ABSTRACT Child-friendly cities are places that support opportunities for children’s play and community connection in safe urban environments. A dominant practice in urban planning and design has been to separate people and their activities spatially (i.e., residential zones, learning zones, play zones) and this coincided with the remaking of cities around private vehicular travel which together necessitated carving out safe spaces for children play. This has meant that children’s play has been geared towards permanent equipment in fenced-off playgrounds or more formal educational settings. However, the inclusion of temporary play spaces in cities to support community engagement in the local environment is growing to combine urban design, play and community wellbeing initiatives. This paper documents the experiences of stakeholders of a temporary play space in an inner-city suburb of an Australian city. This work includes key perspectives of the architects and designers and local council members to evaluate how a 12-week activation of a temporary play space came into being and what can be learnt from this collaboration.

ABSTRACT The 2006 NSW Standard Instrument Local Environmental Plan (SI LEP) aimed to simplify and bring consistency to local planning and land use regulation. Consistent definitions and standard land use zones were features of the changes to local plan requirements. The background to, and unfortunate consequences of, the SI LEP are critically explored. This highlights the tension between conformity, innovation, local autonomy and place-based approaches. A survey of professional practitioners suggests that the hoped-for benefits have not been realised in practice. Key findings are that the SI LEP: (1) has added complexity and length to regulatory plans, (2) increased state government power with no demonstrated land use benefit, (3) is not necessary for consistent state planning and policy implementation, and (4) stifles local creativity, flexibility and place-based land use outcomes especially in non-metropolitan areas. Significant limitations of the SI LEP and its implementation warrant a rethink of statutory land use controls in NSW, including land zoning and plan objectives, land use definitions, and opportunities to support local innovation.

ABSTRACT Temporary/tactical or T/T urbanism is a global movement in urban design and planning encompassing small experimental interventions typically involving diverse actors in the conversion of under-utilised city spaces. Its outcomes include enhancing innovation, urban intensification, community engagement, place identity, and resilience. Yet questions remain about the extent to which large organisations engaging in T/T urbanism may be part of an increasingly legitimised, even sanitised approach to what has been a disruptive element of urban design and planning. In Tasmania, studies of T/T urbanism are limited. The qualitative research reported here addresses that gap and analyses street interviews and participants’ opinions about a temporary parklet proposed by the University of Tasmania in the Hobart central business district. Analysed thematically, those views and additional insights from the literature suggest it is possible for a large organisation to engage local communities and serve public interests using T/T urbanism initiatives but that the outcomes are not guaranteed.

ABSTRACT This pilot study, set in Brisbane, Australia, provides answers to the following research questions: (1) Is there inter- or intra-suburb inequality in street tree provision, in particular along routes that lead to public transport stops? (2) Are further investments in street trees justifiable on heatwave harm reduction alone? The pilot targets three suburbs away from the urban core, which have different socio-economic levels. The ‘number of street trees per kilometre’ is used as a foundational measure and a labour-intensive (but quite granular and accurate) data collection method is adopted. Our findings point toward inequality in the provision of street trees, especially in the lower income suburb. In the two wealthier suburbs too, street trees are not regarded as a pedestrian transport infrastructure asset. At the same time, our threshold analysis shows that street tree planting is justifiable on heatwave harm reduction alone. In the future, a study of all Brisbane streets would provide more conclusive answers.

ABSTRACT Through a dozen in-depth interviews of urban planning professionals in Brisbane, Australia, this study examines the relationship between the experience of women in the planning profession and the consideration of women’s issues in the city. The study reveals that Brisbane’s planning industry continues to be perceived by those who work within it as an ‘old-boys-club’. Planning practitioners are acquiring gender biases during their university education and possibly earlier – much before planning graduates enter the profession. Although the planning industry is adopting more inclusive leadership and management approaches and becoming more feminised, patriarchal relationships remain strong. Brisbane’s neoliberal planning and governance systems, and conservative business sector encourages and rewards ‘male’ behaviours in the workplace. The findings mostly corroborate earlier studies on gender issues in organisations. In the planning sector, gender issues are more concerning because they affect planning outcomes across the city, as well as the lived experiences and needs of women and other vulnerable groups.

ABSTRACT Multi-unit developments have been a feature of Australian cities for decades, particularly Sydney. As these buildings age, commercial and planning drivers promote redevelopment, but renewing private multi-unit housing poses significant and unique problems, as this housing is typically under multiple ownership (e.g., strata title). Jurisdictions worldwide have responded by changing laws to allow redevelopment with less-than-unanimous consent of all unit owners, meaning a majority of owners can vote their neighbours out of their homes against their will. In New South Wales, legislation introduced in 2015 enabled the redevelopment of strata titled property with the consent of 75% of owners. Research conducted at the time highlighted a range of risks, especially for vulnerable groups like lower-income and elderly residents. With the legislation now due for a statutory 5-year review, it is timely to revisit the research findings and examine subsequent developments, to identify key issues for policymakers when assessing the impact of the law's first five years. These issues should be of interest not only in NSW, but in all three Australian jurisdictions with less-than-unanimous renewal laws, as well as many international cities.

ABSTRACT The challenges facing Australia’s capital cities have prompted a renewed interest in metropolitan governance. The Australian situation is unique in that metropolitan spatial strategies are prepared by state governments, rather than through cooperation of local governments as in other countries. This presents specific challenges for establishing the metropolitan region as a relevant scale of action in the minds of stakeholders and citizens. In this paper, different types of spatial images in metropolitan strategies are identified and their potential role in region-building is conceptualised. Spatial imaginaries and spatial representations in metropolitan spatial strategies for Greater Sydney and Greater Adelaide are compared, which allows a reflection on the effect of different governance arrangements on establishing the image and identity of a region. The paper concludes with a critical reflection on the role of spatial representations in supporting the international and external positioning of regions that have been defined in a top-down manner.

ABSTRACT Borders and boundaries are practical ways of organising spatial relations in metropolitan regions. They usefully define administrative divisions between local government areas, informing the constraints of land-use plans, and describe individual sites necessary for the transaction and development of property and land. However, functional divisions of space are not always clear cut. Contemporary challenges of urbanisation and globalisation often ignore administrative-political boundaries, thus statutory divisions of space are required to be woven into other functional spatial layers drawing attention to the strategic-statutory interface of planning systems and governance arrangements. Although not new, experiments with spatial imaginaries have accelerated, and have become central to metropolitan strategies. In Sydney, the Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula functional economic corridor introduces both new mechanisms for implementation and statutory weight on top of strategic direction. We draw attention to the way this spatial imaginary utilises (or ignores) existing borders and boundaries in an attempt to rebalance the spatial structure of the metropolitan region. Through this case study, we highlight the challenges of rebalancing the Sydney metropolitan region, and the broader implications that emerge through the use of spatial imaginaries.

ABSTRACTThe Wungong Landscape Structure Plan (LSP), currently under construction on the fringes of Perth, embodies a number of innovations with respect to Public Open Space (POS) provision. These include the proposition of a holistic, interconnected POS system that transcends individual property ownership, an integrated POS and stormwater management system, and the use of a POS system as the primary guidelines for development. There has been significant resistance to these innovations from within the urban design and planning disciplines, the land development industry, and from regulatory bodies. This paper examines these various barriers to implementation to inform future suburban projects that attempt related innovations.

ABSTRACTMuch has been made of the social and economic benefits of incorporating arts and culture into urban planning frameworks. Here, we report on the impact on the local community of the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona). Mona is located within the municipality of Glenorchy, adjacent to the island state of Tasmania's capital city Hobart. It's opening in 2011 and subsequent social and economic effects were, by and large, unplanned. Unlike the Bilbao Guggenheim, Mona was not positioned within a broader strategy of regional renewal but was brainchild of its multi-millionaire founder and owner. Its impacts are significant, though unevenly distributed between places and different sections of the community. It is the City of Hobart that appears to be reaping most of the benefits, with Glenorchy – the 8th most disadvantaged municipality in Tasmania – experiencing little renewal. In this paper, we present findings of two surveys conducted with Glenorchy residents and discuss these in relation aspirations for creative effect. We emphasise that while Glenorchy appears to be missing out on the ‘Mona Effect’, there are signs of change that support the need for strategic planning interventions for a more even distribution of Mona's success.