This paper examines why some societies are able to organise effective suburban public transport and why others have so much trouble doing so.

The disadvantages of the low-density car-based suburbs that surround Australian and US cities are well known and widely debated. These include facilities located to the disadvantage of non-car users, wasteful use of land, cost of infrastructure, time and energy expended on driving, low incidence of social contact and lack of exercise. Nevertheless, the older Australian...

This paper appears in a period of a post-Al Gore 'climatic awakening' in the Australian community. Hardly a week passes without a sensational representation in the media of the potential impact of sea levels and other elements of climate change. In turn the major federal political parties in the pre-election surge have promised an array...

Local governments are at the forefront of many activities that both contribute to climate change and are likely to be impacted upon by climate change. This paper examines their responsibilities at law to deal with climate change considerations when exercising their functions and powers.

Urban consolidation has been the main planning policy in Sydney since the 1980s. ... For most of this period it has been locally unpopular. This paper overviews Sydney's urban consolidation policy evolution, and explores the way in which planning power, political power and market power have been used to make urban consolidation happen in the...