The Comfort Pursuit

Thinkers in the Tropical Shade: Empowering Lessons for Livable Places

Cairns, Queensland, Australia: avoiding the humidity using active transport (Photo by Chuck Wolfe)

Last June, Chuck Wolfe, David Sellars and I published an article on Planetizen about the fundamental relationships at the heart of urban public health and livability, particularly in tropical Australia. In this article we discuss the importance of context, the relevance of the UN-Habitat New Urban Agenda, the Urban Thinkers Campuses recently hosted by JCU (Understanding Cairns and Townsville through the urban diary tool), place-based urban planning and design and the lessons learned so far.

‘ENOUGH’- The importance of limit-setting for writing

Photo by **Aaron Burden** on **Unsplash**

“(…) limit-setting means learning to . . .

1. Start writing before you may feel you’re ready.

2. Finish writing before you may feel you’re ready.

3. Know when you’ve done enough with your writing project.

Knowing when you’ve done enough or that you can begin without over-preparation is a critical skill in writing efficiently and painlessly. Without this kind of knowing, writing problems loom at the ready. Without limit-setting, professors expose themselves to an especially insidious kind of stress–of never being able to leave campus feeling they’ve done enough.”

Book recommendation: Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing, by Robert Boice

Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing by Robert Boice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Teachers or writers who await mood and inspiration before beginning court trouble. Conversely, writers and teachers who create mood and inspiration by performing on demand tend to prosper.” Read more…

The power of writing at least 15mins EVERY.SINGLE.DAY

Image by **Amy Crook** sourced from from **Jo VanEvery’s website**

Newton’s first law of motion (inertia) seems to apply to the non-physical world, too: It takes more energy to get a stopped project started than to keep a project moving.

On the importance of local values

As we have Chuck Wolfe with us at JCU leading the Urban Thinkers Campus this and next weeks, this week’s quote comes from his Urbanism Without Effort book… Read more…

Making a global agenda work locally for healthy, sustainable living in tropical Australia

File 20180530 120484 2gngra.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1 — Planning and design for healthy, liveable communities in the Australian tropics can involve quite different considerations from those that apply down south. Silvia Tavares, Author provided

Silvia Tavares, James Cook University and David Sellars, James Cook University

Life in the tropics is often seen as “living in paradise”, a place where everything grows and flourishes. This picture-postcard environment is not the year-round reality. At certain times of year, intense heat, humidity and the wet season affect liveability, making outdoor activity unattractive and thereby reducing social cohesion. Read more…

Book recommendation: Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing: A Short Guide, by Jo VanEvery

Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing: A Short Guide by Jo VanEvery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“[Day] is my research day. I will address your email during normal working hours on [next working day]. Thank you for your patience.” (Kindle Locations 247-248) Read more…

Writing as a tool for thinking

Don’t allow your gremlins to tell you that you should be able to do this [writing] in your head and only commit your ideas to paper when they are clear. Use writing to think.

Queensland Strategy on Climate, Health, and Well-being Workshop

“The Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science (DES) has engaged the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) and the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) to facilitate the development of a Human Health and Wellbeing Climate Adaptation Plan for Queensland (H-CAP).” Read more…

Book recommendation: The Scholarly Writing Process: A Short Guide, by Jo VanEvery

The Scholarly Writing Process: A Short Guide by Jo VanEvery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Writing is a process through which you create knowledge. AND Writing is a product that communicates knowledge.” (Kindle Locations 39-42) Read more…