The context for this project is the limited connectivity between applied planning research and professional planning practice. The planning profession, by its very nature, is continually developing plans, policies and strategies to guide place-based management and development. An assumption guiding the research is that sound evidence is useful if not essential to inform good planning...

This project examined two models of public engagement in planning approval processes—Third Party Objection and Appeal Rights (TPOAR) and fast tracked planning (e.g. used as part of approving developments funded under the Nation Building Stimulus Package)—to see how they impact on housing supply (especially higher-density housing), resident perceptions, and realisation of planning goals.

However, the planning drive towards medium density housing (MDH) has triggered widespread local resistance. This has led to new scrutiny of mechanisms for public participation in planning and efficiency of third party objection and appeal rights (TPOAR). This paper focuses on the latter.

Urban fringe residential estates continue to dominate the residential development sector in Australia. Several practice based sustainability assessment tools have recently been developed which acknowledge the impacts of such developments and attempt to improve outcomes. This paper examines how sustainability principles and concepts are presented and applied in such assessment tools, focusing on two Australian...

This paper considers an Ecological Footprint analysis of Aurora, a new residential estate in Melbourne’s north. The estate is being developed by VicUrban, with the expressed aim of creating a new benchmark in sustainable urban development.