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Renewing Sydney and Perth for higher density, a history
R  eaders interested in higher density urban renewal policies and ‘compact city’ planning strategies will find plenty to mull over in two new working papers by CFRC Adjunct Professor Raymond Bunker. By tracing the history and evolution of these policies and planning strategies in Sydney and Perth, the papers shed light on the complexities of urban redevelopment, and how different governance models help or hinder this effort. The Sydney paper is now online, and the Perth paper will be released at the end of March, so check back soon on the project website. The papers are part of an ARC Discovery Project entitled Planning in a Market Economy: The Case of the Compact City, which also uses GIS mapping, case studies and interviews to explore how compact city policies have fared in recent years. There are also posts on our blog about the Sydney paper and the issues it identifies with housing targets; similar posts about Perth will land on our blog in the near future.
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Tenancy law reform for ‘secure occupancy’
City Futures has made a submission to the NSW State Government on its review of renting laws. The submission draws on our research into ‘secure occupancy’ – the extent to which people can make a home in private rental housing – which showed NSW to be an international outlier. We recommend law reform for: a comprehensive set of reasonable grounds for termination, and no ‘no grounds’ notices by landlords; fairer provisions about rent increases, to allow tenants to more easily challenge increases that are above the rate of inflation and limit increases to once per year; greater freedom for tenants to decide to keep a companion animal; and basic occupancy principles and access to dispute resolution for marginal renters who are otherwise excluded from tenancies legislation.
The submission also draws on our recent work on strata renewal and recommends amendments require disclosure of strata renewal proposals to prospective tenants, and to provide a new ground of termination by tenants where a strata renewal plan is adopted.
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Healthy Built Environment Indicators Published!

The City Wellbeing Program is proud to announce the publication of its Healthy Built Environment Indicators.The Indicators will help policy makers and practitioners to create and monitor the success of healthy built environments. Informed by the latest relevant research, the Indicators consolidate a range of measures to understand the health implications of built environments for local communities, and to identify opportunities for improvements. They also advise on where to find data to assess specific built environment characteristics and interventions. The Indicators are an important advocacy tool to lobby for healthy living improvements in built environments. Download your free copy from the City Wellbeing Program website.
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Housing affordability and tax reform
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City Analytics continues to grow
 Dr Alison Taylor, previously the Chief Demographer from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, has begun work on our Urban Health Data Connectivity Project. The project, which runs until the end of 2016, will use data from the National Health Services Directory to investigate geographic inequities in health access in NSW. The research will consider any mismatch between services targeting the older population and where that population lives now, and is projected to live in the future. Spatial analysis techniques will be used to assess the location of health facilities in Sydney, in relation to patterns of socio-economic disadvantage and poor health behaviours.
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City Futures Rising Star
One of our Senior Research Fellows, Dr Hazel Easthope, was selected by the University as one of UNSW Australia’s rising stars and emerging research leaders. Hazel is recognised for her work on higher density developments, a housing form that is rapidly growing in many Australian cities as well as worldwide. Over the next few years, her current projects will see Hazel explore and discover ways in making these developments more sustainable and livable, both economically and socially. You can read about this on her rising star page, Future Cities. While there, you can also find out the Faculty of Built Environment’s other rising star, Dr Hank Haeusler, and smart cities.
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City Futures blog posts - Q1 2016 (in date order)
Follow us on twitter to receive notification of new CFRC blog posts
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City Futures in the News
Newspaper Articles
- Randolph, B., & Troy, L. (2016). Thousands of empty homes adding to Sydney's housing crisis. SMH, Leesha McKenny and Inga Ting
- Pettit, C. (2016). Co-housing because everyone needs good neighbours, AFR Weekend, Su-Lin Tan
- Randolph, B. (2016). Buyers priced out of 75 per cent of Sydney: UNSW, SMH - Domain, Jennifer Duke
- Martin, C. (2016). First-home buyers dreams dashed as Sydney land prices jump $100,000 in a year: UDIA, SMH - Domain, Jennifer Duke
- Easthope, H., & Randolph, B. Shonks on Notice. Daily Telegraph, Andrew Clennell.
Opinion Pieces
TV
Radio
Online Articles
- van den Nouwelant R., Troy, L. & Pawson, H. (2016). Where is housing 'affordable' in Sydney? ABC News Online
- Thompson, S. (2016). Personal Trainers Charged Thousands To Use Public Parks As Group Training Trend Soars, The Huffington Post Australia, Emily Brooks
- Pawson, H. N. (2016). The Rise Of The Boarding House, Monthly Chronicle, Anthony Brewster
- Pawson, H. N., & Milligan, V. (2015). Are we Seeing a New Dawn for Affordable Housing?. The Conversation: The Conversation Media Group Ltd.
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Books, Refereed Journal Articles, AHURI Reports and other publications - Q1 2016
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Burnley, I., Liu, E. Y., & Easthope, H. (2015, OnlineFirst). Geographies of AdultMultigenerational Family in Metropolitan Sydney. Geographical Research. December 2015, 1-15.
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Davison, G., Legacy, C., Liu, E. Y., & Darcy, M. (2016, OnlineFirst). The Factors Driving the Escalation of Community Opposition to Affordable Housing Development. Urban Policy and Research.
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Easthope, H, Liu, E. Y., Burnley, I., & Judd, B. (2016, OnlineFirst). Changing perceptions of family: A study of multigenerational households in Australia. Journal of Sociology
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Fitzpatrick, S., Pawson, H., Bramley, G., Wilcox, S. & Watts, B. (2016) The Homelessness Monitor: England 2016; London: CRISIS
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Judd, B., Liu, E., Easthope, H., & Bridge, C. (2015). Retirement Village or the General Community? Downsizing Choices of Older Australians. In: Proceedings of the State of Australian Cities Conference. Gold Coast.
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Lewison, R. L., Rudd, M. A., Al-Hayek, W., Baldwin, C., Beger, M., Lieske, S. N. Hines, E. (2016). How the DPSIR framework can be used for structuring problems and facilitating empirical research in coastal systems. Environmental Science and Policy, 56, 110-119.
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Osmond, P., Corkery, L., Wilkinson, S., Thompson, S., & Hawken, S. (2015). The Arable City: Quantifying the potential for urban agriculture in the 21st century metropolis. In K. Karimi, L. Vaughan, K. Sailer, G. Palaiologou, & T. Bolton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium. London: The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
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Singh-Peterson, L., Lieske, S., Underhill, S. J. R., & Keys, N. (2016). Food security, remoteness and consolidation of supermarket distribution centres: Factors contributing to food pricing inequalities across Queensland, Australia. Australian Geographer, 47(1), 89-102.
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Stone, W., Sharam, A., Vizel, I., Ralston, L., Markkanen, S., & James, A. (2015). Accessing and Sustaining Private Rental Tenancies: Critical life events, housing shocks and insurances (Final Report No 259). Melbourne: AHURI
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