Conference

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

Owning Institution

The State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conferences have been held biennially since 2003 to support interdisciplinary policy-related urban research. SOAC 2019 was subtitled 'Cities in an Age of Disruption and Innovation' and was jointly hosted in Perth by the University of Western Australia and Curtin University.

In keeping with past SOAC conferences, SOAC 2019 papers were organised into broad thematic streams: City Economics, City Environment, City Governance, City Structure, City Movement and Infrastructure, City Social and Housing and City Health/Liveability. All published papers were produced through a process of integrated peer review.

Papers from all past and subsequent SOAC conferences can be found at the State of Australian Cities Conferences Collection on APO.

Conference paper

Digital landscape of women’s safety

5 Dec 2019

Rewa Marathe,

Zoe Condliffe

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

In the context of increasingly digitised urban governance, this paper investigates the use of digital technology in the advocacy for women’s safety in the city.

Conference paper

Dense, urban and walkable: the lived experience of apartment dwellers in post-suburban Sydney

5 Dec 2019

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

Urban density is commonly identified as factor that contributes to active transport, including walking, across all age groups. While a significant body of literature explores the factors that influence the likelihood of walking for commuting, leisure and or strolling, the experiences of residents in rapidly densifying outer suburbs have been much less well considered.

Conference paper

Alternative food networks and opportunities for transformation towards a sustainable and resilient urban food system

5 Dec 2019

Leticia Canal Vieira,

Silvia Serrao-Neumann,

Michael Howes

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

Food systems are suffering from pressures related to population growth, increased urbanisation, climate change, and resource scarcity. These pressures are exacerbated by globalisation, with consumers concentrated in urban areas while producers are dispersed across rural areas that are often remote or even in different countries. To address these challenges many local governments have embraced the...

Conference paper

The origin of rejection: Sydney’s first ideological battle with apartments

5 Dec 2019

George Greiss

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

Exploring the social, political and economic factors that favoured urban sprawl over high density during early twentieth century, this paper examines the discourses surrounding the ideal Australian home at such a key time in Sydney’s early development.

Conference paper

Tracing the 'zombification' of undeveloped estates in greater Melbourne and its outlying regions

5 Dec 2019

Victoria Kolankiewicz,

Nicholas Phelps,

David Nichols,

Elizabeth Taylor

9th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 30 November - 5 December 2019, Perth, Australia

The ‘zombie subdivision’ is a phenomenon identified by the Lincoln Institute as ‘once- promising projects’ now ‘distressed’, with the fulfilment of plans or visions for the site effectively stalled. Services such as water, electricity, and roads are often absent in these areas, leaving them partially- occupied, or more often, completely vacant.