While households around the world are starting to address energy consumption and install domestic solar arrays to generate electricity to meet some of these consumption loads, what would it take to get to 100% self-sufficiency?

This article takes a look at the challenges in getting this next crucial energy evolution is done right.

Have you ever felt like creativity has left you, or that you approach things differently these days but have so much more to offer.

This article gives you an insight of a similar problem I faced, how I overcame this feeling and why all aspects of creativity in design is important.

In 2010 I wrote an article on Housing Affordability based upon years of collected data on Australian dwelling supply activities from 1985 to 2009. Now 14 years later I have updated this data and provide another overview and describe how housing affordability has been sold off by governments, banks and lobbyist and left a lost housing dream for many.

I get frustrated as an urban designer when invited to participate in wayfinding solutions only to discover everyone is talking about signage.

Wayfinding is not about Signage.

In this article I look into how wayfinding was introduced, how signage studies overtook its theoretical and practical applications. More importantly, I provide some simple approaches and principles to ensure you achieve a successful place based wayfinding outcome, that doesn't rely on just signage.

Places are where people live and these people need services, where they meet friends, and where spontaneous discussions create innovations - to fuel our creative and progressive lifestyle. So do these places need specific densities to thrive and is it a myth to champion higher density activity centres in our new suburbs that ultimately become our new places. This article demonstrates some science about density and its connection to placemaking.

Why is Brisbane having trouble with stadiums? why it is trying to replicate the middle east? Without a solid placemaking strategy all of its refurbishing old assets, creating new ones will not gain public enthusiasm, the public needs to embrace attachment value to place before focusing on investors love of CGI’s.

What makes a great place? what design principles should I use to ensure the place meets all the expectations? There are 10 design principles that I think everyone who has a stake in the built environment should pursue and these are identified in this article.

Today, I worry as an urban designer of the rise of lung cancer in people who never did the things commonly associated with this disease, such as smoking, removing asbestos or working in smelter factories, etc. Yet having lived along main streets and advocating this built environment because I practice what I preach, I have had to clean away diesel grim, braking dust and other bio-hazards that make up this lifestyle, and it has me worried.

Is Kelbaugh Wright? Kevin Abbott, a friend and past work colleague of Doug Kelbaugh, delves into the connections between the late Professor Kelbaugh's final book and Ronald Wright's critical reflections on humanity's troubled history. For those interested in cultural studies, environmental reasoning, and existential inquiries, reading both works together offers a compelling journey into understanding the human condition. Discover why these two books are essential companions for anyone seeking deeper answers about who we are and where we are headed.