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

Flexible growth scenarios in Melbourne: impacts and opportunities of diversified dwelling supply

2 May 2022

Lee-Anne Khor,

Rutger Pasman

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

This paper presents a series of speculative growth scenarios in Melbourne that test how medium-density infill models can respond to short- and long-term housing needs.

Conference paper

Digital public space: imagining the everyday impacts of infrastructure transitions

2 May 2022

Robert Lundberg

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

This paper will outline a novel understanding of how people sense and make sense of the digital by using speculative visual research methods to approach the digital as part of the ongoing configuration of urban public space.

Conference paper

Emerging empirical insights on the potential of green infrastructure to mitigate heat stress and improve access, inclusion, and safety in Australian aged care facilities

2 May 2022

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

This paper provides emerging empirical insights on the potential of green infrastructure to mitigate heat stress and improve access, inclusion, and safety in Australian aged care facilities (ACFs). It concludes that green infrastructure offers many strategic benefits in ACFs, but these are typically overlooked in design, landscaping and budgeting.

Conference paper

Melbourne 2050: scenario planning for 20-minute neighbourhoods

2 May 2022

Stella Felicia Sinaga,

Md. Liton Kamruzzaman

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

The literature lacks a methodological framework to guide the selection of location and design characteristics of a 20-minute neighbourhood. The present study intends to fill this gap by developing neighbourhood typologies and performing a scenario-based approach to identify the types of 20-minute neighbourhoods that can increase walking propensity.

Conference paper

Integrating logics in strategic spatial planning: a case study of the Melbourne urban growth boundary

2 May 2022

Tanya Burdett

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

Through analysis of Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) as a case study, this paper explores intersection between different stakeholder objectives and logics, and asks: “Why did the UGB change so much within the first decade of its establishment?”