyone wants to live in the inner city and it’s insulting to describe the outer suburbs as the fringe.
This was just one view from a recent workshop where a vision for Australia’s future cities was mapped out. It highlights that <a href="https://theconversation.com/liveable-cities-who-decides-what-that-means-and-how-we-achieve-it-48825" target="_blank">liveability means different things to different people</a>.
But what will the liveability of our cities be like in 40 years’ time? For the CSIRO report, <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Showcase/ANO" target="_blank">2019 Australian National Outlook</a>, the authors used scenario analysis to explore prospects for Australia in 2060. This demonstrates that business as usual will mean Australia’s economy and society sleepwalk into the future, a future made worse by failing to tackle major environmental threats.
The National Outlook report set out “five key shifts” – industry, urban, energy, land and culture – to prepare us for a better future.
Our research supports the need for these changes. These shifts are related and co-dependent. And, critically, they will all involve cities.
We argue, though, that we need more than “shifts” – we need transformation supported by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2011.565464" target="_blank">a systems approach</a>.
<h2>Setting the goals of transformation</h2>
All cities are not the same. For this reason, <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia" target="_blank">Future Earth Australia</a>, a national initiative hosted by the <a href="https://www.science.org.au/about-us/academy" target="_blank">Australian Academy of Science</a>, has held <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia/projects/sustainable-australian-cities-and-communities" target="_blank">workshops around the country</a>. We have also launched a <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6VW77MT" target="_blank">national online survey</a>.
The themes arising from the workshops offer valuable insights into how we can apply a systems approach to transforming Australian cities, and the regions and local areas that support our cities. Some key insights are:
<ul>
<li>density is important, but so is liveability</li>
<li>liveability has a different emphasis for each person, but includes green space, access to services, employment and transport</li>
<li>the consensus is that we must respond to climate change, through actions that both reduce the rate of change and adapt to it</li>
<li>people both in cities and outside them want explicit attention paid to how urban areas and their hinterlands interact and depend on one another</li>
<li>economic regeneration and notions of a circular economy are seen as essential elements of a “transformed” city.</li>
</ul>
Importantly, the nuances and variations between cities and regions were important to identity and individuality. Local, context-relevant innovation abounds, but is combined with much re-inventing of wheels. Our process has shown that linking local activity better with city-wide and even national coordination could greatly accelerate progress, while maintaining the sense of local identity. A majority of the world’s countries are actively taking a <a href="https://unhabitat.org/books/global-state-of-national-urban-policy/">national perspective</a> on their urban challenges.
The importance of local nuance is recognised in other parts of the world. In Europe, <a href="http://www.ecoacupuncture.com/transxperimentation" target="_blank">work is under way</a> to build better connections between small and medium-sized cities.
<h2>Wicked problems call for a systems approach</h2>
Urban transformation requires a systems approach to overcome well-documented challenges like urban expansion, decreasing housing affordability, biodiversity loss in peri-urban areas, spending hours in cars, and engaged governance across metropolitan areas. These challenges are tricky because they are caused by behaviours and settings that arise from entwined economic, social and environmental systems. Problems like this are wicked in nature.
A systems approach examines how communities, economics, culture, politics, infrastructure, design, planning, knowledge and technology interact and interweave to produce the places we live in. We must also recognise existing <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-your-actions-really-save-the-planet-planetary-accounting-has-the-answer-104005" target="_blank">planetary boundaries</a>.
Tackling these problems with a systems approach means ensuring that as we solve one of them we don’t create new problems in other areas. Or, even better, we solve multiple challenges at once. Responses must integrate bottom-up and top-down interventions across multiple sectors, consider time frames from today into the long term, and recognise the value in collaboratively forging the knowledge and actions we need.
This is why <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia" target="_blank">Future Earth Australia</a>, the Australian and Oceania network of <a href="http://www.futureearth.org/" target="_blank">Future Earth</a> based at the <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia" target="_blank">Australian Academy of Science</a>, invited urban thinkers and practitioners from around Australia to a <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia/projects/sustainable-australian-cities-and-communities" target="_blank">workshop in May 2018</a>. It was designed to <a href="https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/support/future-earth-australia/knowledge-for-sustainable-australian-cities-and-communities.pdf" target="_blank">work towards a consensus</a> on a ten-year plan for transformative knowledge for Australian cities. This workshop built on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-017-0934-6" target="_blank">recent urban systems scholarship</a>, which identified the need for multisectoral, collaborative and systemic thinking and collaborative design and governance.
We have implemented a series of processes to inform this decadal plan.
First, we interviewed senior decision-makers in government, industry and peak bodies.
We held nine workshops across the country. These involved over 350 participants, representing senior decision-makers in government, industry and peak bodies, community groups and academic researchers. The insights from the workshops have all been <a href="https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/future-earth-australia/projects/sustainable-australian-cities-and-communities" target="_blank">published</a>.
And we have designed a <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6VW77MT" target="_blank">survey that’s now open to anyone living in Australia</a>.
An independent <a href="https://aas.eventsair.com/urban-systems-transformation-sustainable-cities/reference-group" target="_blank">reference group</a> of urban experts from 21 research, policy and practice organisations around the country is overseeing these processes.
Our aim is to encourage all stakeholders to work together. The Future Earth platform can enable partnerships that harness these ideas and knowledge about the transformations needed to create sustainable, liveable cities.
We need better urban knowledge and the many cross-sectoral contributions to the Future Earth urban decadal plan have offered vital directions for future effort.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119235/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;">
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tayanah-odonnell-122914" target="_blank">Tayanah O'Donnell</a>, Honorary Senior Lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877" target="_blank">Australian National University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bob-webb-169705" target="_blank">Bob Webb</a>, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Science, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877" target="_blank">Australian National University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chris-ryan-331581" target="_blank">Chris Ryan</a>, Professor and Director of Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">University of Melbourne</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/eleanor-robson-779094" target="_blank">Eleanor Robson</a>, Research and Policy Officer, Future Earth Australia; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jago-dodson-2359" target="_blank">Jago Dodson</a>, Professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063" target="_blank">RMIT University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-auty-122559" target="_blank">Kate Auty</a>, Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">University of Melbourne</a>
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/if-we-want-liveable-cities-in-2060-well-have-to-work-together-to-transform-urban-systems-119235" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

If we want liveable cities in 2060 we’ll have to work together to transform urban systems

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
By 2017, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sp.urb.totl.in.zs" target="_blank">58% of Chinese people were living in cities</a>. This is much less than the 79% for Western Europe and 86% for Australia, but China is undergoing very rapid urbanisation, as the chart below shows. It is expected <a href="https://population.un.org/wup/Country-Profiles" target="_blank">70% of China’s population will be living in cities</a> between 2035 and 2045.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274487/original/file-20190515-60541-o2m5r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274487/original/file-20190515-60541-o2m5r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
<a class="source" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/urbanization-last-500-years?time=1500..2016" target="_blank">Source: OWID based on UN World Urbanisation Prospects 2018 and historical sources</a>
In response to these trends, the Chinese government released <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610216315818" target="_blank">a national urbanisation plan (2014-2020)</a>, with a focus on the quality of Chinese urbanisation and public spaces. So the policymakers’ concern is not solely with the economic development of China’s cities but also a healthier built environment and increased well-being for its citizens.
In addition to growing population pressures, Chinese cities face battles with pollution and climate change. Furthermore, <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/tourism-development-in-china-1434412" target="_blank">China is now the third-most-visited country</a>, behind France and the United States. No doubt the country’s growing tourism industry is an important driver for developing better cities.
The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23812346.2018.1457297" target="_blank">rise of private public partnership projects</a> and growing private interests in China’s built environment also call for a fresh look at urban design. Connecting urban planning and architecture, public spaces and private buildings, metropolitan scale and street scale, urban design can help to balance private interests and public needs while developing urban areas.
If those challenges are quite recent for China, they have been experienced, tested and theorised in Western countries for the past two centuries. Thus there might be an interest in learning from Western urban design principles, both to draw inspiration from the good practices and to avoid repeating the mistakes.
Urban design is well established in Australia
Some major Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai have recently created their own urban design guidelines. However, many Chinese cities don’t have any.
In Australia the situation is quite different. Urban design theory and practices are well grounded. More than 20 guidelines have been published since the 2000s at all levels of government.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277297/original/file-20190530-69087-pgelaf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277297/original/file-20190530-69087-pgelaf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Urban design guidelines in Australia at federal, state and local government level. Lucile Jacquot, 2019, Author provided
The diversity of Australian guidelines means that urban design research is very active and responsive to the evolution of technologies, lifestyles and expectations. Also, the outcomes are often considered successful – Australian cities usually do well in rankings of urban quality of life. For example, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney are consistently ranked in the top ten of the <a href="https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/The_Global_Liveability_Index_2018.pdf" target="_blank">Global Liveability Index</a>.
Good examples of urban design are also acknowledged in Australia – for example, through the annual <a href="https://urbandesignawards.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Urban Design Awards</a>. The recognition of best practices and fostering of healthy competition create a rich urban design culture.
How can Chinese cities be improved?
Dalian is a good example of an emerging city in China. Its location between the sea and the mountains and its rich colonial heritage make it a major tourist destination. Nevertheless, the experience of Dalian’s urban spaces could be improved in many ways.
Firstly, one of the main goals of urban design is to provide adequate public facilities such as pedestrian pathways, sitting areas and public toilets. In Dalian, an increase in such facilities could encourage the city’s residents to make more use of the public space. Similarly, shaded areas and water fountains could make public spaces more liveable, no matter the hour of the day or the weather.
Secondly, installing such facilities is not enough on its own to make the city engaging and attractive. Dalian’s urban spaces are quite monochromatic and a more vibrant cityscape could improve the overall ambience of the city. One way to achieve this would be through the use of different colours, textures and materials to define spatial difference between private and public space, and create new pedestrian experiences.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280121/original/file-20190619-118539-12oz5sn.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/280121/original/file-20190619-118539-12oz5sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
The differences in urban design of pedestrian squares in Dalian (left) and Melbourne are clear. Images: K. Dupré (left), L. Jacquot (right), Author provided
Lastly, the main purpose of designing the look and feel of a city is to engage people with their surroundings. The urban space not only has to cater for all types of people and their needs, but also to provide safe socialising opportunities.
In Dalian, providing more playgrounds, for example, could enhance these interactions. All the benefits of good urban design come together in a safe urban space where all types of people can meet, exchange and feel comfortable.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280123/original/file-20190619-118535-uk0va0.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/280123/original/file-20190619-118535-uk0va0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Public spaces in Dalian (left) and Gold Coast. Images: K. Dupré (left) and picswe.net (right), Author provided
Australian cities can also learn from China
While Australia’s urban design principles are considerably more advanced, its cities face similar challenges to those in China.
For example, Australia is still grappling with the relationship between people and their urban space. Most Australian cities are car-dominated, going against contemporary understanding of a healthy, sustainable and liveable city.
Car use is dramatically affecting the urban fabric of Chinese and Australian cities. In particular, it has impacts on the experience of pedestrians. The wide streets are difficult to cross, footpaths are often sacrificed for the benefit of the car, and cyclists’ safety is compromised. Good urban design would definitely strive towards a more people-based city model.
Another common challenge is climate change. Both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/28/australia-breaks-weather-records-with-hottest-ever-summer" target="_blank">Australian</a> and <a href="https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1002747/chinas-scorching-heat-wave-brings-a-glimpse-of-the-future" target="_blank">Chinese</a> cities must deal with rising temperatures. The positive impact urban design can have to moderate urban temperatures <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/8/12/182/htm" target="_blank">is now widely recognised</a>. Major Australian cities have now developed <a href="https://wsroc.com.au/projects/project-turn-down-the-heat" target="_blank">guidelines on measures to counter heat</a>, while China is actively working on the issue.
But in one area, the battle to reduce carbon footprints, Chinese cities <a href="https://cleanenergysolutions.org/zh-hans/resources/changxindian-low-carbon-community-concept-plan-website" target="_blank">lead the way</a>. The Chinese government has also developed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212095517300627" target="_blank">a substantial green policy</a>. So, while Chinese cities could certainly learn from Australia, the converse seems equally true.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115905/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;">
Lucile Jacquot, Research fellow, Griffith University
Karine Dupré, Associate Professor in Architecture, Griffith University
Yang Liu, PhD Candidate. School of Engineering and Built Environment, Architecture &amp; Design, Griffith 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/china-can-learn-from-australian-urban-design-but-its-not-all-one-way-traffic-115905" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

China can learn from Australian urban design, but it’s not all one-way traffic

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION 
Australia is one of the most urbanised nations in the world, and our ongoing population growth continues to produce new suburbs on city fringes across the continent. These new suburbs, and the processes that form them, are often <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/homes-in-new-suburbs-four-years-away-but-services-to-take-much-longer-20190215-p50y46" target="_blank">contentious</a>.
And that’s not just because of vexed issues of sprawl, transport and infrastructure provision. One of the most common criticisms of new and outer suburbs is that they are <a href="https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2011/09/18/why-do-outer-suburban-streets-look-so-bland/" target="_blank">bland</a>, soulless, cookie-cutter developments that lack culture and a sense of place.
This problem occurs when these suburbs are built as though on a blank slate, with little thought given to engaging with existing stories of landscape and how new stories might be formed. Place itself is layered through stories, time, material and experiences. This idea of layering provides important clues for new developments.
My research in the Melbourne suburb of Point Cook shows the importance of listening to cues in the existing landscape. This enables the design and governance of new developments to provide opportunities for grassroots <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/what-is-placemaking" target="_blank">placemaking</a>. Communities can then infuse places with new layers of meaning, creating a sense of ownership and stewardship.
As part of <a href="https://unimelb.placeagency.org.au/2019/03/25/place-week-vic-2019-12th-18th-may/" target="_blank">Place Week Vic</a>, researchers and practitioners will be discussing the lessons of places like Point Cook for outer suburbs and new developments.
The Point Cook story
While rapid population growth in <a href="https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/point-cook" target="_blank">Point Cook</a> began in the 21st century, the area has long featured wetlands that are important to migratory birds from around the world. It is also the birthplace of the Royal Australian Air Force <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/point-cook" target="_blank">RAAF</a>.
<a href="https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC22074?opendocument" target="_blank">Point Cook’s growth</a> is defined by detached housing, remarkable cultural diversity, many young families, work commutes, and limited public transport infrastructure.
Parts of Point Cook’s suburban fabric draw on layers of history and landscape by including wetlands that manage stormwater, provide bird habitat, and promote a distinctive character.
Unlike many suburbs, Point Cook has a main-street-style town centre with shops fronting footpaths. This provides the frame for the type of meeting place so vital yet often lacking in outer suburbs. But it took local intervention to make this place hum.
A park pops up
Over the past two summers, a street block has been closed off to traffic to form a highly popular, grassroots-led <a href="https://www.pointcookpopuppark.com.au/" target="_blank">pop-up park</a>. The space has been full of colour and activity throughout the day with flexible seating, beanbags, and a loose program of community-led events such as workshops, film screenings, and arts activities.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274017/original/file-20190513-183080-1i9kuwj.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/274017/original/file-20190513-183080-1i9kuwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
The Point Cook pop-up park was designed to be a colourful, inviting space. Matt Novacevski, Author provided
One cannot help but notice the informal interactions and moments the park prompts. Families stop off with full trolleys of shopping to rest and people-watch. Children play in brightly painted cubby houses along the edge of the park. And people of all ages and backgrounds sit and talk.
What made the park tick?
The design approach to the park has involved the community in making a sociable, flexible and colourful space with robust temporary infrastructure.
Children and families move seats and beanbags around the space, while local community groups and volunteer gardeners have taken charge of painting, decorating and caring for planter boxes along the edges of the park. These elements create a welcoming sense of informality, comfort and stewardship.
Importantly, activity from the edges of the park bleeds into the surrounds, and vice versa. Restaurant seating along the footpaths that front the park is generally well used, and people value the place as a break from the rhythms and routines that define suburban life.
The park can be a place to relax, or somewhere more intense. During the Indian Holi festival, dance, dress and dye dominated as an evocative ritual was publicly shared, with the implicit invitation for all to get involved.
These interactions of people, identities and place coalesce into a stronger local sense of shared identity.
Park co-founder Sara Mitchell, a Point Cook resident for the best part of a decade, describes the design approach as providing a frame for the community to “colour in”. This metaphor describes the importance of leaving openings within formal design elements. This allows residents to make and interpret place in ways that form new individual and collective bonds.
Lessons for new suburbs
Point Cook’s pop-up park demonstrates the power of placemaking that considers the layered nature of place, highlights local assets and fosters the ability of place to bring people together.
These types of activities are more likely to prosper when new suburbs are designed and governed to provide inviting openings in their fabric for residents to interpret and create place in ways that transcend routines of work and consumption.
We should never understate the importance of continually infusing places with joy, character and quirk. This is important in creating <a href="https://placematt.net/2019/04/08/the-tapestry-of-kindness/" target="_blank">generous</a>, meaningful places with heart and soul.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116174/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;">
Matt Novacevski, PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne
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/how-to-turn-a-housing-development-into-a-place-where-people-feel-they-belong-116174" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

How to turn a housing development into a place where people feel they belong

<html><body>
EXPERT OBSERVATION
Despite a pre-election anti-development environment in Sydney there are many quality examples of urban renewal with-in Sydney as well as Singapore, London and New York. Local politicians should learn from these projects.
The Creating Communities Conference attended by over 300 people last Friday demonstrated many examples of how to create quality development that give a positive rebuttal to the anti-development rhetoric that is occurring in the lead up to next year's NSW election.
It was very timely to see so many excellent urban developments from around the world to remind us in Sydney that growth and new developments can add excitement and positive new places for communities to live, work and relax.
Gordon Adams, the Head of Planning at the Battersea Power Station Development Company, explained the importance of political leadership to drive this massive urban renewal project in London. The projects size was large enough to get the London Underground's Northern Line extended to the site and this has generated a ripple effect of urban renewal in the surrounding areas.
Ultimately Battersea (pictured above) will have 3,500 apartments, 15,000 jobs including the biggest Apple office in the UK, parks, child care, restaurants and community facilities.
The combination on metro rail, a centre for jobs and a large number of new homes has created a new city within a city.
Marianne Kwok, Design Director, Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York was the key master planner for that cities major urban renewal project at Hudson Yards over underused railway yards. A new station was added to the New York subway and the famous elevated pedestrian network of the High Line weaves through the site and the buildings.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2018/10/17/Hudson.JPG" alt="">
Hudson Yards (pictured above) will have 4,000 new homes, 1 million square feet of office space, three new parks, child care, shops and restaurants and some amazing public art works.
Rahul Mittal, Director Design, Cistri Singapore gave a detailed overview of how similar Singapore was to Sydney in population terms but that Singapore was much denser but still very liveable.
He positioned Singapore as an example of how the balancing of new development with an extensive metro rail network and a strong greening policy can lead to positive results.
The mood at the Creating Communities Conference was very upbeat about how quality new development can add value to the residents and workers in new precincts and how a level of excitement can occur with new stimulating developments.
A number of emerging Sydney urban renewal projects were presented that matched the quality of the international examples.
Dominic Sullivan outlined the rationale behind PAYCE's Melrose Park proposed development, Neil Arckless from Lendlease presented the mixed use precinct of Darling Square. Sasha Kovic and Scott Clohessy from Frasers Property outlined the concept behind the Ivanhoe project that will house social, affordable and market housing as well as a new school and parklands.
The greenfield housing development at Willowdale was presented by Stockland's Sophie Pickett-Heaps along with Stockland's focus on building communities. Toga's Fabrizio Perilli gave an excellent outline of his Surry Hills Village project that carried the laneway culture of the suburb into this new development.
With a multitude of quality urban renewal projects presented from different world cities and from different parts of Sydney there is no doubt that the development industry is making a very positive contribution to the future of urban living.
The current negative debate about over development in Sydney needs to be balanced by the very positive examples of how other cities have passed through this growth phase and by the emerging examples of quality development across Sydney.
The Urban Taskforce calls on all politicians in the lead up to the NSW election next March to take a positive approach to quality new development rather than encouraging the fear of change in their electorates that will create an ant-development attitude to garner short term votes.
Sydney needs politicians that are committed to the long term future of Sydney for future generations. 
Chris Johnson is the Urban Taskforce CEO
</body></html>

cjohnson-8xfqfuuCSq

Political leaders must learn from quality urban renewal projects: Chris Johnson

<html><body>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/75533/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Our cities are increasingly beset by a lack of affordable housing, inequality, lagging infrastructure – the list goes on.
To the rescue, we now have the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But how can they help?
Responding to the urban century
Australia and 166 other countries agreed the New Urban Agenda at the Habitat III conference in Quito last October. The agenda frames global policy for cities and urban settlements for the next 20 years. Signatories will be measured against its objectives.
This historic agreement did not attract the same attention as the Paris climate agreement, yet it has similarly profound and linked potential. The Paris agreement will determine what action countries take on climate change, shaping policies on energy use and carbon production. The New Urban Agenda will aim for city sustainability, shaping our liveability, homes and neighbourhoods.
The agenda responds to the urban century. It recognises the growth energised by cities but also their spatial, social, cultural and economic inequalities.
Action is urgently called for to tackle inequality. The shift to cities hasn’t reduced inequality. Instead, it has shifted poverty to cities and deepened inequality in the process.
Two key concepts of the New Urban Agenda are the “city for all” and the “right to the city”. It also clearly links to Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to:
… make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
A lack of joined-up thinking
Three key problems beset our approach to cities. In principle, the New Urban Agenda and SDG 11 can help overcome these.
1) Policy siloes persist despite decades of rhetoric about joining up policy and programs. Housing affordability, planning and transport, economic development, public health and education, for example, remain remarkably siloed.
Transport policy rarely looks at employment and health impacts. Policy for providing affordable homes rarely examines the impact of employment and economic strategy on housing affordability. Promoting social cohesion and social inclusion is rarely considered in developing and delivering the education system.
Cities are intricate, entwined collections of people, plans and infrastructures. Throwing isolated and disconnected solutions at complex problems is a recipe for failure, but it’s one that is constantly repeated.
2) Governments not only typically divide their approaches to social and economic policy, they also have split responsibilities between levels of government. Separate ministers and departments deal with the very narrowly defined aspects of their portfolio.
In Australia, the policy separation between states and federal government magnifies the silo issue. Wide cracks between levels of government allow critical planning and policy decisions to be postponed for decades.
In this policy void, local and city governments often lead the way on issues of liveability, climate change mitigation, sustainability and social cohesion. However, many of the levers for change are above their reach. Those powers reside in state and federal governments.
3) Private sector, government and civil society interests remain fractured and opposed. Not enough attention is paid to negotiating common interests. Cities need capital but they also need to be liveable places for all citizens. New alliances are needed to reconcile needs and resources.
All the above problems are related to the overwhelming need for integration, which provides a common meeting point for a wide range of players to approach complex problems.
Not a task for government alone
Australia has no national housing or energy strategy. But both are critical to successful nations and cities.
The joined-up phrasing of the New Urban Agenda and SDG 11 offer an entry point. They provide a catalyst for integration in three critical areas:
policy formulation to tackle multiple, connected problems;
fresh attempts to develop integrated multi-level governance; and
reframed governance across bureaucracy, business and civil society.
Shared ideals, objectives and delivery mechanisms linked to the New Urban Agenda are the first step. This has already led to the setting up of a multi-partner initiative to support sustainable urban development.
The New Urban Agenda is the product of many hundreds of urban scholars, mayors, policymakers and community voices. It provides an integrative policy framework that sets a broad direction toward better cities.
Planning for the future of our cities can no longer ignore growing social, economic and environmental issues. And these are all exacerbated by wealth and income inequalities. The task of reframing governance across bureaucracy, business and civil society must recognise the uneven resources across the city, and reconcile the interests around the table.
Signing the Habitat III declaration was easy. Implementing the New Urban Agenda is a challenge that government will not be able to meet alone.
Ralph Horne is<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ralph-horne-160543"> </a>deputy pro vice chancellor, Research &amp; Innovation; Director of UNGC Cities Programme; Professor, RMIT University and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ralph-horne-160543" target="_blank">here</a>.
David Adamson is Emeritus Professor, Social and Community Policy, The University of South Wales and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-adamson-259956" target="_blank">here</a>.
</body></html>

jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

What can the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals do for cities?

<html><body>
Urban development and renewal expert, Dr Joan Clos, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations’ Habitat Program, will visit Australia in May.
Australia is a signatory to the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the UN’s 20 year road map for sustainable urban development.
The NUA sets a new standard for sustainable urban development and is designed to help countries rethink how they plan, manage and live in cities.
Compass Housing, in association with RMIT University, Victorian Department of the Environment, Land Water and Planning, CoDesign Studio and Eastern Organisation for Planning and Human Settlements (EAROPH), is bringing together representatives from across the region to explore the implications of the new agenda and start work towards delivery of outcomes.
The conference Implementing the New Urban Agenda: Making Cities and Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 4-5 May 2017.
Greg Budworth, Compass Housing group managing director,  said the Australian Government's adoption of the NUA last October was an important opportunity for housing and urban policy development.
“The conference in Melbourne will provide the first real opportunity in Australasia and the Pacific region for those with an interest in getting urban development right, to start developing an effective and strategic approach without further delay.
“We know our population is growing, it will potentially double in the next 50 years, and this is putting pressure on our urban areas, particularly capital cities. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures suggest two-thirds of Australians currently live in a capital city and this may increase to nearly three-quarters in the relatively near future.
“Housing affordability is already an enormous problem, and there are more than 200,000 families on the waiting list for social housing while 40 per cent of people receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance are still in housing stress.”
Professor David Adamson, conference chair,  said addressing these issues and delivering the key NUA objectives of “cities for all” and “no one left behind” would require the collaboration of a wide range of private, public, academic and not-for-profit agencies.
“Having the head of the UN Habitat Program in attendance in Melbourne is a fantastic opportunity and a sign of the global significance of the event,” he said.
“Dr Clos has had an illustrious career spanning public health, diplomacy, municipal government and urban renewal and will bring powerful insight and enormous practical experience to the task at hand,” he said.
 
 
</body></html>

Global sustainable urban development leader to help inform Australian policy direction

<html><body>
SPONSORED POST
If we had a completely blank slate to work with, how would we design our buildings and cities? How different would they be from the environments we have created now?
That was the question posed by JLL and TEDxSydney earlier this year for their Urban Canvas research project, which surveyed more than 200 professionals from 19 industries and conducted full-day workshops to explore issues around workplaces, buildings and cities.
Participants were asked to imagine creating places for people to work, live and play within the construct of a completely fresh slate - the planet Mars in 2050, made habitable for humans. 
The concept of Mars was used to give people a blank canvas and understand what they would create if they didn’t have the limitations of the existing built environment.
The resultant whitepaper – ‘Is humanity the future architect: how human connections will ultimately shape the future of real estate’ - projects a vision of the future where buildings do more than function as places of work – they promote connections between people and nature, whilst enhancing our health and wellbeing.
“The results unanimously focused on human connections and a desire to be closer to nature,” says Richard Fennell, Australian Head of Property &amp; Asset Management for JLL.
“It seems that amongst our condensed and densely populated skylines, the people living and working within them are craving more open spaces, more air, and more natural materials and environments.” 
Participants sought a lifestyle where home and work were more interconnected in a physical sense - promoting concepts such as community workplaces, co-working and flexible work locations - whilst craving to be less connected mentally and emotionally.
This is a response to the recognition that the modern workforce does not ‘switch off’ - workers no longer leave work behind when heading home, and this is acknowledged as negatively impacting mental health.
“Our basic needs and wants remain consistent with what they were 100 years ago,” Fennell says. “We saw five key themes emerge when asking the TEDxSydney Community to design their future, four of these themes focused on human needs.”
Those five key themes are:
<ol>
<li>Human connections</li>
<li>Health and wellness</li>
<li>Nature and human sustainability</li>
<li>Social consciousness</li>
<li>Robotics and artificial intelligence</li>
</ol>
“Throughout our research, certain mega-trends also emerged that might shape how we interact with our urban environment, including robotics, quantum computing, driverless cars and co-working,” Fennell says. “But it will be a desire for authentic, deeper human interactions, health and wellbeing, and a closeness to nature that will continue to dominate the built environment.”
JLL’s Australian Head of Corporate Account Management, Rajiv Nagrath, says the research found that, despite technological advancements and the potential impacts of robotics and artificial intelligence, there was a desire for a future dependent on people, not machines.
For more information, <a href="https://access.jll.com/tedxsydney/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
</body></html>

po-LsXgBTHBmX

How human connections will ultimately shape the future of real estate 

<html><body>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/65870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Since settlement, Australian cities have been shaped and reshaped by history, infrastructure, natural landscapes and – importantly – policy.
So, have our cities changed much in the last 30 years? Have consolidation policies had any effect? Have we contained sprawl? Yes, probably and maybe, according to our newly published research.
<a href="/images/2016/10/12/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-12%20at%209.06.15%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/10/12/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-12%20at%209.06.15%20AM.png" alt="">
<h2>Reviving the centre</h2>
The great Australian baby boomer dream of home ownership caused our cities to spread out during the second half of the 20th century. Urban fringes expanded with affordable land releases, large residential blocks and cheap private transport. 
By the 1980s, across Australia’s cities, the urban fringes were ever-expanding. Inner areas had become sparsely populated “doughnut cities”. 
By the end of that decade urban researchers, planners, geographers and economists began to warn of looming environmental, social and housing affordability problems due to unrestrained sprawling growth. 
Governments responded swiftly, focusing policy attention on urban consolidation through programs such as Greenstreet and Building Better Cities. Concerned individuals formed groups such as Smart Growth and New Urbanism to promote inner-city development and increased urban density.
Since this time, large- and small-scale policy interventions have attempted to repopulate the inner- and middle-urban areas. The common policy goal has been to encourage more compact, less sprawling cities. Subdivision, dual occupancy, infill development, smaller block sizes, inner-city apartments and the repurposing of non-residential buildings have all been used.
<h2>Mapping the changes</h2>
In a newly published paper, we map the changing shape of Australia’s five largest mainland cities from 1981 to 2011. 
Across each of these cities, which together are home to 60 percent of Australians, there has been substantial, suburbanisation and re-urbanisation. In the last 20 years this has resulted in a repopulation of inner cities. 
In Melbourne’s case, the return to the inner city has been particularly pronounced in the last decade. Here, the population jumped from around 3,000 to 4,000 people per km². 
<a href="/images/2016/10/12/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-12%20at%209.04.57%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/10/12/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-12%20at%209.04.57%20AM.png" alt="">
Melbourne may well be the exemplar for inner-city rebirth. More than any other Australian city it demonstrates the 30-year turnaround from inner-city decline to densification. 
Between 1981 and 1991 Melbourne became a classic “doughnut city”: population declining in inner areas, density increasing in the middle-ring suburbs, and growth steady in the outer suburbs. For example, in the inner 5km ring there was a decrease during this time of almost 200 people per km². 
From 1991 to 2001, even though growth was still focused on the middle and outer areas, the inner area began to be repopulated. Overall, between 1981 and 2011 there were approximately 1,500 more people per square kilometre living in the inner 5km ring.
Over the last decade, greenfield development, infill and urban regeneration have increased urban density throughout Melbourne.
While the turnarounds in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have been less marked than in Melbourne, they are all no longer “doughnut cities”. This means that where people live in these cities has changed. 
Australia’s cities are now more densely populated – and we are much more likely to live in inner areas than we were 30 years ago.
<h2>A result of government policy?</h2>
We can probably attribute the changes in where urban Australians live to government consolidation policies. 
The policy focus throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s was based on incentives to repopulate inner and middle areas. 
Policies were changed from 2000 to increase population density across whole metropolitan areas. State and territory strategic plans aimed to promote urban consolidation, with a focus on the inner city. 
State and territory plans now focus much more on specific zones throughout the whole of the city, including former industrial areas and surplus government land. New housing development occurs within these defined zones, particularly around transport and areas with urban-renewal potential. 
South Australia’s 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide targets growth in “current urban lands”, along major transport corridors and hubs. Similarly, the Plan Melbourne – Metropolitan Planning Strategy plans to establish the “20-minute neighbourhood”, contain new housing within existing urban boundaries, and focus development in new urban renewal precincts.
The map visualisations reinforce the scale of this absolute growth across each of the five major Australian cities over the last 30 years. 
<h2>Have we contained sprawl?</h2>
Our research would suggest urban-consolidation policies have slowed but not prevented sprawl, especially in the faster-growing cities like Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. 
So, have we reached the point at which our cities are full? How can we accommodate future population growth? And do we need to focus our attention on new urban areas? 
Containing and, more importantly, controlling sprawl may present the next big challenge.
Neil Coffee is senior research Fellow in Health Geography, University of South Australia and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/neil-coffee-301251" target="_blank">here</a>.
Emma Baker is associate professor, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Adelaide and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emma-baker-172081" target="_blank">here</a>.
Jarrod Lange is senior research consultant (GIS), Hugo Centre for Migration and Population Research, University of Adelaide and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jarrod-lange-301835" target="_blank">here</a>.
All are authors for The Conversation.
 
</body></html>

Density, sprawl, growth: how Australian cities have changed in the last 30 years

<html><body>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/65563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
We shape the city and it shapes us. 
The recent ABC series City in the Sky focuses our attention on the sheer number of people who travel in the air at any one time and the extent of the infrastructure built up to support them. This aerial citizenry is due to double in the next 20 years and with it the global networks, smart technology and urban infrastructure that make it all possible. 
The real provocation of the city in the sky, however, is not just rendering visible the urban worlds that exist on land and sea, above the earth and below. Rather it prompts us to re-imagine both the complex nature and make-up of our habitats, and the role of infrastructure and planning within it. 
This raises new questions about what we imagine to be “the city” – and how we can shape it. 
<h2>The urban shapeshifters</h2>
In the urban age, important international conferences such as Habitat III are seeking to generate:
"… a new urban agenda for the 21st century that recognises the ever-changing dynamics of human civilisation."
The idea of “the city” looms large. There are, it seems, no limits to the prospects and possibilities of technology and human entrepreneurship. These concentrate within the contemporary city: the super structures of the super species in the age of the Anthropocene. 
For Harvard university professor Ed Glaeser, author of the book Triumph of the City, human ingenuity can conquer urban challenges and enable social and economic mobility. 
Others point to the lifeboat qualities and capacities of cities, which will help us navigate the urban challenges related to climate change, population growth and displacement, and resource depletion. 
But has the hubris of economists, urban academics, city planners, engineers and our elected leaders over-emphasised the moment of the city as concentrated urbanisation and big infrastructure projects? Should we instead be seeking to better recognise and understand the “extended” urbanisation processes that are reorganising and transforming the broader urban fabric (that is, worldwide shipping lanes and flight paths, broadband, sea level rise, peak oil, smart technologies)? 
To put it simply, are we thinking too narrowly when we talk about cities? 
The city as shapeshifter poses a genuine conundrum for those who seek to shape urban change. Like a 5D movie on speed, the contemporary city defies conventional boundaries.
<h2>The Australian city unbound</h2>
Australia’s cities are described in national policy as “some of the best in the world”. According to the Smart Cities Plan, Australia’s cities are: productive and accessible; full of talent and investment; agile and flexible; and encouraging of the innovation, jobs and growth on which our national prosperity depends. 
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stressed earlier this year that, in shaping our cities:
"Planning is absolutely critical. The ad hocery [non-planning] has got to stop."
All Australians are encouraged as part of the Smart City Plan to share their ideas to help determine the new cities agenda. But what does this mean for urban planners, developers, state and local governments, as well as for Australian city residents when so much of what shapes the urban comes from outside the traditional boundaries of “the city”? 
Far from being self-explanatory and straightforward, the contemporary Australian city is changing, yet the processes that shape change in cities are not well understood. This is not a closed policy and planning cycle. And it’s further complicated if notions of what constitutes “the city” are constrained and outdated. 
<h2>Lines of flight</h2>
Urban planners adapt to change in cities and regions, which are in turn transformed by changes in environment, planning and party politics. Change is often imposed on cities (in response to an environmental crisis, for example). 
Sometimes, though, this change is the result of complex politics and negotiations between local, state and Commonwealth governments, or in response to investment interests borne elsewhere. 
For example, the Commonwealth government, in support of an interest in making Australian cities the site for innovation, has signalled the role that urban infrastructure will play in creating jobs and spurring growth.
Urban change, Turnbull tells us, will only be delivered:
"… by addressing the policy and regulatory settings through which cities and infrastructure are governed, planned, funded, constructed and operated."
But this safe policy and regulatory landing requires first the imagination and capacity to shape and plan for the “cities in the sky”. As American academic Joe Feagin noted in The Urban Scene: Myths and Realities:
"Basic conceptions and images of urban life and urban structure are extraordinarily important, since they often shape the ends envisioned, and the means by which those ends are implemented, by those intent on reinforcing or remaking the existing urban scene."
To this end, imagination and planning are central to the critical urban governance of cities. As planning academic Patsy Healey highlights, this entails the three-fold task of: 
1) expanding the collective knowledge base about the changing shape and nature of cities available to our communities, political and otherwise; 
2) enhancing democratic debate; and 
3) developing the skills for conveying to the different members of our communities.
Wendy Steele is associate professor of Urban Policy and Planning, RMIT University and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wendy-steele-4698" target="_blank">here</a>.
Crystal Legacy is Australian Research Council (DECRA) Fellow and Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/crystal-legacy-18412" target="_blank">here</a>.
</body></html>

Cities in the sky: how do we decide where this urban journey is taking us?

<html><body>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/65164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Parklets are popping up everywhere. Cities around the world – and increasingly across Australia from Fremantle to the Fraser Coast – are introducing programs to convert roadside parking spots into more green and sociable spaces.
In Sydney, Waverley Council’s Urban Interventions program received an award for “best planning idea” from the Planning Institute of Australia (NSW) in 2014. The Glebe Chamber of Commerce is running a crowdfunding campaign to turn its pilot parklet into a more lasting installation.
Before parklets there was PARK(ing). In 2005, members of the San Francisco design collective Rebar paid an on-street parking meter for two hours. Rather than park a car, Rebar used the space to create a “park” with turf, a tree, a bench and signs inviting passers-by to sit and relax. Rebar then packed up and returned the space to its former condition.
While the event was not intended to continue beyond the initial two hours, photos and video were rapidly shared online. The images proved inspirational: requests quickly came from people asking how to create their own “parks”. Rebar responded by producing a how-to guide and decided to launch an event that would make a much bigger statement about the use of public space.
<h2>Going global</h2>
In 2006, the first PARK(ing) Day was celebrated with 47 “parks” in 13 cities across three countries. The event grew rapidly, expanding to more than 200 parks in 2007 and featuring in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008. By 2011, PARK(ing) Day included almost 1,000 parks in 35 countries.
PARK(ing) Day has spread beyond the event itself. As well as parklet programs, the first of which was introduced in San Francisco in 2010, the day has inspired a number of other activities.
Participants have gone on to develop a range of related events, from the skipsters of Melbourne to the temporary villages of Montreal to the worldwide Better Block movement.
At the core of PARK(ing) Day is an idea about law. Paying the parking meter was seen as a way to access ownership, albeit temporarily, in a city where the means to acquire legal title were beyond the reach of many residents.
Its instigators described this act as creating a “lease”, a property right that brought with it a right to engage in planning, by participating in the development of a vision of what could be and, significantly, in the (fleeting) material creation of that vision.
At first, the vision was for more parks in an area that – according to the city’s own maps – had little green space. In subsequent iterations in cities around the world, PARK(ing) Day participants have claimed and reclaimed the street in diverse and dynamic ways: from croquet greens to community health clinics, libraries to lemonade stands, bike workshops to weddings.
Turning a parking space into a park is a quirky idea, but even in 2005 it was not entirely new. Precedents can be found in many cities over many years: from the installations on California roads by Bonnie Ora Sherk in the 1970s, to the Parking Meter Parties held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 2001, to Ted Dewan’s road witching in Oxford, UK, from 2003, to Michael Rakowitz’s 2004 (P)LOT projects in Vienna, Austria, and Trento, Italy.
Yet none of these precursors succeeded in engaging or inspiring people on such a grand scale.
<h2>The power of a ‘sticky’ idea</h2>
Rebar describes PARK(ing) Day as a “sticky” idea. With very little organisation – almost none in recent years, since Rebar no longer exists – the event has proved extremely durable.
While some participants engage consistently over many years (the Sydney office of  ARUP has built “parks” seven times since 2008), most participate just a few times. PARK(ing) Day continues to attract new participants: North Sydney Girls High School and locals around Australia Street, Newtown, are some of the newest.
The reach of PARK(ing) may be traced to the power of the initial image, or to the success (or luck) of Rebar in connecting with particularly influential people.
More than this, however, a key part of the event’s success is its connection to law. PARK(ing) Day was not presented as a protest, a plea for change, or a proposal for reform. On the contrary, PARK(ing) Day was expressly presented as something already legal. PARK(ing) Day provides a powerful invitation to citizens around the world to rethink the city and their place in it.
Friday, September 16, is the 11th PARK(ing) Day. 
Amelia Thorpe is senior lecturer and Director of Environmental Law Programs, UNSW Australia and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amelia-thorpe-15408" target="_blank">here</a>.
</body></html>

Urban Development

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.

Urban Development

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Have something to contribute?

The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.