City Futures Blog

News and research in housing and urban policy, from Australia’s leading urban policy research centre.

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Entries Tagged as 'Sydney'

Does the 5km radius make sense? Analysing the NSW government COVID-19 response

August 18th, 2021 · No Comments · Data, Government, Pandemic, Sydney, Transport

By Nemanja Nikolic, Research Assistant and MPhil Candidate, City Futures Research Centre. In an attempt to control the spread of the virus, state governments have gradually introduced various spatial measures and limitations in local hot-spot areas across the country. The goal of such restrictions is targeted at reducing people’s mobility and avoiding potential spill-overs to […]

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Impact of pedestrian network barriers on walkability: a Cooks River case study

August 6th, 2021 · No Comments · Bikes, Data, Sydney, Transport, Uncategorized

By Josephine Roper, PhD student, City Futures Research Centre. Urban rivers can provide welcome open space, a cooling effect, scenic beauty and recreation opportunities, but can also be barriers to movement. Bridges are relatively expensive pieces of road infrastructure so are generally spaced out, rather than crossing a river at every possible point. But in […]

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Reassembling the City: urban renewal and collective property sales

March 9th, 2020 · No Comments · Cities, Construction, Housing, Housing supply, International, Strata, Sydney, urban renewal

By Alistair Sisson, City Futures Research Centre. Cities are constantly being built, unbuilt and rebuilt, at an increasingly rapid rate. City-dwellers all over the world will be very familiar with the experience of seeing a row of houses or old apartment block transformed to something much taller, wider, and bulkier. But the process of assembling […]

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Why western Sydney is a magnet for investors

February 19th, 2020 · No Comments · Demographics, Finance, Housing, Private rental, Sydney, Tenancy

Western Sydney is popular with investors but most of these investors do not live there. Photo: Brendan Esposito By Hal Pawson and Chris Martin, City Futures Research Centre. Originally published at Domain. With the latest ABS statistics indicating a fourth straight quarter of rental investor housing finance growth, it appears that Australia’s private landlords are rediscovering a taste for […]

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Australian cities pay the price for blocking council input to projects that shape them

December 17th, 2019 · No Comments · Government, Guest appearance, Productivity, Sydney

By Mike Harris, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. National, state and city governments aspire to increase prosperity through globally competitive and more liveable cities. Through “world class” infrastructure, buildings and public spaces they aim […]

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Building defects: City Futures’ submissions to the NSW government

August 12th, 2019 · No Comments · Construction, Government, Housing, Housing conditions, Strata, Sydney

By Caitlin Buckle, City Futures Research Centre. The public discussion around building defects has been heating up lately. In response, NSW Fair Trading have proposed a number of reforms to the building process, and the NSW Parliament’s Public Accountability Committee commenced a parliamentary inquiry into the regulation of building standards, building quality and building disputes. […]

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Private renters are doing it tough in outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne

July 31st, 2019 · No Comments · Affordability, Economy, Government, Guest appearance, Housing, Private rental, Sydney, Tenancy, Wellbeing

In low-rent outer suburbs, almost one in six households could not afford to keep their house cool and went without meals. ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock By Alan Morris, University of Technology Sydney; Hal Pawson, UNSW; Kath Hulse, Swinburne University of Technology, and Violet Xia, University of Technology Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons […]

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Those left to pick up the bill shut out of building crisis debate

July 24th, 2019 · No Comments · Cities, Construction, Government, Housing, Housing conditions, Law, Sydney, urban renewal

By Prof Bill Randolph, Director, City Futures Research Centre. This article was originally published by the Sydney Morning Herald. The news that the Australian Building Ministers Forum is now acting on the recommendations of the Shergold-Weir report into building defects is a welcome sign that at long last the failings of the development industry to […]

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Build to rent could shake up real estate but won’t take off without major tax changes

July 8th, 2019 · No Comments · Affordability, Construction, Economy, Government, Housing, Housing conditions, Housing supply, International, Law, Private rental, Sydney, urban renewal

By Hal Pawson, City Futures Research Centre. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In the wake of slumping demand for apartment building, it’s little wonder the multi-unit housing industry has been eagerly eyeing a possible new residential product: “build-to-rent”. In fact, the latest figures show that […]

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Stay cool with revised house construction codes

February 15th, 2019 · No Comments · Climate change, Construction, Government, Guest appearance, Housing, Housing conditions, Sustainability, Sydney, Wellbeing

By Professor Mat Santamouris, Built Environment, UNSW Sydney. This article was first published by the Sydney Morning Herald. For many Australian households, summer’s debilitating heatwaves will be felt well into autumn as the steep costs of airconditioning show up on household power bills. We shouldn’t have to live like this. Much of the punitive cost […]

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