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Town Planning Resources On Desk With Hand Drawing

If you find yourself spending hours on Pinterest searching for design inspiration and dreaming of learning more or are already familiar with the process of planning & development and just crave some fresh outlook, this is the guide for you.

We have done the legwork for you, between exploring the great designs of cities and urban areas at the touch of our fingers. Here are our top 5 favourite sources for planning and development inspiration.

Harvard X


For some real education on urban planning and development or just a refresher to your current skills and knowledge, Harvard University, dedicated to making a difference through a global audience, is offering free online courses through their HarvardX institution. Currently on offer is the 12-week course, titled “CitiesX: The Past, Present and Future of Urban Life.” The course will give its students an in-depth look into the key concepts of urban development through the examination of cities around the world. The aim is to teach you how to understand, appreciate and improve urban areas. As studies suggest that more than 50% of the world’s population now live in urban areas, there is a greater importance placed on both improving and providing urban areas to cater to the growing population.

To find out more or to enrol click here


Happy City by Charles Montgomery


Award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery explores the connection of urban design and the happiness of its communities. Through a journey of rich historical details, showing the urban design elements of the world, that have shaped the attitudes of its communities, from New York City to Bogotá. Full of insights from psychologists and Montgomery’s own urban experiments, Happy City is a modern-day tool for understanding our own communities, with the hope of improving these urban areas for a more sustainable, lasting and happy city.

Read more about Happy City by Charles Montgomery here


The Urban Developer


Daily information is best found through The Urban Developer. It is Australia’s largest, most engaged and fastest growing online community of property and urban development professionals. Check in on the latest development news from around Australia, or broaden your search to Europe, Asia or America. With access to a large database of emerging news in categories of development, real estate and finance, it’s hard to miss the highlights.

Do yourself a favour and subscribe to their newsletter here

City Lab


Another daily information guide we subscribe to is City Lab, who is committed to telling the story of the world’s cities: how they work, the challenges they face and the solutions they need. The website is a focused report with visual storytelling on the biggest ideas and most pressing issues facing the world’s metro areas and neighbourhoods. City Lab focuses on 5 areas of urban coverage: design, transportation, environment, equity, and life. With an added solutions hub that collects the best ideas and stories for the urbanising world. There is endless research information and possible inspiration through the original articles.

Read more about City Lab or head straight to the reports, click here

@Designboom

 

Founded in Milan in 1999, designboom is the world’s first and most popular digital architecture and design magazine. Though it’s Instagram page is what gets our tails wagging. Brimming with design porn from architecture, interior, art and urban planning, the quirky pictures and videos offer useful information and insight into creative minds from around the world. With just a click of attached links, you can access over 45,000 articles of interviews, studio visits, documentation of new products, reviews of exhibitions and books, and historical surveys that have shaped our world today.

To follow their Instagram, click here

 

Image Edits: Rhiannon Smit

Rhiannon Smit

Author Rhiannon Smit

Rhiannon has been with Hickey Oatley Planning & Development since 2018 and has been instrumental in establishing the HOPD brand. Rhiannon holds tertiary qualifications in media communications with a Bachelor of Creative Industries.

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