Conference

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, 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 2021 was hosted collaboratively and online by RMIT University, Monash University, Swinburne University and the University of Melbourne.

Refereed papers and extended abstracts at SOAC 2021 focus on urban and regional transitions in the COVID recovery era to report and appraise the social, spatial, and economic consequences for equity, inclusion and justice. The conference aims to connect these questions to urban practice and inform more robust policy and public discussions about the emerging new futures of Australasian cities and regions. In keeping with past SOAC conferences, SOAC 2021 papers are organised into broad thematic tracks: City Economics & Economies, City Governance, City Health & Liveability, City & Nature, City Movement & Infrastructure, City Structure, City Social & Housing and, for the first time this conference, a track called 'Reckoning with Settler Colonial Cities'.

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

Conference paper

What is a 20-minute neighbourhood and what might make us all care?

2 Jun 2022

Hulya Gilbert,

Ian Woodcock

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia

Several capital cities in Australia, albeit to differing degrees and scope, have been embedding local living policies in their metropolitan strategies. This paper's comparative overview of such policies from Australia and overseas, identified salient differences and commonalities.

Conference paper

Formalising the informal at Flinders Street Station: the tension between heritage and spatial management

2 Jun 2022

Rachel Iampolski

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia

Using the example of the entrance to Flinders Street Station – and the iconic steps and clocks that serves as a popular gathering point – this paper discusses how the development of an informal cultural practice embedded within the Melbourne imaginary is also challenged by competing policy objectives.

Conference paper

Functional suburbanisation: reconsidering growth in metropolitan hinterlands

2 Jun 2022

Todd Denham

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia

What is a suburb? From the perspective of a city’s economy, the function of a suburb is a place that provides residence and sustenance for workers who export their labour. While this definition includes a spatial distinction between where workers rest and replenish themselves from where they work, it is does not suggest that suburbs...

Conference proceedings

Reckoning with settler colonial cities: SOAC 2021 conference track and abstracts

12 May 2022

Libby Porter,

Lara Daley,

Michelle Thompson-Fawcett,

Michele Lobo,

Jamal Nabulsi

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia

This SOAC 2021 conference track includes research papers, provocations, panel discussions, or other forms of knowledge sharing and creation related to understanding the conditions, mechanisms, practices and experiences of settler-colonial urbanism.

Conference paper

Growing pains: the crisis in Melbourne’s growth area planning

12 May 2022

Michael Buxton

10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia

This paper examines the governance failures which have led to this failure of planning in Melbourne’s growth areas. It shows that none of the objectives of the Victorian government’s Precinct Structure Planning Guidelines are being met and demonstrates how the design of residential areas and activity centres, and planning for movement and infrastructure can be...