Author Archives: Alex

Suburbs and the art of place blogging

Posted on 11 April, 2011 by Alex

Last week I attended the Right to the City symposium at the Sydney University Faculty of Architecture. The symposium sought to make connections between artists, activists, planners and architects in seeking ways to "remake" the city “in more socially connected … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Development, Social Media, Sydney metro area, Western Sydney | 2 Comments

Last food orders on the urban frontier?

Posted on 10 April, 2011 by Alex

Recently I was asked to comment for a newspaper article on the plight of the last piggery in the Sydney basin, which is under pressure from urban expansion. The piggery is located in the corridor for the South West Rail … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Growth, Planning, Population, Sydney metro area, Western Sydney | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

O’Farrell’s new Ministry has a few surprises

Posted on 3 April, 2011 by Alex

The NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell today announced his new ministry, with a few surprises. Much has been made in the media about the two new MPs, Robyn Parker (Maitland) who is Environment and Heritage Minister and Graham Annesley (Miranda), who takes … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Development, Governance, Infrastructure, Planning, Sydney metro area, Western Sydney | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Update: Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

Posted on 31 March, 2011 by Alex

A couple of updates on my last post: First, a letter from Sandy Thomas (another member of the Sydney Morning Herald Public Transport Inquiry that reported last year) published in today’s Herald offers another and probably more achievable scenario on how … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Development, Governance, Infrastructure, Local Government, Public Transport, Transport, Western Sydney | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

Posted on 29 March, 2011 by Alex

There is no doubt that Mr O’Farrell and his party scored an emphatic victory in the NSW election, rewriting the record books in the process. While the main factor in the result was the electorate’s obvious dissatisfaction with the performance of … Continue reading →

Posted in Governance, Growth, Infrastructure, Local Government, Public Transport, Sydney metro area, Transport, Western Sydney | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What are the real differences between bus and rail?

Posted on 14 February, 2011 by Alex

Recently transport consultant Jarrett Walker posted an interesting article on his Human Transit blog regarding the intrinsic and non-intrinsic differences between rail and bus technology, drawing on an article in the Infrastructurist blog which had asked its readers if streetcars … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Public Transport, Transport | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Nets of iron

Posted on 11 February, 2011 by Alex

After my last post about rail infrastructure, my attention was drawn to the apexart website. apexart is a not-for-profit contemporary visual arts organisation located in Lower Manhattan, New York. Through exhibitions, international residency, publication initiatives, and programs and events, it is committed … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Transport, Transport | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rail infrastructure – a sorry tale of three continents

Posted on 27 January, 2011 by Alex

Two media articles today paint an interesting picture of the current status of rail transport in Australia – and also provide a disturbing contrast with what is happening in the rest of the world. The first is a Fairfax article … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Public Transport, Transport | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

You call that an amalgamation? THIS is an amalgamation!

Posted on 27 January, 2011 by Alex

Recently I was involved in a project undertaken by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government, studying examples of amalgamations and other forms of council consolidation across Australia and New Zealand. The largest amalgamation we looked had around 320,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in Growth, Infrastructure, Local Government, Planning, Population, Public Transport, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The long break

Posted on 27 January, 2011 by Alex

Apologies to anyone following this blog – a combination of intensive project work, the Christmas break and a familiy emergency meant that I had to take a major break from posting. While the latter is continuing, I hope to be able to … Continue reading →

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