NEW Resource | Growth Areas Liveability Scorecards

21 November 2024

Growth Areas Liveability Scorecards were developed in partnership between the National Growth Areas Alliance and the Australian Urban Observatory. The main aim […]

EVENT | Launch of Australian Urban Observatory Liveability Map 2.0 and update on National Urban Policy

29 August 2024

The Australian Urban Observatory at RMIT University is delighted to invite you to the online launch of the new and improved AUO Map 2.0 on […]

Enhancing the AUO Map: Sneak Peek

27 August 2024

View a sneak peek of the enhancements and new features that are coming to the Australian Urban Observatory Map.

New Specialist Housing Indicators

7 June 2023

Meet our Newest Indicators! With support from the Victorian Higher Education Investment Funding the Australian Urban Observatory (AUO) is excited […]

AUO + GTAV Educational Resources

21 March 2023

In conjunction with the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria we have developed some excellent new education resources to support understanding […]

New Demographic Indicators

20 March 2023

We are excited to share our new Demographic Indicators to enable better understanding of equity of access to liveable places […]

Australian Urban Observatory features in ‘Magda’s Big National Health Check’

16 March 2023

National Treasure Magda Szubanski has taken a deep dive into chronic disease in Australia and what we can do to […]

New AUO Video Tutorial

11 October 2022

We’ve created a new video tutorial to help you understand the AUO, its maps, score card and functionality. Check it […]

PIA Planning News – Measuring Local Liveability

5 October 2022

Our Director, Associate Professor Melanie Davern and Research Impact and Partnerships Manager Katherine Riggall Murray recently penned an article for the Planning Institute of Australia‘s […]

AUO Team to create a Transport Health Assessment Tool for Brisbane

27 September 2022

We are excited to share that our RMIT Centre for Urban Research team members Dr Lucy Gunn, Dr Alan Both, […]

RMIT Centre for Urban Research researchers ask – Will 7-star housing really cost more?

13 September 2022

Our RMIT Centre for Urban Research colleagues Nicola Willand and Trivess Moore respond to this important question in this weeks Conversation. The required energy-efficiency rating of […]

New Social Infrastructure Indicators for Health, Culture, Education, and Community & Sport now available

25 August 2022

We’ve recently released 4 new disaggregated Social Infrastructure indicators: • Health Infrastructure• Cultural Infrastructure• Education Infrastructure• Community & Sport Infrastructure […]

New AUO Functionality – Decile Maps, Double Mapping Tool and Data Downloads now available

24 August 2022

We are delighted to share some of the new functionality now available through the RMIT Australian Urban Observatory. New Decile […]

See the RMIT AUO in Action! Download our updated AUO Knowledge Sharing resource.

23 August 2022

We’ve just updated our AUO Knowledge Sharing resource with links to recent reports, policies and tools including: • Cardinia Shire’s […]

Want to understand how your community is tracking to become a 20 Minute Neighbourhood?

23 August 2022

In conjunction with the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and City of Port Phillip, the Australian Urban Observatory has developed […]

RMIT AUO insights and indicator data used throughout State of the Environment 2021 Urban Report

20 July 2022

The Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water ‘State of the Environment 2021’ report paints a […]

Final Bangkok Liveability Project report released

12 July 2022

We are delighted to share that the final report for our Bangkok Liveability Project – Measuring, monitoring and translating urban […]

Australia’s doctor deserts: see how your suburb compares in access to healthcare

27 June 2022

The average distance to the nearest doctor is more than 9km in some metropolitan areas, according to new data from […]

Using citizen science to bring people back into planning walkable and healthy places

26 May 2022

Public participation in planning and urban design has a long history that can be traced back over the past century to seminal […]

National Research Excellence Award Winners from the Planning Institute of Australia

26 May 2022

The Australian Urban Observatory and our Director Associate Professor Melanie Davern are so pleased to be part of the research […]

Excellence in Planning Research Award Winners from the Planning Institute of Australia

6 April 2022

We are proud to announce that the Australia Urban Observatory’s Director, Associate Professor Melanie Davern, was a part of the […]

New courses on making cities healthier, more attractive and sustainable

6 April 2022

A suite of new free online courses is set to equip urban professionals with the skills needed to tackle the […]

Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How Feasible Is It to Reach Work within 30 Minutes Using Active Transport Modes?

6 April 2022

Both, A.; Gunn, L.; Higgs, C.; Davern, M.; Jafari, A.; Boulange, C.; Giles-Corti, B. Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How […]

Communities for Walkability

22 February 2022

Want to understand how we can better support walkability, physical activity and community health in rural and regional Australia? Communities […]

THAT-Melbourne wins PIA Victoria Award for Excellence in Planning Research

15 December 2021

Two projects out of the Centre for Urban Research were recognised at last week’s 2021 PIA Victoria Awards for Planning […]

Walk or drive? New tool shows the health effects of your travel choices

22 April 2021

RMIT researchers and the Victorian Department of Transport launch a new digital tool to measure the health impacts of replacing […]

The Conversation: Mapping COVID-19 spread in Melbourne shows link to job types and ability to stay home

4 August 2020

“One of the most important messages from government during the pandemic has been to work from home if you can. […]

Meet the women helping plan the cities of tomorrow

25 July 2020

RMIT University has launched a new public-facing research website and (of course!) two of our Healthy Liveable Cities Group researchers, […]

13 new indicators released

24 July 2020

These new indicators are designed to support communities as they respond to COVID-19, enabling a more granular analysis of community access to Public Open […]

UN-Habitat + WHO Health and Urban Planning Sourcebook

23 July 2020

UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) and the World Health Organization has released a new sourcebook ‘Integrating health in urban […]

Australian and UK Urban Experts Partner to Build Better Cities

23 July 2020

Researchers from RMIT University’s Healthy Liveable Cities Group and Cambridge University have been awarded over $800,000 in funding for a […]

Upcoming Active Transport Webinar

23 July 2020

Join RMIT University and the Urban Futures Capability Platform for two fantastic Active Transport webinars on Wednesday 3rd June. The […]

What can Melburnians learn about their suburb thanks to coronavirus?

23 July 2020

The Australian Urban Observatory was featured in a recent article in The Age. What can Melburnians learn about their suburb […]