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Dan HIll

@cityofsound.bsky.social

3.3K followers 1.1K following 660 posts

Designer, urbanist &c. Director, Melbourne School of Design and Professor, University of Melbourne + Visiting Prof of Practice, UCL IIPP. Prev.: Vinnova (Swedish Gov innovation agency), Arup, Future Cities Catapult, SITRA (Finnish Innovation Fund), BBC

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · Apr 10

"Australian Reduction Roadmap suggests that, taking housing as an example, we need a 98% drop of emissions per square metre... within a handful of years" medium.com/dark-matter-...

An Australian Reduction Roadmap

The Australian Reduction Roadmap suggests we need a 98% reduction in emissions per sqm of new-build Australian housing

medium.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 2d

“In Melbourne, where there are a lot of buildings that are sitting quite empty, we still haven’t really got that sort of traction yet,” Bakker says.” www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The dream of turning empty office blocks into apartments appears over. What went wrong?

Strict planning rules and soaring refit costs are deterring landlords and developers, amid calls for government intervention to alleviate housing crunch

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Dan HIll

T&E @transportenvironment.org · 5d

NEW: Biofuels globally emit more than the fossil fuels they replace, our latest study shows.

The first-of-a-kind study looks at global biofuels production today and the potential impacts of government biofuel targets.
🧵⤵️

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 2d

“Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport… in cities that have made them mainstream, the idea of going back to car-clogged streets is considered ridiculous.” (Occasionally, like a stopped clock, they chance across a solid opinion. Didn’t even mention materials)
economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

economist.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 2d

Ha ha exactly. Did an event with the great Richard Denniss of Aus Institute on Friday and he was bracingly clear about all this.

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 2d

"the private sector can do the heavy lifting when it comes to homebuilding." (How's that going then?) www.economist.com/finance-and-...

America’s Democrats should embrace “abundance liberalism”

Two new books contain much to commend them

www.economist.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

“Take it from me, a wearable maximalist: I am exhausted, running out of body parts, and feeling more cyborg than human with each passing day.” www.theverge.com/column/79793...

We’re all about to be in wearable hell

I’m rapidly running out of body parts to do my job.

www.theverge.com

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

"Why mud walls, salvaged brick, and digital craft may define innovation more than glass towers and smart cities" criticalplayground.org/architecture...

Architectures of the Low-Tech Future | Critical Playground

Why mud walls, salvaged brick, and digital craft may define innovation more than glass towers and smart cities

criticalplayground.org

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

"Architect Duncan Baker-Brown answers your questions on adaptive re-use" (very good ... including interesting insight on the impact of replacing cork in wine bottles with plastics, a decision increasingly being reversed, increasingly. Also, nice tiles.) youtu.be/3u5uZRuT1H4?...

Architect Duncan Baker-Brown answers your questions on adaptive re-use

YouTube video by The Modern House & Inigo

youtu.be

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

“Aral Sea is a place where all the most urgent concerns of today come together. Soil, water, energy, food, textiles and air quality – it can be seen as the live laboratory of the future and can help us rethink what's possible for many generations to come” (V interesting) www.aralschool.uz

Aral School — Interdisciplinary Program for Ecocultural Regeneration

Aral School is an international, interdisciplinary postgraduate program supported by the Uzbekistan Art & Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), launching in 2026. Fully funded: tuition, accommodation...

www.aralschool.uz

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

Fantastic day at Balam Balam Place in Melbourne, for Robin Boyd Foundation event ‘Living in Australia’. Great series of talks and discussions, expertly curated by @roryhyde.bsky.social of Melbourne School of Design, ending with great keynote by Elizabeth Timme of @officeofoffice.bsky.social

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 3d

Incomplete City 2025 at Melbourne School of Design

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

“Where is all the housing for older people?” (Good article, useful references) on.ft.com/42soLeq

Where is all the housing for older people?

Brits are living longer — but building suitable homes for them isn’t keeping pace. Its an urgent moment for new attitudes and broader horizons

on.ft.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

(I presented car-free cities and Monderman-style shared space to Dubai’s all-powerful Roads & Transport Authority 12 years ago and got utterly mystified looks, as if they were staring at videos of Mars rather than the Netherlands. Interesting to see how this goes …)

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 10d

Café and cycle culture is moving up the emirate’s cityscape agenda. But it’s a tall order: on.ft.com/431uFmK

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Reposted by Dan HIll

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose @iipp-ucl.bsky.social · 10d

🎤 Directing Economic Growth: A Common Good Approach

On October 6, IIPP Director @mazzucatom.bsky.social will deliver @christianaiduk.bsky.social’s Annual Lecture, exploring how a new economics of the common good can aid governments in addressing global issues.

🔗 Learn more here: buff.ly/Smnx1YI

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Reposted by Dan HIll

SW20ed #Edinburgh @sw20.info · 11d

The same in #Edinburgh. It invested in its public realm to increase walking and cycling and Mastercard reported a 20% increase in local spend.

Many other benefits were also evidenced in the multi year study - despite predictions of disaster, the scheme was anything but.

🚌 🚶‍♀️ 🚲 95% of people interview travelled by sustainable means

⬆️🚶‍♀️pedestrian satisfaction up

⬆️🚲Local residents cycling more to work 8% to 12% to 15% over three years

⬆️📈residents support increased from 49% to 68%, opposition drops from 11% to 9%

⬆️🅿️satisfaction with local parking is up

⬆️🛍️Traders support for scheme increases from 12% to 60%

⬇️ 🛒vacant shops down - it’s up in similar areas in Edinburgh

⬆️💳Mastercard data shows local spending in scheme area up 20% (wow!)

⬇️🚗traffic levels down 27% since 2018

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Reposted by Dan HIll

Johannes Klingebiel @klingebeil.bsky.social · 10d

From the top of my head (though not research in an academic context) newdesigncongress.org/en/pub/our-a...

Our Artificial Wilderness: Virtual Beauty & Ecological Decay

newdesigncongress.org

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Reposted by Dan HIll

Mark Hurrell @markhurrell.bsky.social · 10d

maybe this sort of thing
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The educational value of virtual ecologies in Red Dead Redemption 2

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

“Together, the findings are a “pretty strong collection of evidence” that socioeconomic costs from disastrous wildfires are increasing, and that climate is a big part of the equation, Dr. Harvey said.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/c...

Costly and Deadly Wildfires Really Are on the Rise, New Research Finds

www.nytimes.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

Wikihouse x First Call youtube.com/watch?v=kFeX...

WikiHouse x First Call

YouTube video by WikiHouse

youtube.com

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

"China’s new-build solar additions in the last six months are more than the US has installed in total ... two times Germany’s installed capacity... more than twice the new capacity installed by the entire rest of the world this year" (Astonishing) adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

Chartbook 409 Beyond the "Marshall Plan": China's solar boom as world-changing industrial policy.

In the first six months of 2025 China installed more than 250GW of solar power capacity.

adamtooze.substack.com

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

From the link above: “Now, the vast majority of blockbuster open-world video games are filled with myriad ecological biomes and teeming masses of flora. Like landscape painters before them, game makers have become obsessed with representing the complex, interlocking forms of organic life itself”

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

Found this featuring interviews with the game’s art directors, which is interesting. atmos.earth/art-and-cult... What impact might this have on millions of largely young(ish) people playing it? Reinforcing immersion in ‘perfect’ virtual worlds or reconnecting with embodied natural worlds?

This Year’s Most Anticipated Video Game Is an Homage—and Elegy—to Nature | Atmos

Nature in Ghost of Yōtei is more than a backdrop. This rugged and beautiful scenery is a character with its own powerful story.

atmos.earth

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

Strong presence of Ainu indigenous peoples is also interesting

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 10d

Watching my son play ‘Ghosts of Yōtei’, set in Hokkaido (then Ezo) in 1603, and its startlingly beautiful depicted landscape, largely untainted by modern industry and ‘development’, am wondering who’s doing research on video games & shifted perceptions of nature? Renewed kinship or merely nostalgia?

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 13d

Was in Shanghai last week, amazing as ever. Here, a typical street scene: man taking his robot for a walk, stopped by the cops, discussion, influencers gather. Nothing to see here. The city rolls on.