This paper describes an urban sustainability assessment framework first presented at SOAC 2011 and explores its use with practitioners on a real-world case study in Logan City, Queensland. The focus of the paper is on how such frameworks may be applied in Australian planning practice, using results from workshops held with Logan City practitioners in...

There is a growing imperative for infrastructure decisions in Australia to be based on evidenced based approaches which are data driven. Urban growth modelling is increasingly being used in strategic infrastructure planning practice. However, current models tend to be "once-off" applications based on static equilibrium approaches that represent little or no behavioural validity.

Based on data from a case study implementation of UrbanSim in Logan City, this paper describes how UrbanSim is applied for use in Australian planning practice. Summary outputs of an UrbanSim model are provided, but the main focus of this paper is how the model system and outputs are perceived by planning actors.

This paper focuses on the role and use of modelling activities in urban planning and policy development in general. The focus here is on "applied" models, i.e. models which try to simulate real-world processes based on or calibrated to empirical information.

Few cities in the world have the appropriate models, tools and skills required to translate broad commitments to urban ecological sustainability into practical policies, programs and projects. Many cities are compelled to act in the absence of rigorous analysis and modelling to provide a better evidence base of how their environments behave at present, let...