Sydney, the capital of the Australian state of New South Wales, is geographically divided by socio-economic conditions and urban opportunities. However, the division in Sydney has not been investigated from an urban planning perspective. This research hypothesises that the urban planning system and its practice-produced consequences promote inequalities in Sydney. This study conceptualises Sydney’s urban inequality in the context of critical concepts of neoliberalism, the theory of power, and the right to the city. Based on semi-structured interviews, secondary documents, and data analysis, this research claims that residents of lower socio-economic areas lag behind compared to others. The paper emphasises the significance of a just city and strong community engagement to reduce the disparate urban policy practices that influence urban divides in Sydney.

In Australian suburbs, due to increasing housing unaffordability, informal shared housing makes up a growing private rental sub-market. At present, there is limited research exploring what dynamics may motivate owner-occupiers to initiate informal shared housing, how informality operates in this rental sub-market and how owner-occupiers with distinct ethnic and cultural backgrounds negotiate informality. Drawing on a qualitative investigation among owner-occupiers of Bangladeshi origin in different suburbs of Greater Sydney, the paper discusses a distinct form of informal shared housing that goes beyond the perceived economic rationality of rent-and-return. What our research reveals is that owner-occupiers also take into consideration the multiple risks involved in the management of these shared housing premises and how the management of these risks results in the limitation of the rental sub-market to specific ethnic communities and social groups. Our findings highlight the importance of considering social and cultural factors in rethinking the notion of home in these non-normative housing sites. We conclude with some suggestions about policy interventions that may be able to recognise the underlying logics of informal housing tenures that are informed by cultural perceptions of risk on the part of owner-occupiers.

Governance can help minimise the effects of catastrophes. Countries had some time to prepare for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but some did not use it to improve their arrangements. This research investigates several countries’ governance strategies, develops a governance model and critically analyses Bangladesh’s failure as a case of governance catastrophe. This study applies qualitative methods of textual data analysis to explore data sourced from current newspapers, blogs, websites, journal articles and books to determine the most appropriate evidence and generate connections and interpretations. The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for all countries; however, the different national responses have provided the opportunity to measure governments’ capability in addressing the crisis. Governments need to study the current COVID-19 response and enhance their governance capacities to minimise the spread of infection and to prepare for the challenge of socio-economic recovery.