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Conference

8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia

Owning Institution
Australasian Cities Research Network

The State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conferences have been held biennially since 2003 to support interdisciplinary policy-related urban research. SOAC 2017 was jointly hosted in Adelaide by the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University.

Refereed papers at SOAC 2017 were organized across the seven well-established themes of Economy, Environment, Governance, Structure, Movement and Infrastructure, Housing and Social, and Health. There were also three significant plenary panel sessions on Housing Affordability, Urban Resilience and the continuing challenge of achieving more productive relationships between academic researchers and urban policymakers. 

Papers from all past and subsequent SOAC conferences can be found at the State of Australian Cities Conferences Collection on APO.

Conference paper

What do Australian urban planning scholars actually research?


8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia
As a relatively new field of research, urban planning is often perceived as neither a traditional academic discipline nor a “major profession” (Schon 1983). From Taylor and Hurley’s (2015) discouraging observation that “not many people read the stuff” to Randolph’s (2013) perhaps hyperbolic suggestion that university urban research may be “reaching an end game,” there...
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Conference paper

Untaming aesthetics: cross-species design considerations for the built environment


8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia
A preoccupation with the aesthetic ideal of beauty has marked an anthropocentric notion of civilisation and a human centred approach to the way we design our urban environments. By untaming aesthetics this study explores a broader definition of aesthetics beyond the human to connect species via their sensory perceptions. Through a design-led aesthetic conversation designers...
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Conference paper

Auckland’s urban sprawl, planning frameworks and peri-urbanisation to Pukekohe


8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia
Although urban sprawl has been largely discussed, the range of determinants for the incorporation of rural lands remain less systematised and mainly framed by transport improvements, housing shortage and land-market constraints. Because of that, measures to tackle impacts of sprawl are lacking considering determinants operate as interlinked and somehow embedded within planning policies and regulations...
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Conference paper

Understanding Melbourne’s Federation Square as a multidimensional field of security interventions: spatial observations of control


8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia
Public security and anti-terror urban design is increasing in Australian cities as governments respond to continued extremist attacks worldwide. However, controlling safety measures are driven by security agencies and police, rather than urban design professionals. Oftentimes, such outcomes prove detrimental to urban amenity, sacrificing quality public space for security. There is limited critical research within...
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Conference paper

Urban wind comfort design guidelines: metrics, tools and application in Australian cities


8th State of Australian Cities National Conference, 28-30 November 2017, Adelaide, Australia
This paper discussed urban specific wind patterns and their influence on urban liveability in Adelaide CBD. Possible urban wind comfort design guidelines are presented and discussed for application in Australian context.
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Published Resources
Items 135