CfP – SI on Public health and well-being in public open spaces through climate responsive urban planning and design
I have been co-editing a special issue (SI) for the Journal of Public Space on Planning and Design for Public Health and Well-being through climate responsive design. The intention is to have this SI published in December 2019. Read more…
Thinkers in the Tropical Shade: Empowering Lessons for Livable Places
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.
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…
Presentation at the IPWEAQ 2018 Conference
A few weeks ago, on the 19th April, I presented a 3-part project I have been working on at the IPWEAQ 2018 Conference (Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia North Queensland Branch), here in Cairns. Read more…
Urban Thinkers Campus – Cairns and Townsville, Australia
James Cook University‘s College of Science and Engineering and College of Public Health, Medical & Vet Sciences, through myself and David Sellars, with the full support of Nikki Huddy from Planz, have been organising an Urban Thinkers Campus (UTC) framed around the topic of urban planning and design and public health. The UTC entitled ‘Urban Health and Livability in Tropical Australia through urban diaries and community engagement’ will take place on the 8th June in Cairns and 15th June in Townsville, and they are both day-long events (see preliminary schedule here). Read more…
Urban comfort in a compact city
Things have been quiet around here as I have been travelling for several weeks, and now I am trying slowly organising ‘normal life’. Even the ‘month in review’ posts, which are so important for me, my sanity and production, and which I hope you also like to read, haven’t been published since October. So I leave a promise here – for you and for me – that the next one, which will be published in the beginning of February, will have a full November, December and January summary. I can assure you some interesting things have happened so far.
Urban Comfort: The physical and social landscape as constituent of the climate experience
I recently published a paper entitled “Urban Comfort: The physical and social landscape as constituent of the climate experience” (original in Portuguese: Conforto Urbano: A paisagem física e social como constituinte da experiência climática) in Cadernos do PROARQ. This is a Brazilian journal published in Portuguse by the Postgraduate Program in Architecture at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Read more…
TUDLab Opening Day – 20th October 2017
This is a very exciting week at JCU. A week where our Tropical Urbanism and Design Lab (TUDLab) will come to life. Read more…
Smithfield High School Learning Academy visits JCU
Students from Smithfield State High School (SSHS) have recently visited JCU as part of their Tropical North Learning Academy activities. Read more…
City design, and the need for flexibility
The problem with the history of city design is that it is all about master planning, ignoring resilience theory, with the underlying unspoken intention of creating the ideal city that never needs to be changed
