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

Resilience success of community-led and governed green infrastructure in Australia

5 May 2022

Jenny George

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

This paper explores a series of case studies that illustrate community governance models that started with a community led vision for complex green infrastructure projects.

Conference paper

Resilience and adaptation: urban manufacturing and cultural production in Melbourne’s gentrifying inner north

5 May 2022

Declan Martin,

Carl Grodach

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

This paper focuses on interviews with urban manufacturers and cultural producers in Brunswick, a gentrifying suburb approximately six kilometres north of Melbourne’s central business district.

Conference paper

Mapping Melbourne’s parklets: understanding the capacities of street spaces

5 May 2022

Quentin Stevens,

Merrick Morley,

Kim Dovey

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

A parklet is a small, barrier-protected space which temporarily transforms kerbside parking space for public use. This paper maps and analyses 594 parklets across metropolitan Melbourne, identified from aerial surveys and field observation, and examines a range of urban design factors across various scales that positively and negatively impact the supply and demand for parklets...

Conference paper

Climate justice in practice: addressing social inequity and climate resilience through place-based capacity building with community service organisations and local governments

5 May 2022

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

This paper outlines a place-based approach to enabling climate adaptation and resilience across community service organisations (CSOs) and local governments in Melbourne particularly in areas experiencing socio-ecological disadvantage.

Conference paper

Weight centrism in research on children’s active transport – time for a paradigm shift

5 May 2022

Jennifer Kent

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

This paper explains the concept of weight-centrism, including the science that questions the link between weight and disease. Using a review of 112 studies on children’s active school transport, it explores and problematises expressions of weight-centrism in urbanism research.