Publications and reports produced by our research grant and support program recipients are available for download.
While the idea of a public was already in use by the ancient Romans (Res Publica), the term now has multifaceted meanings across different contexts. The term is generally taken to mean many people, or even society as a whole. It also denotes the opposite of private. In the context of public policy, it refers to government intentions and actions. Of particular importance for the Festival is the idea of public good, which in modern political philosophy is linked to a democratic ethos (Dewey & Rogers, 2012), in which equality, freedom and accountability pervade our attitude to life and our interactions with others.
As this year’s theme for the Festival of Urbanism, it provided a wonderful opportunity to engage with the meaning of ‘Public’ across all the session themes, from transport through housing, communications, art, health, and even universities.
In 2024 we again offered a national program across Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Lismore, Canberra and Hobart, in which eminent leaders from academia, industry, policy and advocacy communities addressed themes such as caring for Country and Community, public parks and libraries, platformisation, preventing disease through better planning, housing policy, the role of universities in public life, public transport, the rental market, and the role of planning in facilitating urban play such as skateboarding.
This year we were particularly excited to expand the format of the Festival to include artistic and creative interpretations of the festival theme. This included a wonderful photo essay by Dr Vera Xia available online. We screened a film linking architectural modernism, public housing, and personal experiences of home, called “the Housing Question” by Helen Grace and Narelle Jubelin. Exploring the value of comedy and satire in communicating complex policy issues, was a panel chaired by Sebastian Aguilar from the PIA Young Planners in conversation with Bill Code, Lee Constable and Mark Humphries, offering a welcome opportunity to laugh while we learned about serious consequences of gaps in housing policy.
Engaging the broader student audience, we held a reels competition on the theme of public urbanism. The winning entries can be found here. As in past years we were delighted to offer two field trips. Leading urban designer Diane Griffiths and artist Dr Ashley Frost guided a tour of Sydney’s public art, challenging us to consider the contexts and processes by which public art is produced, as well as appreciating its variety and aesthetic qualities. Geoff Turnbull, spokesperson for REDWatch led participants on a tour of Waterloo exploring a variety of housing types from heritage listed cottages to large-scale public and private housing developments from the 1950s to 2000’s subject to redevelopment proposals in Waterloo.
We are very grateful for the engagement of our Festival audiences, both in-person, and the many who view the recordings available on our YouTube channel afterwards. We would like to thank the speakers and panel chairs, our communications and events team, Linda Wang and Jacqueline Tyrell, and the curatorial committee including Drs Jennifer Kent, Sophia Maalsen, Dallas Rogers, and Ian Woodcock.
From exploring publicness in concrete situations like transport, parks, and libraries, to challenging ourselves and our audiences to greater participation in public life, the festival has again fostered research-informed debate to support policy innovation.
From debates about density to protests over environmental heritage or the loss of public housing, views about cities and urban regions are deeply contested. Yet decision making processes often inflame conflict or invite distrust, with local communities feeling disempowered or ignored. Can contests of ideas and values lead to more innovative or inclusive models of urban governance or design? This, and myriad other questions and positions were debated at the 2023 Festival of ‘Contested’ Urbanism, which I am delighted to present here.
In 2023 with the Festival of ‘Contested’ Urbanism, we expanded our program nationally to engage audiences on local issues with a state and national lens. Over three insightful weeks in Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Lismore, nearly 70 eminent leaders from academia, industry, policy and advocacy communities engaged in debates ranging from the memorialisation of First Nations and colonial history to Megaprojects, post-lockdown retail spaces, innovations such as software platforms and neurotechnology; disaster resilience; biodiversity; active transport; and whether planning changes can increase housing supply or improve affordability.
We were particularly excited to host past planning minister Dr Rob Stokes, speaking about assumptions in planning theory, and the Hon. Rose Jackson MLC, Minister for Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health, Youth, the North Coast, and Water, explaining her position on the ‘missing middle’ of the housing sector.
In keeping with this year’s theme, our urban literature podcast series interviewed authors about some of the most contested contemporary issues. Curated by Dr Dallas Rogers, themes explored ranged from First Nations dispossession, through multi species justice, histories of class war, climate change, and radical urban planning. A link to the series can be found here.
This year marked the third year of our student film competition, with entrants responding to the theme of ‘Contested’ Urbanism. A description of the competition can be found here – scroll down for links to our winning entries. We were particularly delighted to host two field trips. To open the Sydney Festival, we had Dr Kurt Iveson and leading urban designer, Diana Griffiths, leading a walk through The Rocks and Barangaroo titled ‘What Price Success?’ discussing Sydney Harbor’s most controversial projects. To close the Festival, Geoff Turnbull, spokesperson for REDWhatch, treated participants to an on-the-ground tour of the public housing estates subject of major redevelopment.
I would like to warmly thank our Festival audiences, those who attended in-person and the many who engage with our ‘on demand’ content online. A special thank you to the speakers and panel chairs, the expert communications and events team, especially Melanie Morrison and Linda Wang, and the curatorial committee of Drs Sophia Maalsen and Jennifer Kent.
From the micropolitics of everyday navigation of the city through the contest of ideas and the overtly political, the Festival has fostered robust and healthy debate, highlighting the promise of research and evidence to support impactful policy innovation.
From devastating floods to an escalating housing crisis and the ongoing upheavals of the global Pandemic, the need to reshape Australia’s cities and regions for a more resilient future has never seemed more urgent. So, it is with great pride that I introduce this year’s Festival of future Urbanism Review, which brings together key insights from our 2022 events.
Over two stimulating weeks in Sydney, Melbourne, and for the first time, Albury, more than 80 eminent leaders from academia, industry, policy and advocacy communities engaged in debates ranging from disaster resilience planning and zero carbon models of development to ensuring affordable housing for all; ethical leadership; ideas to save the future metropolis and much more.
Once again, it was an honour to direct this year’s Festival in partnership with Professor Carl Grodach along with his team at Monash University, and a great pleasure to return to in-person events after a two-year pandemic hiatus.
A real highlight was the Festival’s first regional event at the wonderful Murray Arts Museum Albury (MAMA). Fifty years after former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s short-lived attempts to foster decentralisation, this event, held in Albury, one of his flagship National Growth Centres, re-examined prospects for future growth in regional Australia and priorities for contemporary government intervention.
This year we’ve expanded the range of urban literature explored through our City Road Podcast book club series, curated by Dr Dallas Rogers, to include a special segment on children’s engagement with the city as well as the role of speculative fiction in signposting alternative futures. City Road has also produced a special Festival highlights podcast series drawn from our key live events.
We were particularly delighted to continue our student film competition for a second year, which attracted many creative responses to the Festival theme of ‘future’ urbanism. Our oversubscribed field trip ‘From Plans to Places’, hosted by urban geographer Dr Kurt Iveson and leading urban designer, Diana Griffiths, gave participants a glimpse of the public spaces that central Sydney might have had, but for the twists and turns of the planning and development processes as private and public interests are renegotiated.
I would like to extend a warm thanks to our Festival audiences and the thousands
of participants who have subsequently viewed our ‘on demand’ content online. A special thanks to our speakers and panel chairs, the Festival curatorial committee of Drs Dallas Rogers, Sophia Maalsen, and Jennifer Kent, as well as the expert technical and communications team at the School of Architecture Design and Planning.
The essays and accounts collected in this Review represent just some of the diverse perspectives shared at this year’s Festival of future Urbanism. They all underscore the need for research informed dialogue and policy innovation to bring about better urban and regional futures.
It was a tremendous honour to direct the eighth Festival of Urbanism, in partnership with Professor Carl Grodach.
This year’s festival theme of ‘endangered’ urbanism engaged with the existential threats facing cities and regions in Australia and across the world - from the global pandemic to social division, economic turmoil, and deepening climate risk. But it also highlighted the strategies of resistance and innovation by which communities, policy leaders, practitioners and researchers can and are responding to these dangers
From Indigenous perspectives on country to the future of urbanism; from public health in cities to the flight to the regions; and from infrastructure governance to ethics in urban decisions; the two week Festival featured 22 diverse events and 85 impressive speakers. But in keeping with previous Festivals of Urbanism, this was no academic talk fest.
Rather, researchers from the Universities of Sydney, Monash, Melbourne, Western Australia, NSW, RMIT, Harvard and more were joined by industry leaders, policy makers, politicians and community advocates, debating the spatial logic of Australia’s cities, disrupted by public health concerns, new patterns of working, and the ongoing housing crisis. Festival audiences were invited to experience an extraordinary smoking ceremony filmed on Bundjalung country in Northern NSW before engaging with a rich conversation on the need to transform planning, environmental and cultural heritage processes in ways that genuinely respect and foreground Indigenous knowledge, stewardship and land.
A panel of leading international urbanists, from North America to Australia, discussed
the lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic for future city planning and urban life. The NSW Minister of Planning and Public Spaces, the Hon. Dr Rob Stokes MP shared his own reflections on the future of Australian cities and the role of planning, informed both by his professional and public roles as well as his research experience most recently at the University of Oxford.
Among the many other Festival highlights, I was delighted this year to establish a student film competition which yielded numerous, creative and thought provoking entries exploring endangered urban environments and communities. We also launched the Festival of Urbanism book club podcast series, curated by Dr Dallas Rogers and featuring a diverse collection of fiction, essays, and non-fiction books by Australian and international authors.
The Festival program attracted more than 5,000 registrations and strong audience participation was a highlight across the events. I would like to thank our Festival audiences for bringing their own insights and perspectives to the discussion. Particular thanks are also due to all our of speakers and panel chairs, the Festival curatorial committee of
Drs Dallas Rogers, Sophia Maalsen and Jennifer Kent, as well as the expert technical and communications team at the School of Architecture Design and Planning.
The papers, accounts, and images collected in this Review represent just a sample of the diverse perspectives shared at this year’s Festival of Urbanism. Together, they highlight the need for ongoing research informed dialogue about the future of the city and the quality of urban policy and debate.
Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative (Office of Provost)
Room 450, Wilkinson Building (G04)
The University of Sydney NSW 2006
