In the forest fires in parts of southern Australia, dozens of houses and ancillary buildings were destroyed, reminding us once again how uncomfortable we are in the landscape of jungle fires. With 15 years of experience in designing and planning to mitigate the risk of forest fires, I found that the two main obstacles to…
Since 2000, Australia’s planning department has overseen the massive re-division of industrial land in the inner city, paving the way for mixed-use residential development. They claim that the central industrial space is outdated in the post-industrial economy driven by knowledge, finance and real estate. Rezoning provides people with access to jobs and services, slowing urban…
Our buildings can help or hinder our health and productivity. For example, we may be affected by daylight passages, air quality, natural connections and acoustics. Most complaints about space – about temperature, noise, strange smells and even the degree of exposure we feel – are related to these factors. “People-oriented design” and “healthy” buildings are…
Sydney’s building shouts: Deutsche Bank, MLC, Ernst & Young, ANZ, Suncorp. Perth’s high-rise buildings are like a mining index: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Woodside. In Melbourne, the investor’s residential skyscrapers constitute a large number of newly developed, names including Aurora, Verve, Empire and Vision – these names are timeless (and nowhere). The recent renovation of…
Square Introduction Melbourne’s Federation Square was listed on the Victorian National Heritage List only 17 years after its completion. The promotion of the status of the estate is due to the proposal for a downtown website proposed by the now abandoned Apple Store. Heritage considerations will now lead this important public space, widely known as…
Infrastructure spending is one of the core themes of Treasurer Frydenberg’s budget speech. His headline is a commitment to increase the federal infrastructure spending of ten years from the $75 billion announced last year to $100 billion. Major projects previously announced – such as the Melbourne Airport Rail Link, the North-South Airport Rail Link in…
Science clearly shows that the world is turning to a more unstable climate. Weather events such as flash floods in Sydney last week will be more frequent and extreme, and the gap between them will become shorter. As sea levels rise and frequent floods, water features will become part of our city’s daily lives. Most…
Sponge Column: Application Analysis of Sponge City in Municipal Road Design As we all know, droughts and floods occur frequently in some cities in China, and some cities still have serious water shortages. At present, the phenomenon of internal shackles in cities is increasing. The root cause is mainly due to the excessive overhaul of…
Australia is the driest continent in the world with the least amount of precipitation (the average annual precipitation is only 455mm), and about two-thirds of the country is in arid or semi-arid areas, and almost all of Australia is often threatened by drought. At the same time, continued urbanization has made roads and buildings in…
Practical practices in guarding water resources The basic strategy for achieving sustainable environmental resource management is to protect water resources, which has been the core objective of the US Army Corps of Engineers for environmental safety over the past 30 years. Based on this, “promoting water cycle health and strengthening water storage mechanism” has become…