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In recent years the Asia-Pacific Region has witnessed a spate of revitalisation projects as part of a general trend in addressing blight and decay of inner city urban areas. Urban design has been globally recognised as one of the key instruments of physical transformation employed to enhance urban quality and achieve sustainable urban environments. In this article we explore the role of urban design in the revitalisation process. In order to capture a wider urban context, revitalization at a city wide level in Singapore, district level in Brisbane, Queensland Australia and neighbourhood level on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia is examined . The three case studies differ from each other in terms of city size, global context, local economy, urban policy and in the case of Singapore social profile and culture. The study revealed that urban design, not only has role in the revitalization process, but underpins the economic and social regeneration of blighted urban areas in all three cities.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the responses from the urban planning and design professions in Brisbane to the impacts of climate change and the implications of the 2011 flood. In the past decade, the ramifications of climate change have already left a scar on some of the urban regions round the world. The Australian continent has been regarded as one of the most affected regions in terms of climate change implications. The 2011 Queensland floods of historic proportion, which came after a decade of extreme drought, raised many questions about the future development of cities. For the past decades, Queensland’s economy was largely based on property-led development. The flood plain land situated along Brisbane River has been developed and overburdened with building infrastructure contributing to the magnification of the flood events. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology is based on identification of the problem and the major objective. To address the objective, this study concentrated mainly on the use of qualitative research methods. The major qualitative research methods include literature review, qualitative analysis and observations. Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, has been selected as the case study area. Findings: The paper revealed strong regional and city-wide planning directives addressing climate change which has not yet been fully been translated at the local-neighbourhood level. Originality/value: This paper provides a deep insight analysis and evaluation of the design and planning measures currently used to combat the impacts of climate change.