| Good design depends on good information – not only about the physical, social and political context of a specific location, but also about regional trends in issues such as demography, market preferences and travel patterns; about what’s worked and what hasn’t in similar situations; and about best practices and new directions from around the world. We also need better information about how people interact with their environment and how design influences the comfort, safety and delight of our everyday lives.
Our research focus is on answering questions of immediate relevance to urban design practice, and we welcome the assistance of government agencies, the development industry and the professional design community in identifying priority issues for detailed study. |
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Key issues of current concern include, for example, water shortages and the design implications of drought-tolerant approaches to the landscape of streets and public open spaces; sustainability and transit oriented development approaches; eco-tourism and its impact on environmentally fragile areas; or housing design and neighbourhood facilities that promote successful 'ageing in place'.
To build the knowledge base for effective design, the UDC assembles research teams from the experienced academic staff and graduate students of Curtin University of Technology and The University of Western Australia, and collaborates with the research staff of other centres and institutes such as the Planning and Transportation Research Centre (PATREC), the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), the Alcoa Centre for Stronger Communities and the Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy at Murdoch University. |
