Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute

Abstract There is an evident increase in awareness and policy response to natural hazards in urban and peri-urban environments in many regions internationally. However, many public policy and community approaches do not meaningfully reduce risk and impact in the long term, including for vulnerable locations and communities. In peri-urban and wildland-urban interface regional policy decisions and land use planning and human settlement policy decisions can and do expose more people to more and increasingly risky situations andimpacts can amplified by population and settlement trends that see more people, property and assets in these locations. Wildfire and flood are two such examples of peri-urban disaster explored in this book. Complexity is evident in peri-urban areas where categories of place can be unclear within policy and public understandings. This chapter introduces a series of examples of how decision-making, the application of evidence and the legitimacy of public policy have presented increased exposure to risk and hazard, and these cases demonstrate particular challenges of uncertain, yet high impact events within policy systems that seek evidence and consensus.

The construction industry faces persistent productivity shortfalls and rising carbon dioxide emissions, which drives a shift toward the use of low-carbon materials and higher degrees of automation. Timber, a renewable and carbon-sequestering material, becomes especially compelling when combined with robotic fabrication. Although rapid advances have been implemented in the last decade, research and practice remain fragmented, and systematic evaluations of technological readiness are scarce. This gap is addressed in this review through critical literature synthesis of robotic timber construction, combining bibliometric analysis with a comparative evaluation of twelve representative case studies from 2020 to 2025. Computational and robotic tools are mapped across the design to fabrication pipeline, and emerging advancements are identified such as digital twins, real-time adaptive workflows, and machine learning driven fabrication, alongside discrete and circular strategies. Barriers to scale up are also assessed, including mid-level technology readiness, regulatory and safety obligations for human–robot interaction, evidence on cost and productivity, and workforce training needs. By clarifying the current level of robotization and specifying both research gaps and industrial prerequisites, this study provides a structured foundation for the next phase of development. It helps scholars by consolidating methods and metrics for rigorous evaluation, and it helps practitioners by highlighting pathways to scalable, certifiable, and circular deployment that align cost, safety, and training requirements.

This study examines the place-based factors (i.e. that may be specific to a place) that influence people moving to and from Australian regional and rural areas and considers policy solutions for managing the impacts of this change.People moving to regional cities and towns favour being close to the coast and having easy access to larger cities while also having a warmer and wetter climate. New AHURI research examines the place-based factors (i.e. that may be specific to a place) that influence people moving to and from Australian regional areas and considers policy solutions for managing the impacts of these changes.Growth is positively related to connectivity, such as by being close to major railways, roads, airports and larger cities and employment centres. Internet connection speeds may also be a factor in migration to certain non-metropolitan areas, with technological advancements and favourable economic conditions enabling former city dwellers to telecommute from smaller regional locations. Access to hospitals and available health infrastructure can be significant considerations for people considering moving to a regional city.A key challenge in regional areas is that for vacancies in key employment sectors, local residents may not have requisite skills and attracting key workers from city locations can be challenging as housing challenges, reduced services (i.e. childcare) and other factors of liveability, and lack of job opportunities for a spouse, can be a disincentive.The liveability of each regional location is very important in creating a healthy and ‘deep’ population, i.e. one that stays and thrives in the region. Overcoming blockages to liveability, such as childcare; housing needs and supply; and transport infrastructure, as well as increasing local education and training opportunities for local workers, requires creative solutions.

Inquiry

Having a walkable built environment is important to encourage active school transport. The aim of this study was to measure the walkability of all Perth, Western Australia (WA) schools and investigate whether differences in walkability exist by school type, socioeconomic status (SES) and/or subregion. Geographic Information Systems technology was used to measure walkability (i.e., traffic exposure and pedestrian connectivity) surrounding all Perth schools (n = 651) in 2021. Walkability scores and their individual components were compared using odds ratios and one-way ANOVAs with post-hoc comparisons by school type (primary, secondary and K-12; government and non-government), school SES and subregion. The majority of Perth schools (73.8%) were below the WA Planning Commission’s target for a walkable catchment area. Neighbourhoods surrounding high SES schools were significantly more walkable than neighbourhoods surrounding medium and low SES schools (mean walkability scores: 12.4, 10.5, 10.1, respectively, p < .001). Neighbourhoods surrounding schools located in the Central subregion (mean 12.3) were significantly more walkable than neighbourhoods surrounding schools located in the North-West (mean 11.0, p = .024), South Metropolitan (mean 10.0, p < .001) and North-East (mean 8.4, p < .001) subregions. No significant differences in walkability index scores were found for school type. This study found a large proportion of Perth schools were surrounded by disconnected street networks and that neighbourhoods surrounding high SES schools were, on average, more walkable than neighbourhoods surrounding medium and low SES schools. The results highlight the importance of modifying the built environment to increase opportunities for active school transport, particularly in low and medium socio-economic areas.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the affected municipalities conducted a series of intention surveys to determine the number of houses to be built in the reconstruction projects. In order to understand how these surveys were conducted, information on intention surveys was collected for 33 municipalities in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. The subjects and methods of the intention surveys and the timing of their implementation were expressed in a timeline, and the questions in these surveys were summarized in chronological order. From this work, the basic procedure and structure of the survey of intentions have been clarified.

This study analyzed the actual state of the housing expenditure and the burden feeling of housing expenditure using Comprehensive Survey of Housing Life 2018 by regions classified by regional characteristics for the appropriate promotion of housing safety net policy. This study revealed that there is almost no difference in the relative relationship between the burden feeling of housing expenditure and the regional average housing expenditure rate for each region. That is to say, the burden feeling is relatively determined by the difference from the regional average housing expenditure rate rather than the absolute value of the housing expenditure rate.

Between March 23, 2021, and December 31, 2022, the Mobile Vaccine Program (MVP) vaccinated 5044 individuals from medically-underserved communities in Middle Tennessee identified through and guided by a collaboration of local community agencies. The primary objective of the MVP was to vaccinate individuals for COVID-19 who had barriers to traditional mass vaccine strategies through community-guided strategies and partnerships. Three strategies were developed and implemented with community partners and their affiliated community health workers (CHWs). The strategies included pop-up vaccination clinics at community partner events, CHW-guided door-to-door in-home vaccination, and community partner-initiated homebound referrals for vaccination.

This research provides a geographic and demographic picture of low-income renters in Australia aged 50+ (LIRiA50+), as the basis to finding acceptable solutions to the challenges of population ageing and housing needs in the 21st Century. It presents changes in LIRiA50+ populations overtime in a selection of map graphics.Projections indicate increasing numbers of older people needing affordable housing, from approximately 200,000 households to about 440,000 households aged 55 years and over by 2031. It is unlikely that public housing will be able to meet this need. The largest projected increases in the LIRiA50+ populations in Australia are likely to be in peri-urban and outer-suburban regions. For example, in New South Wales, the inner-western suburbs are expecting LIRiA50+ population increases of around 40–50 per cent. There are expected to be some significant rises in regional and rural locations, with strong population increases (between 40% and 100%) expected in many regional centres up to 2032.Understanding the current and future distribution and likely growth in low-income, older renter numbers is important for planning and provision of appropriate and affordable housing stock. This data collation will enable aged care service providers and local and state governments, as well as housing providers, developers and policy makers, to better plan solutions to this growing housing issue.