The parsley, the pig and the farm

Is it a myth that Australia’s cities are amongst the most liveable in the world? That tag may be true for the lucky people who live within a 10 kilometre radius of each city. All our ‘sustainable’ cities are quite nice within their core. Outside of that core we appear to have failed to make […]

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Plain Land: Killing Places Slowly

Welcome to Plainland. Plainland is on a plain designated for the growth of Brisbane. It has a shopping centre off the highway and sits amongst the cows of surrounding grazing land. Plainland is plain: the cost of house and land dictate it. A bold entry statement and a path to the shops are civic flourishes. […]

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Dis location – Survival of the local

The marketplace is clearly failing the landscapes and the towns we live in. Australian country towns are dying as the global economy seeks to extract the cheapest goods in the cheapest location. We live in a very large island with a small population and with inbuilt inefficiencies of distance and time to markets. Our standard […]

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The world’s most sustainable small subdivision

South-East Queensland is rapidly morphing into a continuous fabric of suburban development. Interstate migration and the call of the sun are sustaining housing booms on the edges of Gold Coast City. Landmatters Pty Ltd in collaboration with John Mongard Landscape Architects set out to `build a project that inspires and sets a world’s best standard […]

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Sustainable communities or urban sprawl?

Hervey Bay is one of the fastest growing regions outside the capital cities, buoyed by the migration to the sun coast of the elderly, and by the sea-change affecting peoples desire to live with more amenity. Places like Hervey Bay however, do not have the level of planning, design and development sophistication available in the […]

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Green Villages – Tooradin as a model for growth

Traditionally, Melbourne’s development has pushed out indiscriminately into the surrounding rural landscape.  As a result, local ecologies have been compromised and natural systems disrupted. Tooradin is a village strategically located at the only place where the South Gippsland Highway meets the waters of Western Port. The Village is located 65 kilometres south east of central […]

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Suburban Entropy and the Death of Difference (Finding a green way through the Greenfields)

The forces of change in our society are increasingly globalised and franchised. Investment, trade and even the way we relate to each other in our living places are being shaped by patterns and pressures which are beyond our view. As we continue with the rapid expansion of our cities, long-term fault-lines are being built into […]

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