The Age reported on the weekend that a Melbourne developer has released plans for a high-rise public school with a rooftop playground. The developer, David Wardlaw, stated that a 25- to 30-storey tower would likely be added to his company’s plans in light of “Melbourne City Council’s decision to allow buildings over 36 metres if the package […]
READ MOREArticles by Alan Davies
Should cyclists be registered?
Following public outrage over the court’s decision last month on the death of cyclist Richard Pollett, the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee of the Queensland Parliament agreed last Friday to inquire into a number of possibilities that might “improve the interaction of cyclists with other road users”. The committee is looking at a range […]
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Peak demand for road and rail: is that all there is?
Here’s something we don’t often see — how travel behaviour has changed over long periods of time, in this case three decades … It’s taken from a paper by Craig Mcgeoch, a transport analyst at engineering consultants Arup. While it’s specifically about Melbourne, it tells a story that applies in general terms to all our large cities. […]
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Living in a walker’s paradise: impossible if you’re in Canberra
Only 380,000 residents of Australia’s largest cities live in very walkable suburbs, all of them in the inner city. Creating new fringe suburbs with high walkability will be very challenging. Sydney and Melbourne are by far Australia’s most walkable cities according to US company Walk Score, which released walkability rankings of Australia’s largest cities last week. Walkability is a […]
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I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like
Now that cycling is increasingly a “mainstream” mode of transport, there are calls for cyclists to conform to the road rules. That prompts the question why some cyclists don’t in the first place. Australians tend to see cycling as something special — it’s racing, it’s exercise, it’s “cycle chic”, it’s advocacy, it’s identity — but it’s not usually hum-drum […]
READ MORETransport and infrastructure: Labor’s budget on the rails
The government was criticised by some talking heads last night for not taking the opportunity in the budget to give greater emphasis to the differences between Labor values and Coalition values. One area, though, where there’s now a clear distinction between the two contenders is public transport. The budget surprised with funding for three rail projects: […]
READ MOREAre cyclists ‘mere obstacles’ to cars and trucks?
Cyclists are outraged a jury this week found a truck driver not guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of a cyclist. It’s time the law stopped treating cyclists as mere obstacles to motorists. Queensland cyclists want the road rules to be changed so that motorists are required to maintain a minimum safe passing distance […]
READ MOREThe Urbanist: what if there were no new public transport?
There are good reasons to be pessimistic about the prospects for major new public transport infrastructure investments in Australian cities. Governments across the country are reluctant to increase taxes or make further borrowings. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he won’t help fund urban public transport projects if he wins the September election. Since public transport recovers none of its capital costs […]
READ MOREWhat should motorists want? Better public transport
The Australian Automobile Association, which claims 7 million members via its state auto clubs, has called on Australian governments to spend $100 billion on better transport infrastructure. The AAA published a priority list of five transport projects in each state (there are only four in South Australia and one in the Northern Territory). These are regional as […]
READ MOREOur $20b city congestion problem — why we’ll have to pay for it
The economic cost of traffic congestion in cities is estimated to cost the Australian economy $20.4 billion per annum by 2020. But what can really be done about it? A new report by the Victorian Auditor-General, Managing traffic congestion, argues governments need to think harder about ways to deal with congestion. It argues there’s too much attention given to […]
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Wait, high-speed rail would increase carbon emissions?
The Commonweath’s new Phase 2 report on high-speed rail forecasts that if HSR is built on the east coast, total emissions from travel in the corridor over the 50-year evaluation period would be 384 million tonnes (Mt CO2-e). But in the base case, which assumes HSR isn’t built, emissions would total 362 Mt CO2-e. That’s 22 million […]
READ MOREAbbott will fund more freeways, but not public transport
The Coalition’s decision to abolish federal funding for urban rail projects will have an enormous impact on Australian cities if an Abbott government is installed in Canberra on September 14. Last week Abbott said the Commonwealth government has a long history of funding roads, but “we have no history of funding urban rail and I think it […]
READ MOREHold the bus — the wait is worth it
I think we need to be wary of the contemporary push to “demonise” commuting for the time it consumes, as often a longer commute means more time on public transport. Concern about long commutes is one reason the Victorian government is backing the goal of a 20-minute city as a key plank of the forthcoming strategic […]
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Bike helmet laws prevent injuries to kids — by putting them in cars
A new paper on the effects of mandatory bicycle helmets on cycling by children and teenagers in the US has created a lot of buzz among those interested in this arcane and contentious subject. The headline finding is the mandatory helmet law is associated with a 13% reduction in head injuries for five- to 19-year-olds. But it’s […]
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Baillieu’s ’20-minute cities’: are they just big country towns?
Ted Baillieu’s big idea for the future planning of Melbourne is one he’s apparently borrowed without acknowledgement from his predecessor, former premier John Brumby. Brumby was enthusiastic about the idea of Melbourne as a city of villages where people could “work closer to where they live”. Baillieu’s version is essentially the same — he says Melbourne should be a […]
READ MOREBuckle up: in defence of the bike helmet
A paper released earlier this month found cyclists who ride without a helmet are more likely to take risks. It’s generating a lot of talk. The Conversation did its own investigation and ran the story under the heading “Crash data shows cyclists with no helmets more likely to ride drunk”. The Sydney Morning Herald took […]
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The case for decentralisation — not everyone wants the CBD
Promoting “agglomeration economies” — or siting related businesses, amenities and industries close to each other — is now standard fare in planning strategies for cities. But not all players are on board. The federal government’s newly released State of Australian Cities report shows support for the idea, as does the Victorian government’s current metropolitan strategy discussion paper. And there was the recent […]
READ MOREThe Urbanist: beware ‘coroner logic’ — and belts on buses
Following an investigation into the death of a cyclist, a New Zealand coroner has publicly called for high-visibility clothing to be compulsory for all cyclists. Wellington regional coroner Ian Smith reckons it’s a “no brainer”. Coroners undertake expert investigations into the circumstances surrounding deaths. They provide an invaluable service to the community in ensuring information about risks […]
READ MOREMelbourne v Sydney: coffee-fuelled rivalry that never dies
There are plenty of city pairs across the world with intense rivalries, but until Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution linked to this GeoCurrents story I hadn’t suspected the long-standing competition between Sydney and Melbourne is of an order that attracts attention from beyond our shores. It goes back at least to the late 19th century and the battle for the […]
READ MORECompact cities don’t reduce energy consumption
A paper published a few months ago in the prestigious Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) casts doubt on the strength of the environmental claims made on behalf of compact development. In what JAPA calls the key “takeaway for practice”: “Urban form policies can have important impacts on local environmental quality, economy, crowding, and social […]
READ MOREWhy the numbers on toll roads never seem to add up
Brisbane’s Airport Link tunnel appears to be in serious financial difficulty only a few months after opening. BrisConnections, owner of the toll road, has suspended all trade in the stock indefinitely after advising the “value of the enterprise may be less than the outstanding debt”. By now, 136,000 vehicles per day were forecast to use Airport Link […]
READ MOREHurricane Sandy: why good government, not luck, saves lives
The loss of life is tragic and the economic impact enormous, but places like New York are much better able to deal with natural disasters than most of the world’s population. And it’s got little to do with luck. So far there are a confirmed 182 deaths from hurricane Sandy. All deaths are tragic, but given New York […]
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