Should cities retreat due to climate change?

Over the past few months, the world has endured floods, heatwaves, droughts, fires and many events due to climate change’s impacts. Some commentators state that these events have been part of living with ‘nature’ for decades and that we have to live with them. However, many are starting to ask, Is it time to retreat? Can communities […]

How will our cities change after COVID-19?

There are many things that pre-COVID-19 that we took as “normal” such as going into the office every day, travelling on public transport, eating lunch out and shopping late. Many city streets have been empty for several weeks with governments planning for opening up the current restrictions to allow people to return to work, shop […]

Decentralising Australian cities via high speed rail

I lived in China for over 10 years and saw the transformation of cities through the building high-speed rail connections. The first weekend of my time in China in 2005,  I took a K-Train to Suzhou(about 100kms from Shanghai) to see the gardens, and it took about 55-60 minutes on the train and we passed through […]

China | more thought needed about urbanisation

Rapid urbanisation of millions of Chinese has occurred and will continue to occur over the next 25-30 years. There is a change in focus from mega-cities to smaller cities and towns as the country transitions from exports to consumerism based economy. What has changed in a urban design focus have to do with economy? In […]