Social sustainability has long suffered from perceptions of it being  a somewhat “fluffy” addendum to urban design and masterplanning processes. So it is heartening to see a growing recognition of the positive impact of rigorous and systematic social planning and social impact assessment processes in the development of our urban environments. After all, what are [...]

It’s a precious gift to feel supremely energised and inspired at 9am on a Tuesday morning. And that’s the gift the innovative Bike Tank – “a think tank that you cycle to” brought to me and no doubt quite a few other Sydney-siders this sunny spring morning. Wandering into the workshop in the big, fab [...]

Planning Minister Brad Hazzard’s first 100 days in office have been an eventful time for the planning and development sector. The State Department has seen a merger of plannning and infrastructure functions and a renaming along those lines. Major legislative instruments have been overturned or dramatically amended. Arguably the most high profile (and controversial) of [...]

As the state of New South Wales looks forward to a change of government on March 26, one question on the lips of those working in the development sector is what the incumbents plan to do about Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.Introduced in 2005 by former planning minister Craig Knowles, [...]

Having spent the last few years working primarily at the level of strategic policy-making and analysis, I’ve lately also been going back to my professional roots through some projects at the urban planning “coalface,” if you will. Affordable housing delivery is a core focus of this work, as well as a deep passion of mine. Living [...]

‘The deep association that people have for place constitutes a vital source of both individual and cultural identity and security and acts as a point from which humans can orientate themselves in the world.” (Relph, E., 1981, The Modern Urban Landscape, p.27) Urbanisation.  Historically the product of the industrial revolution and the associated mass in-migration [...]

A longtime nation of coastal dwellers, Australia’s population is now one of the most urbanised in the world. It’s all in the numbers. A total of 16 million Australians (80%) now live in cities and towns, according to Our Cities, the federal government’s urban policy discussion paper, which was published last month. By 2031, the Australian [...]