Australia is one of the world's most urbanised nations, belying our image as a country of hard-living outback heroes and laid back sea-changers. Our future welfare is closely tied to the wellbeing of our cities and even more importantly, our suburbs. In this powerful account of the political, social, economic and environmental trends shaping Australia, Brendan Gleeson argues forcefully for the reinstatement of the city as Australia's 'national heartland'. Australian Heartlands is a provocative examination of the health of our urban communities and their role in national life. It ranges across topics such as gated communities and the new suburban poverty sinkholes, the lost of the public domain, the experience of childhood in contemporary suburbs, environmental degradation and the challenges of migration. If you care about Australia's future, this is a book you must read.

Democracy ‘binds us as one,’ but who’ll blow the whistle on myths and rorts of the lucky country – our fair-go hard-yakka dreamtime multiculture of aspirational lifters and bogan leaners in a hearty-grim hot utopia built on sand, we affable understated competitive Aussie nuts? Not to mention the new totalitarian yellow peril… It’s election time and the silos square off – Superbia heartland high rollers, shadowy media influencers, and coming leftie (female) heroes – in a fight between selfism and mutuality for the soul of the nation.

In The Best Australian Political Writing 2009, Crikey publisher Eric Beecher selects the most incisive and entertaining writing about the notable events and names of the past year. From the Prime Minister's historic apology speech and the global financial crisis to the election of the first black American President, it has been an era-defining twelve months. Leading political commentators chart these momentous times and look at the issues that have divided the country - climate change, leadership contests, the Bill Henson controversy and more.

Where is planning in twenty-first-century Australia? What are the key challenges that confront planning? What does planning scholarship reveal about the state of planning practice in meeting the needs of urban and regional Australians? The Routledge Handbook of Australian Urban and Regional Planning includes 27 chapters that answer these and many other questions that confront planners working in urban and regional areas in twenty-first-century Australia. It provides a single source for cutting edge thinking and research across a broad range of the most important topics in urban and regional planning. Divided into six parts, this handbook explores: contexts of urban and regional planning in Australia critical debates in Australian planning planning policy climate change, disaster risk and environmental management engaging and taking planning action planning education and research This handbook is a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in urban planning, built environment, urban studies and public policy as well as academics and practitioners across Australia and internationally.

In any settler and/or postcolonial society, heritage is a complex and contested topic that involves indigenous, imperial and other migrant components. In Australia, this situation is compounded by the unique characteristics of the country's natural environment, the considerable diversity of its migrant intake and the demographic and technological imbalances between its indigenous and settler populations. This volume brings together internationally recognized academics and emerging scholars, whose expertise extends through the areas of tourism, planning, heritage management, environmental studies and state and local government. Through a representative set of case studies from across the country's states and capital cities, the contributors demonstrate the range and diversity of heritage issues currently confronting Australia, and consider possible ways of resolving these.

This book considers the ability and capacity of the food supply system in Australia to provide food security for the ever-increasing domestic and international population in the face of growing challenges in production, resource supply and failures within the food system itself. Although Australia is a net food exporting country, domestic food insecurity exists and will increase as food prices rise in the coming decades. An overview of the food supply system highlights the main challenges that are determining the future. Many of these challenges can be resolved by the Australian government, but others are in the hands of global governance to which Australia can only adapt. This book sheds light on the challenges and discusses the prospects for developing more sustainable and resilient future food systems in Australia. In addition, it covers food security and sovereignty issues under the heading of “food equity and access,” “food production, policy and trade,” and “impacts of land use planning on agriculture.” The unique features of the book include the following: • Most literature on food security pertains to developing countries. By way of contrast, this book explores food security in a developed nation (Australia) that seemingly should not have food security issues. The topics covered in the book are relevant to other developed nations with growing populations and resource management challenges. • The book chapters are written by specialists to paint a comprehensive picture of the political, social, economic and environmental issues that give rise to food insecurity, and the challenges these issues present to the security of the food system in coming decades. The overall organization of the book uses a theoretically informed and multi-disciplinary approach. This enables a critical and in-depth analysis of food security by outlining the key challenges as well as prospects for the development of more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. • The three principal topics in the book are dealt with by a multi-disciplinary team of authors in a way that teases out diverse points of view illustrating the complexity of food security. Author disciplines include health and nutrition, agriculture, ethics, social science, law, and practitioners managing food aid programs. • The book shows how food security relates to many technical, social and moral issues in society and how it is possible to develop successful programs to improve food security.

Planning Australia provides a comprehensive introduction to the major issues and activities that constitute urban and regional planning in Australia today. Incorporating contemporary theory and practice, it contextualises planning in terms of its theoretical, ideological and professional foundations. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, underpinned by the principles of sustainability and social equity. It canvasses the history of the discipline, its relationship to broader governance structures and its legislative framework. Fully revised and updated, this edition features new chapters on healthy planning and transport planning. Written in an accessible style and richly illustrated with instructive case study examples, Planning Australia is an indispensable resource for students, practitioners and decision-makers, as well as anyone interested in the history and future of planning in Australia.