Thami Croeser News Today

From Australia to Ontario, cities are taking up unnecessary stretches of concrete and asphalt, allowing nature to take hold in their place.

Browse Urban heat news, research and analysis from The Conversation

A council greening trial is drawing locals and tourists alike to the city’s neglected side streets

Compared with Melbourne and Sydney, the Brisbane backyard has been resilient. But what is in store for this cherished Australian icon. And do we really care?

Climate change is going just as badly for cities as we have been warned it would. Extreme weather is increasingly common and severe globally.

Implicit in this wording is a hopeful truth: adapting to climate change is a daunting task, but the “how” is not a mystery. The opportunity is right in front of us, in our streets, buildings and parklands. Around the world we are seeing effective retrofitting of cities to adapt to more extreme weather.

Brunswick Street attracts the crowds, but just off the “hot, exposed, loud” strip there is a push to turn an iconic side street into an oasis of greenery, seating and colourfully painted asphalt.

Readers discuss our loss of wildlife and what need to do to rectify this.

An optimistic Melbourne urban planner called for the citys little roads to be turned into pedestrian-only green spaces to bring life back to the city.

Thami Croeser is an urban planner and spatial analyst at RMIT's Centre for Urban Research.