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The AHURI Final Report No. 430 delves into the complex relationship between First Nations peoples in Australia and urban policy, highlighting the challenges faced by Traditional Custodians in engaging with decision-making processes that impact their Country. The report stresses the importance of building genuine, long-term relationships with Traditional Custodians, centering their perspectives and knowledge in urban policy discussions. It also discusses the need for non-Indigenous practitioners to unlearn colonial practices, prioritize power-sharing, and engage in meaningful partnerships with First Nations communities to address historical injustices and systemic barriers. The text underscores the significance of initiatives like the Uluru Statement from the Heart in advocating for substantive change and self-determination for First Nations peoples in the realm of urban policy. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines how state territorial development strategies, financial and regulatory practices and architectural and engineering expertise shape 'volumetric' urban space. In doing so, it frames the built environment as being an envelope through which state accumulation strategies are materialized through both the technical manipulation of territory and the metrics that accompany it. It focuses on a key site of post-Independence Singaporean urbanism, the Marina Bay area, to examine how dimensional urban development has been combined with governance practices to produce and extract new territory. The paper illustrates this through three processes: the engineering of land platforms that could be developed to expand the logistical productivity of Singaporean territory; the deployment of 'atmospheric engineering' such as the use of air-conditioning technologies in creating controlled environments that maximize the value of interiorized territory; and the creation of a calculative regime for governing underground space. It describes how Singaporean state agencies have deployed experts in engineering, surveying and architecture, as well as implementing new legislation and regulation in producing these volumetric affordances. It is argued in conclusion that the calculative manipulation of key sites in the built environments of global cities such as Singapore should be accorded more significance within studies of nation-state territorial strategy, and the geopolitics of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the idea of the 'building biography' in order to examine the ontology of large city hotels as they undergo redevelopment. The paper draws on archival research on one of Sydney's most famed hotels, The Australia, exploring how it was periodically repositioned by management and shareholders within the changing time-spaces of Sydney's urban economy between its opening in 1891 and its demolition in 1971. We highlight the importance of American hotel management principles, standards and techniques, and internal debates surrounding maintenance and refurbishment. We consider the importance of 'demolition narratives' and their links to the collective memory of guests, Sydney residents and hotel workers, and stress the importance of local property markets in the construction of the hotel as an anachronism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing awareness among many city councils that their downtowns or central business districts have become bland or devoid of sufficient cultural activity to attract the highly skilled, creative workforce that is seen as a prerequisite for competitive success. This paper examines a recent set of policy initiatives to have emerged from the City of Sydney Council that has explicitly sought to mitigate the negative design outcomes of earlier phases of modernist office development through the promotion of a 'finer grain' urbanism, based around support for small shops and services, civic spaces oriented towards pedestrians and the reinvigoration of intra-block laneways enlivened by small bars and cafes. The noted Danish urban designer Jan Gehl was an important agent in the development of these strategies, along with the success of similar policies in Melbourne, illustrating the significance of globally operative design professionals and inter-city learning. However, these policies have not gone uncontested, and the paper examines the political context that surrounds their implementation in central Sydney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the role that hotels play in the urban economies of central business districts (CBDs). To illustrate this, we explore the biography of the Sydney Hilton, an iconic modernist building which opened in 1975 and was recently totally refurbished and rebranded. We argue that hotels can be understood as civic landmarks, where localised business elites and the local state coalesce to ensure their successful construction, and where commercial activity is understood within an ideology of civic pride. Within this context, however, the design and appearance of hotels is driven by both their use value and exchange value. We trace a biography of the Sydney Hilton through three phases of its operation, considering its place within the backdrop of the reconstitution of Sydney's CBD, and the broader urban economy. We conclude that the refurbishment of the Hilton can thus only be understood by considering wider issues of corporate brand, asset ownership and the requirements of the local state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between cities and hotels, arguing that this urban space sheds light on many of the traits of twentieth-century urbanism. First, it sketches the relationship of hotels to urban space, either as landmarks within cities, as statements of civic selfconfidence in booming central business districts, or as components of urban renewal strategies. Second, it is suggested that the design of hotel space is expressive of consumption choices, whether in terms of a standardized, hard-wearing functionality or an expression of uniqueness, reflecting contemporary trends in consumer marketing, distinction and branding. Third, these spaces are crucial to the notion of the 'circulatory' city. They are representative of a form of dwelling, of a temporary domestic, for various types of traveller, as well as serving as a business space. Fourth, they are reflective of the complex social geographies of city life, and provide a microcosm of the occupational hierarchies of hospitality services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues relating to the governance of urban areas and regions have become of increasing interest to academics and policy analysts. In the global economy, urban and economic development matters are being interpreted within the governance framework. As a consequence of the lack of a formal statutory metropolitan political focus within the UK over the last 30 years, much of this debate has invariably focused on one scale: the city or the local. But the New Labour Government's political and administrative restructuring of the institutions and regions of governance is reconfiguring the city development issue onto another level. In future, it will be possible to view the urban governance issue from the perspective of a much broader framework, involving issues relating to urban policies within institutions operating at the regional level. This article is intended to chart the development of a push towards city-region planning and governance in the UK. It focuses specifically on political and institutional restructuring as a catalyst to a reconceptualization of the urban problem, and assesses four key components that have engendered this sense of strategic policy making over the last few years: central government funding opportunities through partnerships; the emergence of regional planning; the creation of regional development agencies with an urban remit; and opportunities provided by European Union funding mechanisms. The article concludes by outlining possible future directions for city regions and identifies where future research is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]