cities

cities   November 11, 2023

Mapping urban inequality

The notion of Australia as an egalitarian society is outdated and the burgeoning class system of this country is becoming etched in its urban landscape.

cities   September 9, 2023

Boulevard of open dreams

The time has come for urban Australia to abandon the British Empire-based bungalow sprawl and follow a more collective European apartment model.

cities   September 2, 2023

The price to perform at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

‘Hope for the best but prepare for the worst’ is a good approach for Australian comedians performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, especially in the current economic climate.

cities   July 29, 2023

Planting the urban jungle

The measures needed to cool Australia’s rapidly heating urban environments are already clear – and the case to implement them is now urgent, as global temperature records topple.

cities   June 24, 2023

In praise of eccentrics

The combined forces of the market, the internet and even Postmodern thinking have done the opposite of what they promised – narrowing rather than broadening our experience of the world – which is why the eccentric is more important than ever.

cities   May 20, 2023

The housing crisis and nimbys v yimbys

Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by the generational conflict between the ‘nimbys’ who reject development and the ‘yimbys’ calling for more.

cities   February 4, 2023

How Canberra became interesting

The nation’s capital is locked in an architectural battle between the Worst of Sydney and the Way of the Griffins. Happily, it looks as if the Griffins are slowly winning.

cities   October 29, 2022

Paul Keating’s love affair with Barangaroo

Paul Keating’s self-referential praise for Barangaroo is cringeful in its exultation of a development that is short on both architectural merit and social conscience.

cities   October 15, 2022

Futuristic cities like Saudi Arabia’s The Line have one goal

The futuristic designs for cities from Saudi Arabia to the American desert are seductive visions grounded in systems of control.

cities   August 13, 2022

What rampant inequality does to cities

When the wealthy can commandeer the choicest parts of a city and the poorest are left with nothing, a city has lost its way. Rampant inequality is a blight on the way we live.

cities   July 9, 2022

Cities in the fast lane

A dream of innocence for unfettered, frictionless speed turned into a multi-laned nightmare when poets, painters and polemicists fanned the spark into a conflagration. Can art now offer any kind of remedy?