What does it take to be a happy and healthy city? In any city, myriad factors go into the mix – and of course we are not dealing with just…
Townsville floods show cities that don’t adapt to risks face disaster
A flood-ravaged Townsville has captured public attention, highlighting the vulnerability of many of our cities to flooding. The extraordinary amount of rain is just one aspect of the disaster in Queensland’s third-biggest…
Engineering students work on Vanuatu cyclone-proof housing
Griffith University engineering students have been helping rebuild a cyclone-devastated area of Vanuatu as part of a program designed to embed in them in real world construction. Griffith’s fourth-year civil…
Out in the heat: why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities
Australian cities are getting hotter. The many reasons for this include urban densification policies, climate change and social trends such as bigger houses and apartment living, which leave less space…
Major breakthrough in system fault detector
New research has discovered a way to detect failures in critical networked systems before they risk public safety and huge financial loss. Griffith School of Engineering Associate Professor Fuwen Yang…
Urban hacktivism: getting creative about involving citizens in city planning
Urban and regional planning, as an institutional practice, is increasingly criticised for failing to meet ordinary citizens’ needs. Enter “urban hacktivism”. Fusing hacking and activism, the term has previously referred to…
EVENT: REGIONAL PLANNING FOR SUCCESSFUL CITIES
Cities are often thought of as organic structures that ‘grow’ and ‘evolve,’ to meet the changing needs of their citizens. They have a ‘heart,’ ‘arterial’ corridors, ‘a soul’ and they…
We want driverless cars with morals – we just won’t buy them
New research has found most people think driverless cars programmed to sacrifice their passengers for the greater good are a good idea – but that not many would drive their…
Cities Research Centre to tackle urban growth challenges
More intelligent infrastructure, creating better places for people to live and managing growth and diversity in communities are the big issues that will be tackled by the newly launched Griffith…
Smart Cities Plan offers signs of hope, but are Turnbull and Taylor just dreamin’?
For committed urbanists, any sign of serious urban policy action by the federal government is welcome. Early announcements by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his appointment of a minister for…