Foreground - Cities, places and the people who make them

The multi-functional role of street trees as living city infrastructure is growing in importance. How can they benefit from smart technologies?

Smart streets, smart phones, smart watches… why not smart trees?

Augmented reality and artificial intelligence, smart sensors and real-time monitoring are helping to relieve pressures on overburdened city infrastructure. Urban trees are increasingly important multi-functional assets. Why aren’t they benefiting more from the same technologies?

By Foreground — April 18, 2019

Trees play a key role in the religious and cultural observances of peoples around the world. The tree is central to Easter as well as Christmas. Photo: Joshua Earle

Into the woods: an Easter meditation on trees

By Robert DiNapoli — April 15, 2019

The roads of many European, as well as Asian cities such as Bangok, are vibrant city spaces with diverse transport modes.

It’s time to move beyond the false binary of roads vs public transport

By Ian Woodcock — April 12, 2019

Craig Reucassel (L) and SueAnne Ware discuss the Toxic City.

The Foreground five: our most-read stories for March

By Foreground — April 18, 2019

Long Island garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, features planted indigenous vegetation of the Lower Yarra River. Photo: Molonglo

It’s okay to garden if you listen to the landscape

By Foreground — April 5, 2019

2019 is the international year of indigenous languages. A favourite story this month suggests we learn the original names of Australian trees.

Foreground reads: our pick from around the web in March

By Foreground — April 4, 2019

Congestion-busting infrastructure plays catch-up on long-neglected needs

By Phillip O'Neill — April 3, 2019

Traffic jams and congestion are a well-known outcome of poor political decisions to focus on transport mobility over urban accessibility.

It’s the (political) economy, stupid: when it comes to urban transport, we’re doing it wrong

By David A King, David Levinson — March 29, 2019

The Toxic City panel, Melbourne Design Week 2019 - from left: Andrew Mackenzie, Ross HArding, Bonnie Herring, Joost Bakker, Craig Reucassel, SueAnne Ware, Daan Roosegarde

“Let’s make it boring”: How can resilient cities become the rule, not the exception?

By Foreground — March 21, 2019

The Foreground five: our most-read stories so far in 2019

By Foreground — March 14, 2019

Venus and the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Photo: NASA

Venus and the Pleiades: A reflection on women in landscape architecture

By Hilary Hamnett — March 8, 2019

Joost with one of many experiments and collaborators. Testing non-toxic straw bale insulation with the CSIRO. Photo: courtesy of Joost Bakker

Fertile ground for change: Joost Bakker tackles the toxic city

By Foreground — March 7, 2019

The 'upside-down' Yarra River / Birrarung flows through a city of 5 million people. New efforts aim to clean up its reputation along with its water.

Detoxing the river: toward a swimmable Yarra

By Sally McPhee — March 1, 2019

Visible emissions are just one part of the rapid increase in toxic global air pollution. Photo: Veeterzy

Air pollution: the single greatest health risk of our century

By Catherine McGauran — February 26, 2019

Dark skies are vital to our wellbeing but they are increasingly rare. Photo: of Duane Hamacher, Wild Researchers UNSW by Tamara Dean

Killing us softly: the perils of light pollution

By Lucy Salt — February 21, 2019