This article refers to:Locating and quantifying public transport provision with respect to social need in Canberra, Australia

Australia's population is ageing rapidly, and our cities and communities need to be prepared to accommodate the needs of this increasing demographic to facilitate ageing in place. Ageing in place – where older people remain active and engaged members of the community – is influenced by access to services in the community. This paper introduces an indicator of access to services for older people that can be used to plan for age-friendly cities. Development of the indicator was informed by qualitative research with older people and key stakeholders. Geographic information systems were used to create the indicator and map locations of key services in relation to population-based ageing demographics in Victoria, Australia. Areas of comparative advantage and disadvantage were identified, with results demonstrating that most regional municipalities had fewer services to access than their metropolitan counterparts. This research provides the first attempt to measure and compare service provision for older people across the state of Victoria.

It is argued that the smart cities model promise solutions to fuel sustainable development and a high quality of life with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement. The paper provides a critical review of this model and application attempts of smart urban technologies in contemporary cities by particularly looking into emerging practices of ubiquitous eco-cities as exemplar smart cities initiatives. Through a thorough review of literature and best practices on the smart cities model, this paper attempts to address the research question of whether smart cities model is just another fashionable city brand or an effective urban development and management model to solve the problems of our cities. The findings shed light on urban planning and development considerations for the integration of smart urban technologies and their possible implications in shaping up of the built environment to produce prosperous and sustainable urban futures.

Greater participation in the digital economy provides a game changing opportunity to diversify and strengthen regional economies. Effective, integrated planning for the delivery of high-speed digital connectivity and the development of digital capability – at a regional level – is critical to achieving this. This paper proposes a compelling vision for regional digital growth, where stronger interactions at the regional level between physical, digital and knowledge accessibility generate economic growth, through increased exposure to the digital economy. This vision guides and orients the development of a strategic planning framework to deliver regional digital growth, embodied by a series of regional ‘building blocks’. By assembling these building blocks in harmony with a region's economic, ecological and social contexts, the ‘digital region’ can be designed – a planning overlay which brings focus to delivering a region's digital destiny.

Since its inception the Internet has generated debate over its likely role in reinvigorating democracy. The more recent appearance of social media and its ubiquitous use via smart phones has added fuel to the debate. Within planning literature, discussion has centred on the value of social media as a tool for community participation. This paper explores the use of social media by a community group in their opposition to a large urban regeneration project – the North Ryde Station Urban Activation Precinct – in Sydney's north-western suburbs. Utilising the research technique of sentiment analysis, a picture of the community group's activities can be captured, including the community's self-organisation, information distribution, recruitment, analysis of issues and sentiment at different times during master planning process. In this instance, the community group is led by a small number of people, while the majority has a low-participation rate. The community group takes a generally positive approach to distributing information and motivating local residents to get involved in the opposition of the master plan.

Telecommunications forms a part of every aspect of our lives. This paper looks at mobile telecommunications infrastructure (TI) and how it impacts visually on the urban landscape from a planning perspective. First, the impact of low-impact and non low-impact TI on the build environment. This includes examples of differences types of TI. Also, current trends in Western Australia in terms of the planning approval process, and specifically, the accumulative effect of low-impact TI on the streetscape. Second, ways in which local and state governments can more proactively and effectively deal with TI by enabling site specific design outcomes that reduce the visual clutter of TI on the skyline. In addition, how do we deal with existing TI that may be considered urban blight? How do we encourage carriers to remove and/or redesign these existing TI? How can existing legislation be improved to enable best practice in the deployment of TI?

Historically, Western Australia has had the most centralised planning system at state level within Australia. Following the election of a Liberal-National state government in late 2008, it set about reforming significant aspects of the WA planning system. These reforms were premised on the need to ‘cut red tape’ and streamline decision-making in order to ensure sustained economic growth. This paper provides an overview of the basis and content of the reform agenda in broad terms. It then moves to examining in more detail two key planning reforms relating to the institutional and governance arrangements of the planning system: (1) the introduction of development assessment panels which were set up to ‘depoliticise’ and ‘streamline’ the development applications process; and (2) the establishment of a single redevelopment authority – Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority – that has extensive planning and development powers that override local government and WA Planning Commission planning schemes. These reforms have resulted in a more diffused, yet still centralised planning system.

Although primary responsibility for urban planning rests with the Australian states and territories, the Commonwealth government has from time to time influenced urban agendas and regulation. The most recent period following the election of the Australian Labor Party in November 2007 signified a new era of federal interest in cities and planning, expressed through the establishment of a Major Cities Unit, a series of State of Australian Cities reports and the development of a National Urban Policy. At the same time, a national reform agenda focusing on planning regulation and development assessment was building within the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and its various working groups. In this paper we review the growing influence of national level policy agendas on state and territory planning reforms.

Tasmania's Resource Management and Planning System chiefly addresses land-use planning and approvals, environmental management and pollution control, state policies and projects, and the formation of independent statutory bodies for planning oversight and appeals. Its emergence coincided with a period when sustainable development/ecological modernisation was central to Australian Government policy, and when neoliberalism became entrenched across the nation. The Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993, pivotal to the system, has been the subject of many amendments. Since 2007, some such amendments have provided for regional planning, streamlined planning schemes, private certification processes and improved information. These changes have been motivated by commercial, social, economic, political, environmental and ethical considerations, and their passage has been more complex than originally anticipated. Drawing on planning documentation and insights from key stakeholders involved in state planning, in this paper we outline the scope of reform. We find that well-documented refrains play out again, among them the contestability of planning's objectives and the values underpinning them; the human and financial resources required to effectively manage the system and implement change; and the paradox that planning's shortcomings – and the gains from consequent reform – are often overstated.

As someone who is interested in urban design, the public domain and social encounter, I find a book like The Street most appealing. It is not that the urban designers’ interest in the street is new...