Light rail as a means for inner-city transit is undergoing a renaissance across Australia. Introducing a new mode of public transport, light rail projects can become catalytic agents for urban renewal. Unable or reluctant to deliver light rail infrastructure, Australian governments have turned to the private sector; entering performance-based public-private partnerships (PPPs) to design, construct...

Urban development and renewal is changing the shape and composition of Australian cities, putting increasing pressure on biodiversity, water resources, and human health and well-being. As our cities intensify and expand, there will be further losses to the number and diversity of species and habitats; the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the green infrastructure that makes...

At the time of European settlement, a large proportion of the landscapes around the chosen site of Melbourne comprised permanent wetlands. Initially avoided as places of little economic value or, worse, the sources of diseases, over succeeding decades these swampy areas came to be considered as potential sites for infrastructure and industry and were progressively...

Over the past two decades, Australian planning policies have supported largely unregulated land speculation and gentrification in relatively well served inner and middle suburbs, leading to displacement of low and moderate income households and growing spatial inequalities. The current Victorian state government signalled a new direction by ‘refreshing’ the third metropolitan strategy in as many...

Densification of cities and suburbs is a contentious issue for many communities in lower-density settings. Local opposition to densification is often premised on concerns about the inadequacy of existing infrastructure to support growing populations and is strongest and most successful in wealthier neighbourhoods. While the urban consolidation agenda in cities such as Melbourne and Sydney...