The ongoing struggle over the future of the Brunswick Terminal Station (BTS) offers some interesting lessons for urban planning and local governance in Australia today, writes Carolyn Whitzman.

Despite boom times, the people of Perth have been noted for their apparent unwillingness to accept large projects designed to invigorate the city of Perth. In this paper historical evidence is used to examine two of the waterfront schemes and their results.

Compact city policies such as Melbourne 2030 have been established in Australia for a range of reasons including climate change. It is now clear that the Melbourne 2030 policy has not been effective – with new development mostly on the urban fringe. This policy failure has often been sheeted home to resident and local government...

Given the association that the city has had with the property development industry, it is pertinent to ask a question that is relevant to urban governance, managing urban growth and urban morphology: “Is the Gold Coast development industry different?”

Based on interviews with residents who have been involved in resistance to high rise development, this paper explores the ways Brunswick is experienced and the characteristics of developments that are opposed.