urban design
Events
What does a city made with care actually look like?
At Living Cities Forum 2026, Finn Williams, Ludwig Engel and Anupama Kundoo approached the future of cities through governance, adaptive reuse and material practice.
Project
A civic gateway for Pakenham
Genton’s Pakenham Station transforms a utilitarian transport interchange into an open civic landmark, reconnecting the town through landscape, public space and infrastructure designed around Country.
Project
A new mixed-use precinct for West London
TURNER’s first major UK project brings together more than 400 apartments, retail and communal spaces in a Brentford precinct shaped by view corridors and infrastructure.
Project
Reconnecting retail with the city
Suzhou MixC World draws on the city’s historic streets and gardens to create a retail precinct that feels less like a shopping centre and more like an extension of the public realm.
Events
The winners of the 2026 NSW Architecture Awards
From landmark transport infrastructure and adaptive reuse to inventive housing and regional projects, the 2026 NSW Architecture Awards recognised the breadth of architecture shaping the state.
Project
Indi Footscray reimagines build-to-rent as urban repair
SJB transforms former railway land into a 702-home build-to-rent community, using housing, public space and shared amenities to reconnect one of Melbourne’s busiest transport precincts.
Project
Newcastle Quay rethinks the harbour edge
Led by SJB, Newcastle Quay is imagined as a mixed-use waterfront precinct where housing, hospitality, public space and heritage work together to reconnect Newcastle with its harbour.
Events
Sydney Open gears up for some Home Truths
What does home mean to us and how does it shape the way we live? These questions and more will be the focus for the second Sydney Open Symposium on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th May, 2026.
Project
Student housing moves into the city
With projects such as Scape Kensington by Plus Studio, student accommodation in Sydney is shifting from isolated housing towards integrated urban infrastructure.
Workplace
With an eye on the future, Tzannes brings Benjamin Donohoo into top team
Sydney-based architecture and design practice Tzannes has appointed Benjamin Donohoo as an associate director, expanding the studio’s core leadership group.
Project
A vertical hospital shaped by Country and community
At Peninsula University Hospital, a people-centric design approach brings together healthcare, culture and landscape — redefining the experience of care on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Events
Designing density with character in our inner suburbs
Kerstin Thompson of KTA and Neometro Director Lochlan Sinclair discuss density, character and the inner city during a recent gathering in St Kilda East.
Project
Sky Garden at Kai Tak: An archipelago in the air
New Office Works transforms a former airport precinct into a floating garden at The Cullinan, layering social and serene landscapes across two elevated levels overlooking Victoria Harbour.
Project
Re-imagining Bangkok’s urban landscape
A standout pavilion from this year’s Bangkok Design Week explores shade and light for people and place.
Project
Urban verticality in India
Completed in November 2025, Hafeez Contractor’s 91 storey Minerva Tower sits within a 6.5 acre redevelopment that prioritised rehabilitation first.
Project
Setting the blueprint for Bradfield City’s first precinct
The master plan and reference design for Bradfield City’s First Land Release has been unveiled, positioning the precinct as a sustainable, mixed-use gateway shaped by Country, community and long-term urban ambition.
Ideas
Five years on: What The Pacifica taught us about vertical living
Designed by Plus Studio for Hengyi, The Pacifica reveals how climate-aware design, shared amenity and ground-plane thinking can reshape vertical living in Auckland.
Ideas
Architecture, democracy and feeling at home in our cities
The built environment is all around us; would the average citizen feel less alienated if the education system engaged more explicitly with it?
Project
RADS mediates street and lobby at Reno’s Bistro
Designed by RADS, the space redefines the lobby not as a point of passage, but as a destination in itself: a lobby bar, a café, and a small urban hinge-point that shapes and enhances the daily rituals of those who move through it.
People
Simple Living Passage completes HAS design and research’s Simple World series in Hefei
The Simple Living Passage marks the final project in the Simple World series by Jenchieh Hung + Kulthida Songkittipakdee of HAS design and research, transforming a retail walkway in Hefei into a reflective public space shaped by timber and movement.
Project
Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel marks major transport expansion
A collaboration between Hassell, Weston Williamson + Partners (WW+P Architects) and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) sees the opening of five new underground stations.
Ideas
HDR predicts seven megatrends to shape Australian architecture and design in 2026
In the New Year, architecture will be defined by its ability to orchestrate relationships between inside and outside, public and private, humans and ecology, and data and intuition.
News
Connecting people and place
A research exhibition reimagines St Kilda’s civic spaces through soft infrastructures that enhance wellbeing and urban experience.
Project
Jumaadi transforms a Barangaroo thoroughfare into a site of wonder
Unveiled at Barangaroo South, Indonesian–Australian artist Jumaadi’s first permanent public artwork layers sculpture, sound and shadow to reimagine how art is encountered in the city.
Ideas
NSW Government releases nine new architect-designed mid-rise housing patterns
The Minns Labor Government has unveiled nine new architect-designed mid-rise apartment patterns, expanding the NSW Housing Pattern Book and accelerating the delivery of accessible, high-quality housing across the state.
News
Parliamentary Friends for Australian Urban Design reconvenes for the 48th Australian Parliament
The Parliamentary Friends reconvened at Parliament House, uniting political and professional leaders to champion architecture and design.
Project
Inside Surry Hills Village
Seven years in the making, the new Surry Hills Village is here with doors open and crowds gathering.
Ideas
Reimagining urban life through nature
In Naturalizing Architecture, Takada moves beyond biomimicry to propose a regenerative vision for the urban environment.
Project
Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1 wins Australian Good Design Award Gold
Australia’s first planted light rail corridor sets new benchmark for transport-led urban transformation.
Project
“I don’t think we ever imagined it would be as successful as it is”: Ivan Harbour returns to Barangaroo
The Senior Design Director at RSHP reflects on Barangaroo South Masterplan during a visit to Sydney marking ten years since the completion of the first phase.
Project
Brunswick Yard: Carr’s largest residential project
Carr’s largest residential project to date integrates concrete, steel mesh and landscape across 122 apartments in Melbourne’s Brunswick.
Project
Marella by Mosaic elevates coastal living on the Gold Coast
Completed in 2025, Marella by Mosaic is a 30-storey residential tower in Broadbeach designed by Plus Studio. The project brings sculptural form, ocean views and hotel-style amenities together in a refined expression of coastal living.
News
Plus Studio and ICD Property unveil plans for major West End riverside precinct
Plus Studio and ICD Property have submitted a proposal for a development on Brisbane’s Donkin Street, using a 1.68-hectare former industrial site as a new riverside residential and community destination.
Project
Happy New Year, happy new Fish Market
With a date now set for January 2026, Sydney’s landmark project is taking shape as a significant and welcome addition to civic life in the city.
Events
Foster + Partners exhibition is coming to Sydney’s Parkline Place
‘Civic Vision | Foster + Partners’ is the first comprehensive exhibition of the practice’s work to be held in Australia, providing an in-depth look at its global portfolio of work since it was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster.
News
DKO announces new senior promotions across Australia
Continually making its presence felt on the architecture and design scene, DKO has seen a plethora of promotions across its studios in mid-year.
News
The 2025 Victorian Architecture Awards shortlist is here
The extensive and impressive shortlist has been announced for this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards, with the Awards Night Dinner set to take place on Friday 27th June.
News
Jasmax expands into Victoria with Canvas Projects union
Jasmax merges with Melbourne’s Canvas Projects to expand in Australia, following its 2022 Sydney launch and targeting Victoria’s public sector.
News
A river-inspired tribute reshaping Melbourne’s skyline
Seafarers’ intricate façade, designed by FK, is set to leave a lasting legacy on Melbourne’s urban fabric.
Events
Parliament unites to champion urban design excellence in Australia
Designed to drive positive change, promote sustainable practices and cultivate inclusive communities, the recent launch of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Design will champion the role of urban design in shaping the nation’s identity.
Ideas
Six things we learned in London
To start the new year, our editor was on the ground in the UK to meet some of London’s leading architects. What are the relevant insights for Australia and the Asia-Pacific?
Project
Dining in the wilderness with Pig Design
With a material palette limited to stone, exposed aggregate, recycled wood board, metal and paint, there is a poetic simplicity to Pig Design’s realisation of Wild Back that ties it succinctly to nature.
Events
Three essential changes: NSW AIA criticises the state’s Affordable Housing Strategy
The NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, led by president Adam Haddow, voices concerns about the NSW Affordable Housing Strategy, citing a risk of abuse for financial gain. The Institute advocates for permanent affordable housing, management by registered non-profits and a restriction on development approval times to deter land banking.
Events
Sustainable, livable and naturally urban: Sydney’s future at the VIVID Collectivity Talks
While Sydney’s VIVID celebration is typically associated with stunning visuals and light shows, it is also a place to ponder the futures of the harbour city.
News
“The missing middle”: Contemporary terraces and the future of urban density
SJB is well versed in designing residential architecture and, while Ashbury Terraces might be a relatively small project in relation to Sydney as a whole, it provokes some fundamental questions about the future of Australian cities.
Project
CapitaSpring is vertical urbanism done right
Designed by Bjark-Ingels Group in collaboration with Carlo Ratti Associati, CapitaSpring is a perfect case study for a biophilic skyscraper in the city.
Project
Working where the grass is greener: Turner Studio’s Norwest Business Park
This Sydney business park by Turner Studio has its own amenity-rich mixed-use precinct – a slice of CBD life in the ‘burbs.
Project
<strong>City Gather Park: Where art, nature and people come together</strong>
In the City Gather Park in Changsha, China, Chengdu-based Dean Design merges natural ecology and urban life with installations to create a memorable and poetic respite in the heart of the city.
Ideas
Wellness-driven cities can be an antidote to loneliness
What makes a healthy town centre in 2022? HDR director, Alex Wessling, comments on how important it is for architects to place wellness at the very centre of neighbourhood and town centre design.
People
Hassell’s Richard Mullane on the future of urban design
Taking up the reigns of Managing Principal for Hassell’s Melbourne Studio, Richard Mullane says: “We plan to build a more inclusive, sustainable future for communities – and create a more socially and ecologically resilient world.”
Ideas
How can privately owned public space transform our cities?
From 1960s New York when private developers were incentivised to create civic space in the public realm, to today: where POPS tread a fine line between the private and the public. Denton Corker Marshall looks at how we can bridge the two.
Project
This ribbon-like infrastructure is more than just a pedestrian bridge
Integrating connectivity, biodiversity, culture and ecology, this pedestrian bridge by the Melbourne-Shanghai-based firm, BAU, is a hybrid public destination for leisure and relaxation.
Ideas
Making placemaking endemic in our post-pandemic city
As cities emerged from the pandemic with plans to become more resilient, it is an opportunity to engage people in better placemaking. Regular columnist Justin Zhuang shares his perspective.
Articles
King and Mirvac tours us through the Voyager tower
Together King and Mirvac have crafted a vision of tranquillity and elegance for Voyager’s display apartment. It’s a showcase that reveals how future Voyager residents will live.
People
Adib Jalal on defining relationships with place
Urbanist Adib Jalal explores our evolving relationships with the built environment and places connection at the heart of meaningful design.
Ideas
How Adelaide became Australia’s most liveable city
Hames Sharley MD, Cailin Howard, and DWP’s Adelaide-based CEO, Michael Hegarty, how Adelaide’s planning has paid off in the 2021 Global Liveability Index.
Project
SJB reveals the latest development in its masterplan
A new urban design and planning project coming to the NSW Central Coast, courtesy of SJB, will add a new notch to the leading architects’ belt.
Project
Is open air architecture the future of social interstices?
From the streets of New York to the laneways of Melbourne, Stephen Crafti looks at how architects are reinventing the public realm to support collaboration and connectivity.
News
Strong connections win the favour of AIA’s Victorian chapter
With the Victorian Architecture Awards 2021 shortlist revealed, connection to the bigger picture will be what ultimately distinguishes the winners from the rest.
People
Serie Architects on creating architecture that’s sensitive to urban and cultural context
Serie Architects’ founding principal Christopher Lee has single-mindedly designed with utmost consideration of the city and the cultural and societal norms that come along with it. The resulting works are thoughtful contributions to the cities they inhabit.
Project
SJB, DBJ and TZG teach us a lesson in design excellence
Radical collaboration between three of Australia’s leading architecture studios and local council has realised Newcastle as an exemplar of design excellence objectives at work.
Project
Y-Loft City by Superimpose counters design convention
Three Bauhaus shaped multi-residences have brought a hinterland region in China rapidly up to speed with modern urbanity and the lifestyles of the Y generation.
Project
A new benchmark for sustainable development has been set
What began with a developer’s desire to create Australia’s first medium-density 8-star townhouse development at scale alongside Northcote’s Merri Creek has grown into an unusually holistic exemplar of sustainable living.
Ideas
Are Australian cities changing for good?
With over 20-years’ experience in urban design and architecture in epicentres across the globe, namely London, Brussels, Singapore and Sydney, it’s fair to say that Michele McSharry, senior associate for Architectus, knows a thing or two about cities. In this exclusive editorial, McSharry shares her insight into how – and why – our cities might never be the same again.
Ideas
The Race To Net-Zero Carbon Urban Design
The dream of a net-zero carbon city is a lofty one, but with proper urban design processes, energy management and advanced technology, this is within our grasp.
Ideas
<em>INDESIGN</em> #79 out now! The ‘City Futures’ issue
Featuring a huge range of perspectives, opinions, projects and people, the ‘City Futures’ edition of the magazine unpacks the most pressing and timely conversations for the future of our cities.
News
<em>Civilization: The Way We Live Now</em> captures urban life and the human condition
Now open at NGV Australia, Civilization: The Way We Live Now is a photographic exploration of the globalised world – including people, movement and of course buildings.
People
Meet Natalie Busch – HASSELL’s new principal
The newly appointed principal at HASSELL believes that designers have a social responsibility to create sustainable, healthy places for the next generation.
Project
UNStudio Designs Karle Town Centre Master Plan For Bangalore
A progressive tech campus for the Silicon Valley of India is under construction in Bangalore to a master plan design by UNStudio.
People
Ronan Bouroullec on urban daydreaming in Asia
“I think we can always agree on that we miss nature,” shared Ronan Bouroullec about the Urban Daydreaming exhibition at HKDI Gallery, Studio Bouroullec’s first foray into the realm of urban design. We asked him to share more.