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Built environment and design

Built environment and design

Built environment and urban design to preserve culture and heritage, and create cities with good cultural, health and environmental outcomes.

Built environment and urban design to preserve culture and heritage, and create cities with good cultural, health and environmental outcomes

City policies typically focus on managing urban systems and functions, like transport networks and housing markets, or pursue outcomes, measured in social, environmental or economic terms. Cities also have a cultural dimension that is harder to quantify and integrate into policy frameworks and governance arrangements. Ultimately, cities exist as physical places that are imbued with layers of meaning, only some of which are addressed in the traditional domains of urban policy.

This Brief on ‘Built Environment Design’ aims to identify the ways the physical built environment and its cultural meanings are addressed in urban policy, and to consider the role of design and design governance in Australian cities. International approaches and perspectives are also considered.