In this edition:- Save the Date: Festival of "Translocal" Urbanism 2026
- Welcoming Ann Forsyth, Halloran Professor of Planning and Design
- Upcoming Events
- City Road Podcast: New episodes released!
- Festival of "Regenerative" Urbanism Review 2025
- Media mentions and commentary
- Watch on Demand - Catch up with our past events
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Save the Date: Fesival of translocal Urbanism 2026
We are excited to launch our Festival of Urbanism 2026 program, which focuses on the theme of ‘translocal’ urbanism. Our main Sydney program runs between 7-11 September and features more than 60 eminent speakers and includes our popular panel style discussions, debates, film screenings, walking tours and more. In keeping with our commitment to fostering evidence informed dialogue and exchange beyond the University, all of our events remain free and open to everyone, but registrations are essential and tickets are limited. See program highlights and registration links below.
Stay tuned for details for our national program, which runs late September through October.
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Welcoming Ann Forsyth, Halloran Professor of Planning and Design
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We are delighted to announce that Ann Forsyth has been appointed to be the Halloran Professor of Planning and Design.
Trained in planning and architecture, Ann Forsyth is a Research Professor of Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. From 2007-2012, she was a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. She taught previously at the University of Minnesota, directing the Metropolitan Design Centre (2002-2007), Harvard (1999-2002), and the University of Massachusetts (1993-1999), where she was co-director of a small community design centre, the Urban Places Project. She has held short -term positions at Columbia, Macquarie, and Sydney Universities.
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Hyper-commodified housing? Insights from European research
When: Tuesday, 18 August, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Keynote: Constance Uyttebrouck
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First Nations design and innovation on the world stage
When: Monday, 07 September, 11:15am - 12:30pm
Speakers include: Matte McConnell, Elle Davison, Jess Herder
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From flight paths to school runs: Mobility, migration and the making of independence
When: Tuesday, 08 September, 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Speakers include: Judy Harrington, Jennifer Kent, Simon Gatward, Christina Ho, Emily Moylan
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Global data, local impacts: What does the data centre boom mean for cities and regions?
When: Tuesday, 08 September, 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Speakers include: Professor Kurt Iveson, Dr Bronwyn Cumbo, Bronwen Clark, Associate Professor Craig Jin, Dr Sandy Burgoyne
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Are we ready for the next global pandemic? Cities, architecture, and public health
When: Wednesday, 09 September, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Speakers: Abbie Galvin, Professor Justin Denholm, Jane Williams, Dr Hannes Frykholm, Diego S. Silva
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| | --- Watch your inbox for more Festival of Urbanism updates and registration links! ---
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City Road Podcast: New episodes released!
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Stay connected with us @cityroadpod
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Airbnb's growing impact in the Global South
Australian Murray Cox is best known for creating Inside Airbnb, a data-driven advocacy project about Airbnb's impact on residential communities. On a recent trip to the University of Sydney - his alma mater - Murray talks to City Road host Bill Code about activism and tech, and his recent work exploring Airbnb's impact on the global south with Brazilian researcher Aline Cruvinel, and how the recent World Cup is impacting housing.
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People Power in Cities
In this episode of City Reads, host Jacqueline Tyrrell chats with Amanda Tattersall and Kurt Iveson about their recently published book 'People Power in Cities', which identifies and examines five 'people power' strategies considered through the lens of individual case studies from around the world - from Austin Texas, to Hong Kong, Sydney, Cape Town and Barcelona. Amanda and Kurt chat to us about 'playing by the rules', 'mobilising', 'organising', 'prefiguring', and 'running for office' in the context of these case studies, and the broader 'people power ecology' they sit within.
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Why the housing crisis could be slowing the energy transition
A group of Australian researchers have recently put out a paper detailing how soaring housing costs are taking a toll on solar uptake and effectively slowing our push to net zero. There are also growing concerns that the huge uptake in household batteries - incentivised by government - is deepening inequities in the housing and energy markets. What’s the solution? Well, did someone say nationalising our rooftops? Dr Song Shi from University Technology Sydney joins host Bill Code on City Road.
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Live event: Regenerating Country with First Nations practitioners
In this engaging live recording, we hear from experts Jess Herder, Thirriwirri; Peter Cooley, IndigiGrow; Koolyn Gordon, Bridge Housing; and Daryl Wells, Muru Mittigar. The panel discuss collaborative design outcomes in social and affordable housing projects; the fragility of the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub along our coastline and the importance of planting native plants which use less water and contribute to ecological wellbeing and regeneration; and the need to integrate meaningful consultation with First Nations people and groups in planning and design processes, drawing on First Nations expertise and knowledge.
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Festival of "Regenerative" Urbanism Review 2025
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From rethinking our relationship with nature to exploring new approaches to housing, infrastructure, and public space, the 2025 Festival of “Regenerative” Urbanism brought together a diverse range of voices, ideas, and conversations across Sydney and Australia.
Go deeper into the themes, debates, and insights that shaped this year’s Festival, or catch up on sessions you may have missed, through the annual Festival of Urbanism Review 2025, edited by our Postdoctoral Scholar, Dr Greta Werner.
The Review can be accessed here.
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Media Commentary:
The Henry Halloran Urban & Regional Research Initiative promotes evidence-informed contributions to public debate, through our publications, events, and media commentary.
Recent highlights include:
Yahoo News Australia (Licensed by Copyright Agency) • July 03, 2026
Can tighter rules on short-stay rentals help the long-term market?
There is a crisis of rental housing across Australia. Areas in major cities and regional Australia alike are facing extremely low rental stock and record high rents . Many cities around the globe have cracked down on platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz to try and deal with the ov...
(Written by Professor Nicole Gurran. Originally published in The Conversation.)
ArchitectureAU (Licensed by Copyright Agency) • June 30, 2026
The car didn’t ruin San Francisco – why can’t we say the same?
It may not be perfect. But we could learn from it. As University of Sydney planning Professor Nicole Gurran notes repeatedly, we don’t have a shortage of homes in Australia; in fact, “We’ve got more homes now per adult than we’ve ever had … the problem that we have is that the homes we’ve got aren’t equally available to the people who need them.” This means that our blanket, developer-led rezonings stand to destroy what is lovable in our cities...
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Watch on Demand - Catch up with our past events
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From Inside Airbnb to Housing Justice: The Role of Civic Urban Technology
Speakers: Murray Cox, Aline Cruvinel, Dr Danielle Hynes, Jack Moon
Chaired by: Claire Daniel
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Martin Payne PIR Public Lecture: Implementing wellbeing outcomes in the NSW planning system
Speakers: Lucy Band, Sue Weatherley MPIA (Fellow), Susan Thompson MPIA (Fellow), Georgina Blix, Russell Peake
Chaired by: Greta Werner
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The Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative is a cross-disciplinary research centre focused on the profound challenges facing cities and regions in the 21st Century. Through our grants, projects and public events we foster research, education and dialogue across the many disciplines, professions and communities vital to creating better urban and regional futures.
We acknowledge the tradition of custodianship and law of the Country on which the University of Sydney campuses stand. We pay our respects to those who have cared and continue to care for Country.
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