Cities Institute | ��¼� Sydney

��¼� Cities Institute

Bringing a spatial understanding of urban human conditions together with world class research, enabling city systems to transition at pace in response to complex legacies of settlement, climate change, community marginalisation and neglect in the Asia Pacific region.

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Strategic aims

Brokers for action that will build governance systems for smarter, healthier and more equitable urban environments in the region.

The Cities Institute brings together new knowledge and practice to support place specific and community-determined outcomes for the better governance of cities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Institute bridges new knowledge with practice and policy and strategically accompanies key partners to support Country centred and community-determined outcomes.

The Cities Institute’s work plan is underpinned by 5 Strategic aims:

To represent and serve cities development and communities in the region.
To carry out inclusive, transdisciplinary and practice-based research, education and advocacy.
To respond to and gather lessons from Australia and the region to amplify our region in the global cities discourse.
To reimagine how we indicate change in urban and peri-urban areas.
To facilitate a community of practice.

Cities and participation: our research themes

Better Governance for Country

We feel responsible for bringing a strategic Indigenous voice to bear on our cities, contributing to thinking about how they might develop into something more responsive to the needs of our environment, culture and our people.

Better Governance for our APAC cities

Intro text para: We interrogate how existing policies and practices operate and develop better governance models for the future.

Better Governance for Wellbeing

We identify opportunities for enabling and supporting equitable, healthy, thriving communities by improving health and wellbeing outcomes and understanding the healthy functioning of cities as complex and intertwined systems.

Better Governance for Performance

We identify opportunities for enabling and supporting equitable, healthy, thriving communities in the transition to a decarbonised society.

Better Governance for Infrastructure

We will identify opportunities for enabling and supporting equitable, healthy, thriving communities by addressing housing delivery, socio-cultural infrastructure, connections, active transport, climate adaptation and resilience, development feasibility, employment and governance.

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Recent news!

Our team

The Cities Institute offers a new way of working with academic research to create real change. We do not work in a conventional academic capacity but as a collective of researchers, academics, practitioners and policy makers.

��¼� Cities Institute at Parliament House Showcase

On 8 October 2025, Professor Hoon Han, Director of the ��¼� Cities Institute, demonstrated how VR, EEG and generative AI (MapAI) can address housing challenges at the ��¼� Productivity Showcase at Parliament House, Canberra.

11th Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC)

Steering Committee of the AFHC, World Health Organization visits ��¼� CI to discuss the exciting plans ahead for the 11th Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities in 2026.

Why our cities need true representation

Australia is a nation of cities, with over 70% of the population residing in its eight largest urban areas. Despite this, our governance structures do not directly represent our cities.

��¼� leaders in cities thinking wow regional leaders

��¼� leaders showcased their leadership in healthy cities across the Asia-Pacific region during the 10th Annual Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities in Seoul last week.

Success in Seoul for ��¼� students

Two ��¼� student teams mentored by the ��¼� Cities Institute last week won the top prizes at the 10th Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities in Seoul.

Social housing an investment in healthier cities, says Minister for Housing

The NSW Minister for Housing, Rose Jackson, made a passionate case for social housing investment at ��¼�’s annual Gene Willsford UTZON Lecture this week.

High-powered panel assembles to advise ��¼� Cities Institute

The ��¼� Cities Institute has assembled an esteemed group of experts to further its practice-based research, education and advocacy work for the future of healthy cities.

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��¼� Cities Institute
Parramatta Innovation Hub
Parramatta NSW 2150

In the spirit of reconciliation, the ��¼� Cities Institute acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, waters and community.

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