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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 · 5h

"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 · 5h

"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 · 6h

“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 · 10h

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 · 10h

Incomplete City 2025 at Melbourne School of Design

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 6d

“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 · 6d

(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 · 6d

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 · 6d

🎤 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 · 7d

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 · 7d

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 · 7d

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 · 7d

“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 · 7d

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

WikiHouse x First Call

YouTube video by WikiHouse

youtube.com

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 7d

"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 · 7d

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 · 7d

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 · 7d

Strong presence of Ainu indigenous peoples is also interesting

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 7d

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 · 10d

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.

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 19d

I write about that in my report, yep. Still, many are still hungry.

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 19d

“This is the cost of being seen through an Orientalist lens. One-dimensional narratives are easier to tell than complex realities” (Very interesting) www.thisisanfield.com/2025/09/moha...

Salah is not favourite for the Ballon d'Or - and here is why

Read here.

www.thisisanfield.com

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 20d

"The World Has Too Much Steel, but No One Wants to Stop Making It" #abundance www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/b...

The World Has Too Much Steel, but No One Wants to Stop Making It

www.nytimes.com

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 20d

“School meals, provided for free by governments around the world, could be used to curb global hunger and promote a sustainable global food system, finds a new study by UCL researchers” (I had a small hand in this report; we have a longer follow-up RE Swedish example) www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/se...

School meals could drive economic growth and food system transformation

School meals, provided for free by governments around the world, could be used to curb global hunger and promote a sustainable global food system, finds a new study by UCL researchers.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 20d

“Can Zohran Mamdani Really Freeze the Rent? The mayoral candidate’s signature promise has given tenants hope — and rattled some landlords. Here’s a guide on what a possible Mayor Mamdani can and can’t do” www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/02/r...

Can Zohran Mamdani Really Freeze the Rent?

The mayoral candidate’s signature promise has given tenants hope — and rattled some landlords. Here’s a guide on what a possible Mayor Mamdani can and can’t do.

www.thecity.nyc

Dan HIll @cityofsound.bsky.social · 22d

nb.australiainstitute.org.au/phase-out-fo...

✍️ ADD YOUR NAME: Phase out fossil fuels

Emissions reduction targets won’t solve the climate crisis if they’re built on fiction. It's time for the government to tackle the biggest source of carbon emissions in Australia – fossil fuels.

nb.australiainstitute.org.au