Planning by numbers

Leading planning and geospatial figures are calling for a coordinated approach to digitising and streamlining Australia’s urban planning systems.

Saving megabucks on megaprojects

Reforming company boards, contracts and cost estimating could help reduce the massive cost-blow outs which bedevil Australian mega-projects.

A park in your pocket

Population pressures and higher density housing are consuming the private gardens which once greened our cities and suburbs, increasing the importance of ‘pocket parks’ to offer wildlife and residents a welcome home.

The internet of vehicle theft

Technology that exchanges data over the internet to make transportation more autonomous, safe and efficient also makes it easier for criminals to steal your car.

Victoria’s hot air about gas

The justification of the Victorian government’s forthcoming ban on gas supplies to new homes on health grounds seems less than convincing, given the much greater problem posed by particulates from diesel and wood burning stoves.

Solving the shortage of civil engineers

Major infrastructure projects across Australia, including those for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, face a critical shortage of civil engineers but QUT researchers say early-career civil engineers would be more likely to stay in the field if given roles with autonomy, responsibility, and workplace flexibility.

How to print your house

The adoption of 3D printing in architecture will allow designers to experiment with geometries that are difficult to produce using other construction methods, but are common in nature.

Concrete jungle

In news that will surprise absolutely no-one, researchers have found that people find the high-density urban environments favoured by governments and urban planners more stressful than less densely populated places.

Planning for regional housing

Successive governments have encouraged mass immigration to artificially bouy economic growth in the absence of real productivity rises, but this has created housing shortages and resulting price rises in Australia’s urban centres, increasing the need for better planning for housing in regional areas.

Australia needs a national urban policy

Two thirds of Australians live in the state capitals, and so our cities will be central to achieving sustainability in a time of climate change.

Renting your way to your first home

Fewer young people have the means to buy their first home, but is there a way to shortcut a failing system through extending ‘rent to buy’ approaches?

Helping young people buy a home

Generous tax concessions to property owners will continue to push house prices out of reach of younger generations unless structural tax reform, such as winding back capital gains tax concessions on property assets, is implemented.