Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis. But amidst the political and media debate about the fixes to our housing woes, public housing has slipped from view. There's concern that funding commitments are a far cry from the broad based approach to public rental housing which has supported so many Australians in the past, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. So where does Australia go from here? Join Rebecca Pinkstone, Chief Executive of Homes NSW, Alistair Sisson of Macquarie University, City of Sydney Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore, plus public housing tenants Norrie May-Welby and Karyn Brown at this Festival of Urbanism event recorded in late 2024. Photo: Wedge-Tail Pictures

The future of Australia's public housing

Is Australia still the Lucky Country? In public opinion polling, more and more Australians believe things are, on the whole, getting worse than better. 

Various data such as the longstanding Scanlon Social Cohesion Report point to society becoming polarised. A culture of suspicion continues to grow around our most important institutions, and loneliness and social isolation is common across our community.

Against such concerning trends, what can be done? In this open discussion led by one of Australia’s foremost social researchers, author and University of Sydney alumna Dr Rebecca Huntley, we address three key, interconnected issues that will have a defining impact on national progress and prosperity, for generations to come. 

Featuring Dr Marlee Bower (Matilda Centre and Sydney Environment Institute), digital innovation expert Dr Raffaele F. Ciriello, refugee advocate and UN Women Australia MBA scholar ('24) Chantal Mousad, and economist Dr Suneha Seetahul (Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work).

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 29 July 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: https://bit.ly/45pcUhU

The Ideas Roundtable: Is Australia alright?

Is the growing trend in e-bike and e-scooter use the key to reducing congestion on our roads - or a menace for unsuspecting pedestrians, drivers, and riders themselves? Reports of accidents are filling the airwaves as experts question how governments can best manage the rapid growth in sales of electric bikes and scooters. So, how best to regulate the confusing landscape of e-micromobility? City Road's Bill Code welcomes Dr Yuting Zhang of the University of Sydney and president of Better Streets, cycling advocate Sara Stace.

E-bikes and e-scooters – a growing menace or city congestion saviour?

Join University of Sydney experts for fresh insights and evidence unlocking our understanding of healthy brain ageing. How might we all live – and stay – well, for longer, at any stage of life? 

Leading researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre are finding solutions for dementia, the second leading cause of death among all Australians and soon it will be the first, according to Dementia Australia. 

Neuroscientist Eleanor Drummond recently made some exciting headway in identifying proteins that are altered in the brain in the very first stages of Alzheimer’s disease and discovery of a new potential biomarker, and is currently working on translating this into the development of new drugs and biomarkers.

Clinician and researcher Olivier Piguet specialises in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and related younger-onset dementias. His successful intervention methods targeting behaviour and language have shown to improve quality of life and independence in patients and their families, reducing burden of care.  

Gilbert Knaggs is a researcher in sociology, and brings perspective on the ethics of dementia prevention, as well as concepts of ageing well and healthy ageing in society.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 24 September 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3JLDqv9

Slow ageing

How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Juliet Bennett, a researcher applying critical social theory to systems of food production and consumption;
- Rebecca Cross, rural and environment geographer with insight into sustainable, regenerative farming and agricultural practices;
- Shadia Djakovic, a dietician bringing extensive experience in nutrition and health promotion;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 22 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV

The social life of food - Part 1

How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Alice Gibson, researcher exploring emerging hybrid food environments, with expertise in the prevention and dietary management of chronic health diseases;
- Peng Zhang, who is using advanced biotechnology and genetic techniques to grow resilient and disease-resistant crops such as wheat;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 23 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV

The social life of food - Part 2

How, and for what, should life be optimised? Is the growing culture of optimisation leading us towards the homogenisation of culture?

These days we're using technology to help us write, make decisions, as well as augment, biohack, sculpt and transform our bodies, inside and out, to look and feel younger and fitter. As we seem to optimise virtually every aspect of our everyday lives, do we somehow end up creating more labour and inefficiencies?

The pursuit of human development and self-improvement is a perennial subject of fascination and study, from Aristotle’s eudaemonia to Confucian ethics, Maslow’s theory, and now, in a form familiar to many: self-help. What does it signal though, when the dominant messages of the marketplace today, and the markers of success and progress of experience, are defined by terms like efficiency and maximum engagement? 

Marking the year-end – and with a new year around the corner – we're examining what it means to optimise life. Hear hot takes from Infinite Scroll 荧屏沉溺 curator and creative technologist Thea-Mai Baumann, philosopher Emily Hulme, comedian and writer Alex Lee and computer scientist Elliot Varoy. Hosted by Steph Harmon, Culture Editor of Guardian Australia.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 10 December 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/48Rdjg5

An optimised life, examined

The rapid growth of data centres in Australia and the role of AI in contributing to their proliferation is a hot topic in both planning and 'mainstream' debate. 

The Australian Energy Market Operator reports energy use by data centres in FY 2025 was around 2% of National Energy Market use, predicted to rise to around 6% by 2029/30*

Dr Bronwyn Cumbo of UTS's Transdisciplinary School and Johanna Lim from the US Studies Centre join host Bill Code to talk about some of the environmental, social and strategic considerations around planning for data centres, the so-called 'nerve centres' of our digital economy.

*An earlier version of this podcast claimed a widely-reported 5% figure was cited in  a recent report from Mandala Partners. This was incorrect and has been changed.

Photo: Jacqueline Tyrrell

Data Centres: Planning for growth amidst the AI boom

How do we regenerate civics , in an era of AI, Social Media and Post Truth? Is civil participation going through as big an upheaval as other areas of life? And what do the Brisbane Olympics have to do with a renowned board game?

Originally hailed for democratising access to information, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and pervasive social media platforms are increasingly associated with a fragmentation of public discourse and distrust of ‘mainstream’ politics. In this panel,  NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson, QUT's Professor Marcus Foth, Christine El-Khoury of newDemocracy Foundation and Dr Justine Humphry of the University of Sydney discuss the implications of new technologies for civic engagement and urban life.

This recording from the 2025 Festival of Regenerative Urbanism was held by the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative and chaired by Dr Luke Hespanhol. 

Photo: Luke Hespanhol

Live event: Regenerating civics: Urban AI, social media and post-truth

Governments of different stripes tend to believe that the way to deal with the housing crisis is to build more houses. If there were an 'abundance' of houses, we'd be able to easily tackle the lack of *access* to secure housing. But is abundance – as popular as that term has become in the last year – the key to the issue? (Let alone the key to a nice 3-bedder in the suburbs). In this funny and boisterous Festival of Regenerative Urbanism event, held by the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative at the University of Sydney, a panel of experts with a bee in their collective bonnet go head to head. 

Starting with a spirited critique of 'Abundance' by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson from Professor Nicole Gurran, the debate features:

Jess Scully, Author, City-maker & Curator;
Tina Perinotto, Publisher and Managing Editor, the Fifth Estate;
Patrick Fensham, National Leader for Urban Policy & Governance, SGS Economics & Planning; Planning Institute of Australia Victorian President;
Professor Steven Rowley, Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre;
Ben Hendriks, Founder & Executive Chair, Mecone;
Mehnaaz Hossain, Editor, Honi Soit, The University of Sydney.

Photo: Wedge-Tail Pictures

Live event: Is housing 'abundance' really the solution?

Why are the arts critical to public health? How can we embed creative practice into healthcare to improve outcomes for all? 

Hear internationally renowned artists and researchers share their insights and case studies of exemplary practice:
- Vic McEwan, The Cad Factory
- Dr Clive Parkinson, Manchester School of Art
- Dr Nicole Reilly,  University of Newcastle (UON)
- Akeshia Dart, mental health clinician and PhD candidate at UON 
- Dr Claire Hooker, University of Sydney and event chair

This conversation was recorded on Monday 21 October, 2019 at the University of Sydney. 

The event marked the launch of the Arts Health Network (NSW/ACT). Connect with this new platform: https://www.artshealthnetwork.com.au/

Arts, health and healing

Sydney Ideas is the University of Sydney's premier public lecture series program, bringing the world's leading thinkers and the latest research to the wider Sydney community.

Arts, health and healing

Sydney Ideas

Related tracks