People love the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods. So why isn’t it top of the agenda?

By John Stanley, Adjunct Professor, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney Roz Hansen, Adjunct Professor, Deakin University; Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne - Thursday, February 20th, 2020

We were heavily involved in the consultation program for Melbourne’s long-term land-use plan, Plan Melbourne. The idea that resonated most with many participants was shaping the city as a series of 20-minute neighbourhoods.

People generally loved the thought that most (not all) of the things needed for a good life could be within a 20-minute public transport trip, bike ride or walk from home. These are things such as shopping, business services, education, community facilities, recreational and sporting resources, and some jobs (but probably not brain surgery).

Creating a city of 20-minute neighbourhoods is a key policy direction of Plan Melbourne 2017-2050. As the plan states:

The 20-minute neighbourhood is all about ‘living locally’ – giving people the ability to meet most of their everyday needs within a 20-minute walk, cycle or local public transport trip of their home.

This planning idea has gained Melbourne recognition in international planning circles. For example, Singapore’s recent Land Transport Master Plan 2040 is based on shaping the city and its transport systems to achieve 20-minute towns within a 45-minute city. Officials who prepared the report have acknowledged to one of us Melbourne’s leadership with the concept.

‘The essential data infrastructure on which all digital governmental services are built.’ How Italy hired a crack team to turbo-charge digital reform

By Josh Lowe - Thursday, February 20th, 2020

The Italian government’s progress in digital transformation is instructive for countries looking to use a mix of private and public sector digital skills and approaches to kickstart transformation without huge resources, writes Josh Lowe.

Italy’s governing infrastructure is complex — and when a key project to bring municipalities together failed, the team was unafraid to reboot. The nation progressed quickly by building online communities of “early adopters”, focusing their attention on those who were keenest. There was also a cross-government approach, whereby digital project-management skills are considered vital to ensuring all parts of Italy’s public administration reaps the benefits of digital transformation

Diego Piacentini, a former Amazon executive who recently completed a two-year stint in Italy’s government, hasn’t gone soft during his time in the public sector: “Crucial tenet — don’t waste your time with people who do not want to listen, no matter what.”

But then, the Digital Transformation Team (DTT) Piacentini founded didn’t have time to waste. After hiring mostly from the private sector, the DTT brought in a rush of new skills and approaches via its lean, 40-strong staff.

New machine learning method could supercharge battery development for electric vehicles

By Stanford University - Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

Battery performance can make or break the electric vehicle experience, from driving range to charging time to the lifetime of the car. Now, artificial intelligence has made dreams like recharging an EV in the time it takes to stop at a gas station a more likely reality, and could help improve other aspects of battery technology.

For decades, advances in electric vehicle batteries have been limited by a major bottleneck: evaluation times. At every stage of the battery development process, new technologies must be tested for months or even years to determine how long they will last. But now, a team led by Stanford professors Stefano Ermon and William Chueh has developed a machine learning-based method that slashes these testing times by 98 percent. Although the group tested their method on battery charge speed, they said it can be applied to numerous other parts of the battery development pipeline and even to non-energy technologies.

“In battery testing, you have to try a massive number of things, because the performance you get will vary drastically,” said Ermon, an assistant professor of computer science. “With AI, we’re able to quickly identify the most promising approaches and cut out a lot of unnecessary experiments.”

222 scientists say cascading crises are the biggest threat to the well-being of future generations

By Anthony Capon, Director, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University - Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

The bushfires raging across Australia this summer have sharpened the focus on how climate change affects human health. This season bushfires have already claimed more than 30 human lives, and many people have grappled with smoke inhalation and mental health concerns.

The changing nature of bushfires around the world is one of the tragic consequences of climate change highlighted in “Our Future on Earth, 2020” – a report published on Friday by Future Earth, an international sustainability research network.

The report includes a survey of 222 leading scientists from 52 countries who identified five global risks: failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation; extreme weather events; major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; food crises; and water crises.

They identified these risks as the most severe in terms of impact on planetary health – the health of human civilisation and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.