News

The Royal Commission’s Report into the National Natural Disaster Arrangements was released on 28 October 2020. The 594 page Report offers details on many important issues, and includes 80 recommendations, particularly in relation to bushfire. However, there are a few major omissions.

Four diverse projects that bring together interdisciplinary teams with a wide range of external partners were successful in securing MSSI seed funding in 2020.

The incidence of COVID-19 across Melbourne marks a stark divide, with case numbers much more heavily concentrated in the north and west than in the south or east. What are the factors contributing to this spatial pattern? How can Melbourne ‘re-open’ in a way that tackles entrenched disadvantage?

Melbourne's Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood chats to us about the homelessness crisis and how his experience with our society's most vulnerable transformed his understanding of the issue.

Australia’s natural environment is in an “overall state of decline and under increasing threat,” according to a major review into the effectiveness of the nation’s environmental protection and biodiversity laws.

Chloe Ward, Emma Shortis, Leo Goedegebuure and Bruce Wilson explore the lessons learned about innovation and regional development from three years of research and engagement in Gippsland by RMIT University and the University of Melbourne, using examples from New Energy projects now underway in the region.

MSSI interviews Sue Cattermole CEO St Vincent de Paul on how Vinnies has responded to the recent compounding crises.

The recent destruction of significant sites at Juukan Gorge and exposed in National Reconciliation Week has caused deep distress for Aboriginal peoples and revealed the inadequacies of  corporate standards and legal protections. Two of the University of Melbourne’s leading scholars provide their perspectives.

A new book that draws on MSSI research aims to connect the international stories on bushfires to provide a unified strategic perspective on the prevention of fire ignition.

The massive economic disruption brought by COVID-19 has revealed that for many, economic security is an illusion. And our biggest vulnerability is housing costs - the biggest expense for most households.

Following the devastating bushfire season of 2019-20, the Royal Commission will aim to investigate our national preparedness to respond, and how we can mitigate the impact of future natural disasters.

COVID-19, an invisible agent that barely qualifies as a lifeform, is bringing to a grinding halt the most powerful civilization the world has ever seen.

The team at MSSI recognise the current context of COVID-19 is producing unusual challenges to everyone within our immediate communities and across the globe, and our thoughts are with all our stakeholders, students, friends and communities during this time.

MSSI researcher Dr Laura Schuijers assesses the short-term environmental benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunity it presents to plan Australia’s low or zero net emissions future.

This scholarship supports a PhD candidate to undertake research on resilience in metropolitan Melbourne.

Our researchers are assessing the vulnerabilities of Melbourne’s food system to shocks and stresses, such as COVID19

For drought-busting rains, Australia might just have to wait for the tropical oceans to serve up some moisture, new research from Dr Andrew King

Eighteen representatives from the University of Melbourne participated in the 10th World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi last week, including six delegates supported by travel bursaries from MSSI’s Future Cities Cluster and the Connected Cities Lab.

Bushfire in a water catchment can have major impacts on water supply including contamination and soil erosion, so what can be done?

In the face of extreme weather events,  modelling shows the economic benefits of emissions reduction far outweigh the costs

Our conservation scientists are grieving after the bushfires – but we must not give up. Prof Brendan Wintle and colleagues talk about what's left after the destruction

University of Melbourne scholars have been researching both bushfires and environmental change, and provide facts on the recent bushfire crisis.

Leadership and wisdom in the climate crisis

In the 1990s, central Dandenong in Melbourne’s southeast was in decline. But, over the past decade and a half, this trend has been halted and in some areas reversed.

MSSI is offering four travel bursaries to participate in the 10th World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi

Practitioners and academics gathered to explore collaborative research and practice opportunities to contribute to the 11th ‘urban’ Sustainable Development Goal, SDG11.

Access to land is a barrier to simpler, sustainable living. Public housing could offer a way forward

Foodprint Melbourne project awarded for research engagement and impact.

From June 5th - 7th, The Climate Reality Project (TCRP) hosted their 41st training delivered in partnership with the Queensland Government as part of the inaugural Climate Week Queensland.

It was no April fool’s joke when the Rockefeller Foundation announced it will phase out funding for the 100 Resilient Cities network. The foundation’s message was a surprise for many participating cities, including Melbourne and Sydney, and for its partnering non-governmental organisations, businesses and academics.

This report compares the costs of emission reduction in Australia relative to the potential damages from climate change under current policy settings.

Over six seminars Prof Garnaut built the case for the energy transition in Australia, calling on knowledge of climate science and studies of the economic benefits of mitigation.

Melbourne is famed for its liveability. However, high population growth in the outer fringe, with a lack of infrastructure funding to cater for that growth, is widening gaps in opportunities between inner and outer suburbs of Melbourne.

This discussion paper identifies some key opportunities for state and territory-level governments in Australia to work towards fostering strong economies that facilitate deep emissions reductions by 2050.

Action has been taken to improve people’s safety in the event of bushfires, but two key risk factors – urban sprawl and climate change – aren’t being addressed

While Melbourne may be a liveable city, it’s got a way to go to become sustainable in the face of challenges like climate change.

Suburban affluence is the defining image of the good life under capitalism, commonly held up as a model to which all humanity should aspire.

Resilience in the Face of Sustainability Crises: is Innovation the Problem or the Solution?

Co-designing a shared vision for Gippsland's future prosperity, environmental sustainability and social well being.

This report identifies the policy challenges that need to be addressed and the opportunities that could be leveraged to strengthen Melbourne’s foodbowl.

How do we narrow the gap between sustainability research and policy making to ensure real-world impact?

Applications are open for a new PhD Scholarship opportunity on Resilient Melbourne in Action: Embedding resilience thinking and practice in urban governance.

Prof Don Henry has been awarded an Order of Australia as recognition for his significant work in protecting Australia's native wildlife and the environment. Prof Henry has dedicated his career to campaiging on environmental issues and received an AM as part of the 2018 Australia Day honours.

In an address to the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, the award-winning author and scientist describes why, in the face of seemingly unstoppable global warming, cities could offer our best chance of averting catastrophe.

The international climate negotiations this year have been presided over by a South Pacific nation for the first time - Fiji - with Germany hosting in Bonn. The focus of the negotiations has been to continue to develop the detailed rules needed to implement the historic Paris climate Agreement. They will aim to lay out a roadmap for a stocktake and review of the national commitments for climate action by all nations over the next couple of years. This is a critically important opportunity to encourage effective implementation of national commitments and the needed building of the ambition if we are to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.

MSSI, in partnership with Chancellery, led the development of a cross-faculty response to a Federal Parliamentary inquiry in the Australian Government’s Role in the Development of Cities.

The towers crowding out the centre of Australian cities are a symptom of failed governance and planning, and it’s threatening any transition to ecocities

As cities continue their relentless sprawl, how do we retrofit existing suburbs to move toward a sustainable future?

At conferences around the world presenters are being thanked for the time and effort put into preparing for the event and the distances many have to travel in order to attend them. While the need to come together to tackle global challenges is unavoidable, the environmental costs to gather such an international delegation can be large. This conundrum weighed heavily on the ECOCITY World Summit organisers and so we decided to do things a little differently.