CALENDAR
| City Briefing 28 Our 2012 program opens on a very modern urban theme: IBM Australia's Smarter Cities Initiative, which involves advising organisations on intelligent and sustainable ecosystems, covering water, infrastructure, transport, energy use, education, health and public safety in the built environment.Our 2012 program opens on a very modern urban theme: IBM Australia's Smarter Cities Initiative, which involves advising organisations on intelligent and sustainable ecosystems, covering water, infrastructure, transport, energy use, education, health and public safety in the built environment. |
Wednesday, 15th February 2012 View details  |
| City Briefing 27 Implementing Metropolitan Projects A government plan to spend serious money on examining the feasibility of fast trains in Australia, the publication of high profile train buff Tim Fischer's book Trains Unlimited in the 21st Century, airline strikes, and the continuing tyranny of distance make any informed opinion of speedy transport by railway a matter of considerable interest. |
Tuesday, 22nd Novemeber 2011 View details |
| AIUS 2011 Seminar Series Doctoral Research in Progress Research in progress is a good guide to subjects which may be of wider interest, now or in the near future. A selection of largely urban PhD topics being researched at several universities points the way and provides the candidates with a platform to share their findings with a knowledgeable audience beyond academia. The speakers will briefly summarise their work, leaving ample time for discussion. |
Wednesday 26th October 2011 View details |
| AIUS 2011 Seminar Series New Planning for NSW The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act of 1979 was the culmination of a comprehensive review, aiming to set a world standard of best practice. That much of it remains relevant is not surprising, but the challenge is to update the legislation in the light of 30 years’ experience of its use by planning authorities, by government and by the community. A wider than usual panel of practitioners will put forward their succinct answers, leaving ample time to discuss their viewpoints and yours. |
Tuesday 27th September 2011 View details |
| City Briefing 26 Implementing Metropolitan Projects The notion of the night-time economy emerged in the 1990s as a cultural planning strategy aimed at re-vitalising and enlivening inner city life. However, current approaches to alco-centric leisure are silent on the role of culture in night-life behaviour. Urban policy generally fails to account for the complexity of cultures in the entertainment precincts of the city. "Putting culture into policy for the city at night" is the title of the talk in which Nathaniel Bavinton will discuss common policy short-comings that reveal an inadequate grasp of the cultural dynamics of the city after dark. His research concerns Sydney, Parramatta and Newcastle. |
Thursday 11th August 2011 View details |
| AIUS 2011 Seminar Series Implementing Metropolitan Projects This seminar is about major urban projects that are implemented, rather than planned. The word vision was initially entertained, but so few visions in the eyes of politicians and planners turn into recognisable realities that we settled for something more mundane, but concrete, like projects. Our speakers provide a striking variety of examples from their own considerable experience. |
Wednesday 29th June 2011 View details |
| City Briefing 25 Metropolitan plans come and go, but they are always important policy documents, which constantly influence the course of urban development. Sydney's modern planning era is generally taken to begin with The Planning Scheme for the County of Cumberland NSW, presented to J.J. Cahill MLA in July 1948, and Bob Meyer's Briefing on the history of metropolitan planning attracted an unusually large attendance in 2005. For our 25th City Briefing Peter Cummingwill take a critical look at the subject with the title: "Are we losing control of metropolitan strategies?" |
Thursday 12th May 2011 View details |
| AIUS 2011 Seminar Series Planning for an Older Population The increasing longevity of the human population is a longstanding demographic phenomenon, but one which is now viewed as a threat to national prosperity as the retired sector grows and the proportion of people in the workforce declines. How to provide appropriate living conditions and health care for people well beyond the traditional three-score years and ten is a planning challenge which this seminar takes up. |
Thursday, 31st March 2011 View details |
| City Briefing 24 We begin our 2011 program with an eye to the future: Allan Jones speaking about trigeneration and energy efficiency. Trigeneration produces power, heat and cooling from a single source. In this process, the heat typically lost by coal-fired power stations is captured and used. |
Wednesday 16th February 2011 View details |
| 2010 Seminar Series Looking North: Creativity and Imagination Meet the Challenge of Growth In recent years, we have heard about place making and planning in Perth and Melbourne, and we felt that it is not before time to learn something of the considerable activity afoot in the growth State of Queensland. We have assembled an impressive array of speakers today to do just that. |
Tuesday 23rd November 2010 View details |
| City Briefing 23
In our next City Briefing Prof Bill Randolph will tell us that the current debate over which form our cities should take is often misinformed, politically compromised and subject to an obsession with design-led solutions and environmental prescriptions that ignore the essential social and economic realities of the cities. |
Wednesday 29th September 2010 View details |
| 2010 Seminar Series Sydney's Transport - Where's It Going? For many years now the future of Sydney's transport has been a matter of controversy and complaint, with the inefficiency of the railway system and the continued building of freeways the leading bones of contention. How to handle the interaction of cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians adds to the mix. Several investigations have been made and campaigns run, with those of the Warren Centre and the Sydney Morning Herald quite recent. The groups of transport experts contributing to these reports have failed to persuade the State Government to any clear program of development, so that the title of this seminar is as relevant as it was 20 years ago. |
Wednesday 25th August 2010 View Seminar details |
| City Briefing 22 The most pervasive world-wide social problem since World War II has been the use and abuse of drugs. Much national and international criminal activity has been based on the drug trade and the USA's law enforcement regime, in particular, has been dominated by its War on Drugs for at least 40 years. Dr Alex Wodak is one of our most experienced workers in the drug field and the title of his City Briefing points to what he knows: "100 years of global drug prohibition: too early to say it's failed?" |
Tuesday 27th July 2010 |
| 2010 Semianr Series Life in Western society has been permeated by uncertainty and fear: of change, of others, of lawlessness, of liability, of legal action, even of being wrong. Many administrative decisions are now influenced and warped by the desire to avoid risk. This is particularly prevalent in urban areas, where parents protect children from imagined dangers, Councils apply numerous health and safety constraints to public projects, and government generally plays it safe, all at odds with the statistical record. In our society, this occurs in the almost complete absence of terrorism. |
Tuesday 22nd June 2010 |
| City Briefing 21 The Coalition has had little to say about planning, leaving the State Government to flounder amid allegations of undue developer influence. What will the coalition do if it wins power? Will Part 3A be repealed? Shadow Planning Minister Brad Hazzard will share his thoughts on planning with AIUS. |
Wednesday 28th April 2010 |
| 2010 Seminar Series The implications for Sydney of Australia?s predicted population growth. The debate about Australia's population and environment, which was "a press staple over the 1920s", has not been waged so vehemently since. When Griffith Taylor, Australia's first geographer, publicly raised the climatic and wider environmental constraints on Australia's capacity to support a much larger population, he was effectively hounded out of the country. At that time, it was officially stated that while migrants were sought, "particularly citizens of the United Kingdom", there was no immediate intention to increase the population to 100 million; though in the early 1950s the visiting Spanish thinker Salvador de Madariaga speculated about our capacity to support such a figure. So, current predictions of 22 million Australians becoming 35 million by 2050 and Sydney growing from 4 to 7 million seem rather mild to have sparked such concern. Our speakers bring varied perspectives to this subject. |
Wednesday 17th March 2010 |
| City Briefing 20 The Major Cities Unit was established by the Federal Government to identify opportunities where federal leadership can make a difference to the prosperity of our cities and the wellbeing of their residents. The issues surrounding the infrastructure and governance of our major cities are complex and require the input of Local, State and Federal government, the integration of services and infrastructure bodies, and industry and community participation. The Unit will provide a more coordinated and integrated approach to the planning and infrastructure needs of major cities. The unit aims to develop and implement specific, measurable outcomes to improve the environmental sustainability, liveability and productivity of the major cities of Australia. Dorte Ekelund will speak about the work of IA and the Major Cities Unit and refer to the Prime Minister's stated determination to become directly involved in the strategic development of our cities. |
Thursday 11th February 2010 |
| 2009 Seminar Series - in conjunction with AITPM Sustainable Transport: 'sharing' knowledge Our complex and interdependent society relies on the movement of people and goods. Even with electronic information exchange, virtual meetings, efficient compact land use policies and other demand management measures, we will continue to need transport. Some modes are more sustainable and energy-efficient than others. |
Thursday 12th November 09 at 4.00pm Tuscan Room, Masonic Centre, Goulburn Street |
| City Briefing 19 Robert Whitehead, former Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, will discuss the aims and scope of Project Sydney, a campaign launched by the paper on 22nd August to get some answers to the continuing failure of government to implement extensions and improvements to Sydney's transport system. Ron Christie, former Co-ordinator General of Rail, is heading a public examination of the strategy required to upgrade the ailing system. |
Wednesday 16 September 09 at 5.00pm Norman Selfe room Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street (near Bathurst Street), Sydney |
| 2009 Seminar Series The City After Dark Much of the research, comment and news concerning cities like Sydney is not surprisingly about the daytime activities of commerce, commuters and culture. However, the city has another important dimension – its life at night. This involves a considerable amount of economic and entertainment activity, and also anti-social activity which gives rise to community resentment and calls for action. Researchers from both Sydney and Melbourne draw on specific experience to provide us with a better understanding of the city at night. |
Wednesday 12 August 09 at 4.00pm Lord Mayor's Reception Room, Sydney Town Hall |
| City Briefing 18 Our next speaker will be long-time lawyer and planner, John Mant, whose subject is nothing less than "The Tragedy of Planning in New South Wales" |
Wednesday 22 July 09 at 5.00pm Norman Selfe room Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street (near Bathurst Street), Sydney |
| 2009 Seminar Series A New Vision for Affordable Housing Affordable housing is a matter of major community interest that never goes away. AIUS has held several seminars on the subject over the years, the last in July 2004. A long run of increasing house prices, the current severe world economic downturn and some new thinking on ways to make housing more affordable for low-income people makes the subject as relevant as ever to those involved in urban affairs and beyond. |
Thursday 11 June 09 at 4.00pm Mitchell Theatre Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street (near Bathurst Street), Sydney |
| City Briefing 17
Lyndsay Neilson will discuss, from an international perspective The Management and Governance Measures Needed to Improve Sydney as a World City. |
Wednesday 22 April at 5.00pm Mitchell Theatre Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street (near Bathurst Street), Sydney |
LATEST NEWS & EVENTS
City Briefing 28
Our 2012 program opens on a very modern urban theme: IBM Australia's Smarter Cities Initiative, which involves advising organisations on intelligent and sustainable ecosystems, covering water, infrastructure, transport, energy use, education, health and public safety in the built environment.Our 2012 program opens on a very modern urban theme: IBM Australia's Smarter Cities Initiative, which involves advising organisations on intelligent and sustainable ecosystems, covering water, infrastructure, transport, energy use, education, health and public safety in the built environment.
When: Wednesday, 15th February 2012
Time: 5.00-6.15pm followed by refreshments
Venue: 1st Floor, Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street (between Park and Bathurst)
More Download FlyerDorte Ekelund, Executive Director, Major Cities Unit, Infrastructure Australia spoke at AIUS City Briefing 20
Click here to see her presentation on Australia's major cities
PRESS RELEASE
The Australian Institute of Urban Studies, NSW Division, welcomes the Prime Minister's assumption of Federal responsibility for the planning of Australia's cities...