André Stephan

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Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gillian Bird, makes a statement at the 2016 Habitat III conference, where the New Urban Agenda was adopted. Alexei Trundle

This is why health has to be at the heart of the New Urban Agenda

Melanie Lowe, Australian Catholic University; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Billie Giles-Corti, RMIT University; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne, and Hesam Kamalipour, Monash University

Australia and other United Nations member states signed up to the New Urban Agenda more than a year ago. But how well is health being integrated into sustainable urban development?
Cities like Melbourne are a store for such huge amounts of resources that they could be used as urban mines. Donaldytong (own work)/Wikimedia

With the right tools, we can mine cities

André Stephan, The University of Melbourne and Aristide Athanassiadis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

With an ever-increasing cost to extract dwindling raw materials, it’s time to look at cities as urban mines. We’re developing the tools to do that.
Meeting the challenges of informal settlements, such as this one in Caracas, Venezuela, calls for integrated approaches that cut across urban scales and disciplines. Hesam Kamalipour

When planning falls short: the challenges of informal settlements

Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Informal settlements are often undocumented or hidden on official maps, but they house about a billion people worldwide. Their existence demands a more sophisticated approach to urban development.
Think of all the resources needed to transform Shenzhen, a fishing town 35 years ago, into a megacity of more than 10 million people. Wikimedia Commons

Our cities need to go on a resource diet

André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; Dave Kendal, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Our cities need to become much more efficient not just to conserve precious resources but to improve the economy, wellbeing and resilience to environmental change and disasters.
Quito lights up for Habitat III. Alexei Trundle

Habitat III is over, but will its New Urban Agenda transform the world’s cities?

Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

Nation states, UN bodies and civil society gathered in Quito for Habitat III to adopt the New Urban Agenda. So how will the UN’s new global urban roadmap transform our cities over the next 20 years?
A distinctive feature of the New Urban Agenda is that it redefines informal settlements, such as Dharavi in Mumbai, India, as an asset based on their potential to promote economic growth. YGLvoices/flickr

Habitat III: the biggest conference you’ve probably never heard of

Hayley Henderson, The University of Melbourne; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; André Stephan, The University of Melbourne; Hesam Kamalipour, The University of Melbourne, and Melanie Lowe, The University of Melbourne

More than 25,000 delegates will meet in Quito in October to set out a New Urban Agenda for the UN, to be implemented over the next 20 years. But Australia is yet to play a major role in the process.
A protester makes her feelings clear about the pink batts scheme in 2010. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Pink batts: what did it teach us about building better buildings?

Robert Crawford, The University of Melbourne and André Stephan, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

The political fallout over the ill-fated Home Insulation Program continues, with former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard now having been summoned to appear before the Abbott government’s royal…
New homes go up at a housing estate at Cecil Hills in western Sydney. AAP/Dean Lewins

Why energy‑saving homes often use more energy

André Stephan, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Robert Crawford, The University of Melbourne

Energy efficient houses are often thought to be a promising way to reduce our environmental footprint by using less energy and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, surprisingly, if you consider…
Insulation can dramatically reduce emissions, but there are emissions costs as well. Wei-Hang Chua

Pink batts: not a scandal, but not as good as claimed

Robert Crawford, The University of Melbourne and André Stephan, The University of Melbourne

The words “pink batts scheme” are rarely heard without “debacle”. But a recent Insulation Council of Australia report by Energy Efficient Strategies (EES) has described the government’s home insulation…

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