Implementation of the New Urban Agenda on a local level: An effective methodology for human-centred urban design
In 2018 David Sellars and I, along with Planz Town Planning, Milford Planning, Cairns Regional Council, Townsville City Council, Richard Briggs, and Chuck Wolfe, as our Fulbright expert, organised and hosted an Urban Thinkers Campus, a UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign initiative (I wrote about it here and here).
We recently reported our engagement method in a publication in the Journal of Urbanism, as per abstract below.
Read more…
Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Public Spaces through a Systems Modelling Approach
Even though we have had already a few publications out of our Urban Design and Town Planning in response to COVID-19 project, I realised I failed to publish here about this one. This paper came out a while ago in the Special Issue 2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Read more…Urban design policy recommendations for mitigating the human health risks associated with heatwaves
Ryan McNeilly-Smith and I are undertaking a research project on how urban design solutions can assist in mitigating the human health risks associated with extreme heat events. Read more…
Book recommendation: ‘Hand Drawn Vancouver: Sketches of the City’s Neighbourhoods, Buildings, and People’, by Emma FitzGerald
Hand Drawn Vancouver: Sketches of the City’s Neighbourhoods, Buildings, and People by Emma FitzGerald
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have been consuming plenty of sketch-based books recently, and that was the reason why I bought this one. Read more…
Urban Design and Town Planning in response to COVID-19
I have recently started a new project which looks into adopting Human Factors and Ergonomic & Sociotechnical Systems (HFE & STS) methods to assist in the exploration and description of COVID-19 lockdown impacts on public spaces in Australia. Read more…
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
A little snippet of beautiful Brisbane’s central area. Read more…
7 principles of building better cities, by Peter Calthorpe
I am preparing a ‘Planning Theory and Governance’ course at USC, and as a warm up for my students I shared this TEDTalk by Peter Calthorpe. Read more…
Upcoming Webinar: Creating accessible and inclusive public spaces with/for resilient communities
I am very honoured to share that tomorrow I will participate in the seminar series ‘2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic’.
Nick Stevens and I will be part of the panel and we will present and discuss a project we have been working on.
Cities will endure, but urban design must adapt to coronavirus risks and fears
Silvia Tavares, Author provided
Silvia Tavares, University of the Sunshine Coast and Nicholas Stevens, University of the Sunshine Coast
The long-term impacts of coronavirus on our cities are difficult to predict, but one thing is certain: cities won’t die. Diseases have been hugely influential in shaping our cities, history shows. Cities represent continuity regardless of crises – they endure, adapt and grow. Read more…
Urban growth, heat islands, humidity, climate change: the costs multiply in tropical cities
Taha Chaiechi, James Cook University and Silvia Tavares, James Cook University
Some 60% of the planet’s expected urban area by 2030 is yet to be built. This forecast highlights how rapidly the world’s people are becoming urban. Cities now occupy about 2% of the world’s land area, but are home to about 55% of the world’s people and generate more than 70% of global GDP, plus the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
So what does this mean for people who live in the tropical zones, where 40% of the world’s population lives? On current trends, this figure will rise to 50% by 2050. With tropical economies growing some 20% faster than the rest of the world, the result is a swift expansion of tropical cities. Read more…
SILVIA TAVARES 