FORM

"I’ve always seen the park bench as a good metaphor for good urban space. You sit on them, you fall in love on them, you eat your sandwiches on them, you get drunk on them, you carve your name and your girlfriend’s name on them…” (Andrew Shoben, director of UK collective Greyworld)

Urban Designers around the world argue that the park bench is a good metaphor for good urban spaces. Jan Gehl’s Public Space Public Life research revealed that Perth has increased its cafe chair seats by 74% since 1993. Improvements to our streetscapes since the initial report have been fundamental to the increasing number of people enjoying Perth’s streets.

As concerns about the impacts of climate change and increasing urbanisation accelerate, one US city is streets ahead in the race for sustainability. Jeffrey R Hammarlund and Connie Ozawa report for Fast Thinking magazine on Portland's rise as the greenest city in the USA.

From The Fifth Estate.

On 17 August about 100 people will gather in the Sydney offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers  to decide the future of the world. Or at least how we build it. The occasion will be the preliminary meeting to establish a Data Cities Society.

A proposed working party is expected to include members of the National Association of Women in Construction, the Property Council’s Future Directions group, the Lighting Council, Australian Institute of Architects, Planning Institute of Australia and Engineers Australia.

But what exactly are Data Cities?