Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Melbourne
The governors of Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, and other states where COVID-19 infections are threatening to overwhelm hospitals should consider what their counterpart in Victoria, Australia, did on July 7 to contain the coronavirus.
The Guardian
A new study finds that interim recreational use of underutilized sections of crowded cities can benefit more than just humans.
Next City
To counteract the effects of sprawl, a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers recommends locating job growth in the city of Melbourne, Australia, in locations outside the city's core.
The Australian
Laura Laker surveys efforts to make cities more walkable, from Melbourne's converted alleys to Guangzhou's 60-mile ecological corridor.
The Guardian
Melbourne's long-range plan for development through 2050 envisions denser neighborhoods, built around the idea of 20-minute neighborhoods.
Melbourne Herald Sun
"All aboard to funkytown," writes Chloe Booker, transporting readers to a time and a place where the trains had soul and the bells had bottoms.
The Sydney Morning Herald
In the mid-1980s, a tug-of-war over the future of one of Melbourne, Australia's most important streets took place with those wanting full pedestrianization realizing their vision for one brief, shining moment.
Kill Your Darlings
Not only would a new $150.6 billion proposal build a high-speed rail project to connect Sydney and Melbourne, it would also build eight new cities along the way.
Next City
A Toronto professor pushes against Christian Wolmar's assertion that the tram's demise can be connected to anti-worker policy. For one thing, trams never went away in some cities.
The Guardian
To meet the U.N.’s global warming targets, city leadership is critical.
Next City
Cities like London are losing their creative edge because the small music venues that foster it are being pushed out.
The Guardian
"Depending on where you live in Melbourne, it could take longer to get into the city than it did in the 1920s," according to an article The Age. But really not much has changed.
The Age (Australia)
Melbourne, Australia, is fortunate it inherited the largest tram network in the world, because building something like it today—say in a city such as Sydney—would be extraordinarily expensive and difficult.
The Urbanist
Melbourne has topped numerous global lists for its quality of life, but it certainly has room to improve. Former Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian sees lessons from his hometown for the world class city down under.
3AW
Alan Davies writes from Down Under about a recent controversy in the Australian media about the “menace” of cycling in the urban core—where some are tired of the bicycle lobby's advancements of its cause.
Crikey - The Urbanist
With residential property prices ten times the average salary in Melbourne and Sydney, U.S. forecaster Harry Dent expects the Australian market to mirror the collapse witnessed in the California.
The Age (Australia)
After three years of operation, Melbourne's publicly subsidized bike share system is for sale. Though ridership has increased each year since opening, private investment is seen as crucial for expansion.
The Age
The Economist's Intelligence Unit has once again ranked Melbourne as the top city in its annual Global Liveability Ranking. Damascus has dropped to the bottom of the list due to Syria's ongoing civil war.
The Economist
Danish architect Jan Gehl and a steadfast group of local collaborators have transformed Melbourne from a lifeless 9-5 city into a preeminently livable place. Mitra Anderson-Oliver looks at the principles that have guided their work.
Assemble
Writing in The Atlantic Cities, Chuck Wolfe provides ten illustrated examples of enjoyable environments that reflect an evolving recognition for the qualitative aspects of the urban experience.
The Atlantic Cities