Kaya Urbanists,

This month's cover takes us to Northbridge, where Perth artist Anya Brock has transformed the rear façade of the former Paramount Nightclub into a vibrant mural featuring tropical birds, geometric patterns and expressive portraits, in her signature style. 

This month, we sit down with Woodside CEO Liz Westcott to discuss leadership, STEM, global talent and her vision for Perth's future. We also travel from Tokyo to Vienna, via France, exploring how cities prepare for the future in very different ways. 

Tokyo reminds us that world-class liveability is built over decades through long-term planning and investment. Vienna shows that supporting families takes more than financial incentives, while France asks whether extreme heat should be treated as a city-wide, or even country-wide, resilience challenge rather than just another hot summer.

We also share reflections from Ben Haddock, Global Transport Planning Skills Lead at Committee for Perth's member organisation Arup, and chair of our Densification Working Group, on a year of e-bike commuting and what it reveals about active travel, mobility and designing cities where healthier, more sustainable transport choices become the obvious option.

Finally, we reflect on our recent member tour to Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, where one yottabyte of data suddenly doesn't seem quite so unimaginable.

We hope these ideas create conversations about Perth's future and inspire us all to keep looking ahead.

Happy reading,
Committee for Perth Team

BENCHMARKING CITIES

WHY TOKYO BECAME THE MOST LIVEABLE CITY

What makes a city the world's most liveable? According to Monocle's 2026 Quality of Life Survey, it's not just efficient transport, low crime or a strong economy. Tokyo claimed the top spot because it excels at something much harder to build: stability, calm and security.

In Tokyo, quality of life is shaped as much by culture as it is by infrastructure. Children routinely walk to school independently, public transport operates with remarkable reliability, neighbourhood shopping streets remain at the heart of local communities, and courtesy is embedded in everyday life. Rather than relying on rules alone, the city benefits from shared expectations around respect, patience and civic responsibility. 

Monocle also points to Tokyo's commitment to long-term planning. From the decades-long redevelopment of Shinjuku Station to the new Takanawa Gateway City precinct and the city's 2050 strategy, investment continues in both major infrastructure and the neighbourhoods that give Tokyo its distinctive character. The result is a metropolis of almost 37 million people that continues to feel remarkably connected at a local level.

The city isn't without its challenges. Rising tourism, increasing living costs and pressure on housing continue to test Tokyo's liveability. Yet its ability to balance growth with a consistently high quality of everyday life saw it rise to the top of Monocle's rankings this year.

Perth also has plenty to celebrate, ranking equal 20th globally with Kyoto. To climb further, the world's leading cities suggest a clear direction of travel: continue investing in fast, reliable public transport, create more walkable neighbourhoods with thriving local centres, plan boldly for the long term, and foster the kind of public spaces and civic culture that make daily life not only easier, but better. A liveable city is shaped not only by government investment, but also by the people who call it home. Read More

RESEARCH BITES

VIENNA'S BIRTH-RATE STRATEGY

Birth rates are falling across almost every developed economy, prompting governments to spend billions on baby bonuses, tax incentives and parental payments. Yet the evidence increasingly suggests that money alone rarely changes people’s decision to start a family. 

Instead, researchers are finding that one of the biggest barriers isn’t the cost of raising children — it’s the challenge of fitting family life around modern work. 

A recent international study by researchers from Stanford University and Germany’s ifo Institute analysed more than 100,000 workers across 38 countries and found that workplace flexibility can have a meaningful impact on family formation. Couples where both partners work from home at least one day a week are estimated to have around 0.32 more children over their lifetime than couples working entirely from the office. In the United States, remote and hybrid work is linked to an estimated 81,000 additional births each year, while in England researchers estimate flexible work contributed to more than 35,000 births in 2024.

Greater flexibility makes childcare pick-ups, school schedules and everyday household responsibilities easier to manage. Rather than reducing the financial cost of children, hybrid work reduces the time cost. 

One city that has consistently outperformed many of its European peers is Vienna. While fertility remains below replacement level, as it does across most of Europe, Vienna has maintained relatively stable birth rates for many years, supported by a combination of affordable housing, heavily subsidised childcare, generous parental leave and policies designed to make combining work and family more achievable. The city continues to invest in free kindergarten, all-day schooling and affordable living as core parts of its long-term strategy.

This is an interesting lesson as countries that rely primarily on cash incentives have generally seen only modest, short-lived increases in births. Increasingly, the evidence suggests that giving people more time, flexibility and confidence that they can balance careers with raising children may deliver longer-lasting results.

As Perth looks to attract and retain skilled workers, becoming a place where people feel they can successfully combine careers with family life may prove just as important as creating new jobs in the first place. Read More

GUEST COLUMN

TUNE INTO NEW IDEAS

READ: Delivering the homes London needs: Centre for London's latest report provides a new, comprehensive response to London’s housing crisis: one that both addresses barriers to building new homes, while tackling the market failures that prevent existing housing supply from meeting Londoners’ needs. 

WATCH: WAE26: Cities of Tomorrow: Cities of Tomorrow examines the urgent role urban design and innovation play in shaping a sustainable future. The film invites audiences to consider how collective action and creative thinking can redefine the spaces we inhabit.

What if the battle for the planet is won or lost in the places we call home? In Luna Palace Cinemas on 8, 9 and 11 August.

INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION

HOW FRENCH CITIES RESPOND TO HEATWAVES

Following another summer of record-breaking temperatures, France has activated its new ORSEC Extreme Heat Plan, a coordinated emergency response framework that treats extreme heat events much like floods or bushfires. The plan brings together emergency services, hospitals, local governments and community organisations to support vulnerable residents, open cooling centres and adapt public services during periods of extreme heat. 

Perth's climate is different. Air conditioning is common and our communities are generally better adapted to prolonged heat. But as extreme heat becomes more frequent, France raises an interesting question: should cities have coordinated heat response plans that go beyond personal responsibility? Rather than treating heat solely as a weather event, France's approach frames it as a city-wide resilience challenge that influences how neighbourhoods, public spaces, transport networks and essential services are planned.

Perth may not need an exact copy of the ORSEC emergency system, but the need to plan for extreme heat is becoming increasingly clear. Modelling commissioned by the WA Department of Health projects that heat-related deaths in Perth could rise by almost 60 per cent by 2050 if temperatures continue to increase, with older people and those with underlying health conditions among the most vulnerable. Organisations such as Sweltering Cities have also highlighted that not everyone can rely on air conditioning, particularly renters, people in poorly insulated homes and lower-income households.

Committee for Perth conducts its work on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar. We recognise their peoples' ongoing connection to land, culture and community and in doing so, pay our respects to Elders past and present.