Search

The Voice 2025 coaches line-up leaked

<p><em>The Voice Australia</em> appears set to have a major cast shake up, following Guy Sebastian's shock <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/music/guy-sebastian-drops-bombshell-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">departure</a> from the show after six years. </p> <p>An insider told <em>Yahoo Lifestyle</em> that current coaches Kate Miller-Heidke and Adam Lambert are also saying goodbye to the show. </p> <p>Channel Seven is said to be in the final stages of locking their new line-up, which includes former fan favourites like Keith Urban. </p> <p>“The line-up that Channel Seven wants is Keith Urban, Jessica Mauboy, Ronan Keating and LeAnn Rimes,” the source told <em>Yahoo Lifestyle.</em> </p> <p>“They’ve all been on the show before and conversations had started a few months back.”</p> <p>Urban last appeared on the singing competition as coach in 2022, and fans were overjoyed when he appeared as a guest earlier this year. </p> <p>"Keith was asked about returning when he recorded a performance for the grand finale and he sounded open to the idea - as long as it works with his wife Nicole Kidman's plans to be back in Australia at the same time," the insider said. </p> <p>The source also said that US singer Rimes is likely to return as well. </p> <p>"In the lead-up to this year’s finale, LeAnn's management kept talking about the next series and what she plans to do differently," they said. </p> <p> “LeAnn was clear about her ambition to return next year and Channel Seven are keen to have her back after her artist won.”</p> <p>Jessica Mauboy, who was coach for the show from 2021 to 2023, left the series this year to focus on her music and go on tour, but Channel Seven are also keen to welcome her back. </p> <p>“There were always plans to bring Jess back at some point and viewers really missed her contribution this season," the insider said. </p> <p>“The conversation about Jess had been on the cards with or without Guy. It seemed the network was already looking at flipping Kate Miller-Heidke, who seemed a little out of place on the show."</p> <p>As for Ronan Keating, who was last seen on the show in 2016, the source said he was keen to appear on the Australian version of the show again. </p> <p>Channel Seven is expected to officially announce the 2025 lineup for <em>The Voice Australia</em> at their upcoming Upfront event this month.</p> <p>“One thing is for sure <em>The Voice Australia </em>will go on without Guy Sebastian and 2025 looks set to have one of the best line-ups without him." </p> <p><em>Images: Channel Seven</em></p> <p> </p>

Nicole Kidman bids farewell to her mother at intimate funeral

<p>Nicole Kidman has said a tearful goodbye to her beloved mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, during an intimate funeral service held at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Lavender Bay, Sydney.</p> <p>The 57-year-old Oscar winner was supported by her husband, country music star Keith Urban, and their two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, as family and close friends gathered to honour Janelle’s life.</p> <p>84Janelle Kidman, 84, <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/nicole-kidman-confirms-heartbreaking-family-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed away in early September</a> after a long illness. The family, including Nicole's sister, journalist Antonia Kidman, and Janelle’s eight grandchildren, shared moving tributes at the service. Among them was TV host Lucia Hawley, the eldest of the grandchildren, who gave a heartfelt speech.</p> <p>The service was also attended by a number of notable figures from Australia’s entertainment industry, including actor Russell Crowe, broadcaster Peter Overton, and his wife, television personality Jessica Rowe.</p> <p>The news of her mother's passing reached Nicole while she was in Venice, Italy, for the Venice Film Festival on September 8, where she was being honoured with the Best Actress award for her role in the upcoming thriller <em>Babygirl</em>. Unable to attend the ceremony, director Halina Reijn accepted the award on her behalf and read a touching message from Kidman, in which the actress expressed her grief.</p> <p>“Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after my brave and beautiful mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, had just passed,” Kidman’s statement began. “I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me, and she made me. I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina. The collision of life and art is heartbreaking. My heart is broken.”</p> <p>Janelle Kidman’s cause of death has not been publicly disclosed, but she had reportedly been battling health issues since 2016 when she suffered a suspected heart scare. Her passing comes nearly a decade after the death of her husband, Dr Antony Kidman, who died of a heart attack in Singapore in 2014.</p> <p>Kidman, who divides her time between Nashville, Manhattan, and Australia, remains close to her family despite her international career, often speaking about the pivotal role her mother played in her life and career.</p> <p><em>Images: 9News / Instagram</em></p>

Family & Pets

"Skippy ain't playing": Urban kangaroo stuns with epic leap

<p>A landscaper has captured the moment a hopping mad kangaroo leapt metres into the air and over a fence. </p> <p>Nathan Xuebsy was at work with his colleagues in the town of Beveridge, 37 kilometres north of Melbourne's CBD, when they were confronted with the bounding kangaroo. </p> <p>The marsupial jumped past their bobcat and into a vacant lot, when the workers opened a gate to the fenced-off area to help let the animal out, but the kangaroo had its own escape plan. </p> <p>The kangaroo jumped onto the fence and then used it to vault metres higher to clear it, stunning Xuebsy, who filmed the whole thing.</p> <p>The trio of workers immediately went to check on the kangaroo, who was uninjured and hopped away unfazed. </p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A9vjuJ1xmbI?si=jUe2vJC_7WiK8Yxo" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>"I took a screenshot of the video when the kangaroo was at its highest," Xuebsy said. "I put it on Facebook and said I think I just took the best photo I ever will in my life."</p> <p>The video quickly went viral, raking up thousands of hilarious comments as one person wrote that the roo was going "Straight to the next Olympics", while another added, "Oh, Skippy ain't playing."</p> <p>Another person said, "Poor suburban roo looks like that ain't his first rodeo," while others said the roo was showing off his dance moves with the jump saying "Roo did a better job than RayGun."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Facebook / Nathan Xuebsy</em></p>

Family & Pets

"Blew our marriage to smithereens”: Keith Urban's emotional admission

<p>Keith Urban has opened up about the rocky start to his marriage with Nicole Kidman in an emotional speech in front of the Hollywood elite. </p> <p>During his speech at the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Nicole Kidman, which was filmed in April but aired over the weekend, Urban spoke candidly about their relationship and the early days of their marriage, when Urban spent time in rehab. </p> <p>Taking to the stage, he said, “We got married in June 2006, and barely four months into our marriage, the addictions that I had done really nothing about blew our marriage to smithereens.”</p> <p>“I went into the Betty Ford Center for three months,” Urban continued.</p> <p>“Four months into a marriage, and I’m in rehab for three months with no idea what was going to happen to us.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8dWHBDIC7c/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8dWHBDIC7c/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by American Film Institute (@americanfilminstitute)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“If you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl,” he said. </p> <p>“Nic pushed through every negative voice — I’m sure even some of her own — and she chose love. And here we are tonight 18 years later.”</p> <p>Urban went on to say his wife has “the capacity to love like no one I’ve ever met”.</p> <p>He went on to recall how they met at an event in 2005, where he got her digits on a “tiny piece of paper” that he carried “in his pocket for well over a week.”</p> <p>“I was scared,” the singer recalled. “I was nervous to call her and as prone as I might have been at the time to all sorts of delusional thinking, even I couldn’t stretch that to think that this extraordinary woman would ever see anything in a guy like me.”</p> <p>Urban finally plucked up the bravery to ring Kidman, and he said that when he did, it felt like they had “known each other our whole lives.”</p> <p>“It turned out that this mystic creature was really just a wide-eyed, vivacious giddy girl from the Sydney suburbs and despite being born in Honolulu, she was utterly Aussie through and through,” he said.</p> <p>“The thing about Nic, she loves life,” Urban added. “I’ve actually never met anyone who has such a passion for being alive. She knows the importance of expressing feelings as well. I wasn’t raised like this at all so our girls are very lucky to be learning from you, baby. I’m learning too.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p>

Relationships

Nicole Kidman's daughters help celebrate mum's historic first

<p>Nicole Kidman taken to the red carpet with her family in tow for a rare appearance, as Nicole accepted a lifetime achievement award. </p> <p>The Aussie actress was joined by her husband Keith Urban and their two daughters, Sunday, 15, and Faith, 13, who were all dressed to the nines for the occasion.</p> <p>Nicole was also surrounded by her sister Antonia Kidman, brother-in-law Craig Marran and their family for the glitzy event. </p> <p>The 56-year-old actress has now become the first Australian to win the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, with the award often being dubbed the highest honour in American cinema. </p> <p>The accolade has also been won by the likes of Julie Andrews, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Meryl Streep Morgan Freeman and many other iconic figures in the industry. </p> <p>The Academy Award winner who grew up in Sydney said on social media she was "deeply moved" to receive such a prestigious award. </p> <p>"Thank you to all of you and to the American Film institute for including me in this illustrious group of honorees — now let's have some fun!" she wrote on Instagram. </p> <p>When announcing Kidman as the recipient of the award, AFI released a statement saying, "Both a powerhouse performer, spellbinding movie star and accomplished producer, Nicole Kidman has captured the imaginations of audiences throughout her prolific career, delivering complex and versatile performances on-screen."</p> <p>"She is a force both brave in her choices and bold in each performance. AFI is honoured to present her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Family & Pets

"It's been really hard": Nicole Kidman's Mother's Day heartbreak

<p>Nicole Kidman has opened up about her heartache on <a href="https://www.innovations.com.au/p/gifts/mothers-day-gifts?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=nativearticle&utm_campaign=MothersDayGifts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mother’s Day</a> this year as she continues to remain in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>The 52-year-old is currently living with husband Keith Urban and their two daughters, 11-year-old Sunday Rose and nine-year-old Faith Margaret in her Nashville home.</p> <p>And despite spending the special day with her daughters, there was one person noticeably absent from the day.</p> <p>Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald via telephone, Nicole became emotional due to not seeing her mum on Mother’s Day this year.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9pwH7fpfow/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9pwH7fpfow/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Happy Birthday to my darling Mumma. I love you so much. This photo is so US! 😂 ❤️ 🥰</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/nicolekidman/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Nicole Kidman</a> (@nicolekidman) on Mar 12, 2020 at 4:40pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“We’re in a position where we just have to relinquish control right now and go day by day,” she said.</p> <p>But as much as she tries to remain optimistic, that hasn’t detracted from the hard reality of being away from her extended family.</p> <p>“I have my immediate family here, but I don’t have my extended family, who are so much a part of me. I can’t touch them,” she said.</p> <p>“So many people are in exactly the same position. So many people right now are going, ‘When do I see my family again?’”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAA2TmspCxP/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAA2TmspCxP/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I know so many of us are not getting the chance to kiss and hug our Mums today, but to all the Mothers of the world - we are always with you and celebrating you 💕 #MothersDay</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/nicolekidman/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Nicole Kidman</a> (@nicolekidman) on May 10, 2020 at 9:00am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The actress described her mum as “my mentor, my guide and my nurturer”, while adding that she was extremely grateful for Keith’s mother Marienne.</p> <p>“She gave me Keith, she gave me the greatest gift,” she said.</p> <p>“And I am down-on-my-knees grateful to her.”</p> <p>For the day itself, Kidman described her ideal celebration with her mum.</p> <p>"I would love to be able to have a cup of tea with mum and sit on the balcony and talk about life and have her tell me what I should be doing," the actress said.</p> <p>She also said that it had been “really hard” as her mother made the difficult decision to move back to Australia so she can spend time with her 80-year-old mum.</p> <p>"Talk about just gut-wrenching. At least there's FaceTime and technology because that's been a saving grace... It's been really hard," she said.</p>

Family & Pets

Mental health: how living in the city and country compare

<p>Is it better to live in a city or in the countryside? While urban dwellers may benefit from more employment opportunities, better access to public services alongside cultural activities and entertainment, people who live in rural areas often argue they have a better sense of community and greater access to nature.</p> <p>A number of studies have sought to determine whether city or country is better for mental health by drawing on national survey data from the <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/">UK Household Longitudinal Study</a> (UKHLS). This is a national survey which has followed approximately 40,000 UK households since 2009. Each year, data is collected on a range of social, economic and behavioural factors.</p> <p>This is what some of these studies have found when it comes to mental health and where you live:</p> <h2>Physical activity</h2> <p>Research has shown that physical activity can reduce <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379719302466?casa_token=_QxDT_feTekAAAAA:Sd_9jfW0ukJY1fUCkUx43sTEGHkNBiwqViPI4-HfSx-LngPhuxBjGMRQrokDmpYlZIwzR7wDzA">anxiety</a> and <a href="https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17111194">depression</a>, alongside <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223980.2018.1470487">improving mood</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/tbm/article-abstract/10/5/1098/5921063?login=true">wellbeing</a>. Indeed, UK health guidelines recommend physical activity for the <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222">treatment of depression</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/physical-activity-guidelines-adults-and-older-adults/physical-activity-for-adults-and-older-adults-19-and-over-text-of-the-infographic">improved quality of life</a>.</p> <p>One easy way of getting more physical activity in your life is through active travel – such as cycling or walking on your way to work or running errands.</p> <p>So how does urban or rural dwelling impact on this? According to UKHLS research which looked at data from 35,295 people in the UK, urban residents were 64% more likely than rural residents to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00038-014-0578-2">engage frequently in active travel</a>. This is likely because there are more active travel opportunities in urban environments where there are shorter distances between facilities, shops, offices and homes.</p> <p>Research shows that the more active travel a person does, the better their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140520300487">mental health</a>. In fact, the mental health benefits of active travel may be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28153647">just as good</a> as physical activity for leisure. So, based on this measure, people living in the city may have better mental health overall.</p> <p>But while urban life may offer more opportunities for active travel compared to living in the countryside, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still many ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily life for mental health benefits wherever you live.</p> <h2>Access to green space</h2> <p>Access to green space (such as parks) is believed to support many aspects of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3">health and wellbeing</a> – including your <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638237.2020.1755027?journalCode=ijmh20">mental health</a>.</p> <p>To investigate whether nearby green space was related to mental wellbeing, data from the 2009-2010 UKHLS study was combined with data on the proportion of green space within different areas of England. The analysis found the amount of local green space did not actually <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4401-x">predict mental wellbeing</a>.</p> <p>What this suggests is that while green space may be important for mental wellbeing, having it nearby doesn’t necessarily mean people will engage with it. As such, we can’t assume rural living is inherently more beneficial just because nature is more accessible.</p> <p>This aligns with the findings of a 2021 study, which showed that living near green space <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87675-0#Sec2">did not improve mental health outcomes</a>. However, the analysis did find that the more frequently a person visited green spaces, the better their mental wellbeing. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2016.1221126">Meaningful engagement with green spaces</a> (such as taking photographs) may also be more important for reaping the mental health benefits of nature.</p> <p>As such, urban living may be just as good as rural dwelling when it comes to the mental health benefits of green space.</p> <h2>Air quality</h2> <p>Numerous studies have found links between high levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6447209/">air pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/exposure-to-air-pollution-linked-with-increased-mental-health-service-use-new-study-finds">poorer mental health</a>. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161813X22001668?via%253Dihub">review of 111 studies</a> even suggests that polluted air may cause changes in the brain regions that control emotions. This may increase the risk of developing anxiety and depression compared to those who breathe cleaner air.</p> <p>To investigate the impact of air pollution on mental health, researchers combined data on air pollution from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with UKHLS survey data, alongside data from the British Household Panel Survey (which looked at 10,000 UK households and ran from 1991 to 2009). This allowed them to analyse data from the years 1991-2014.</p> <p>The analysis found that people who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution reported lower levels of <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/publications/524260">life satisfaction</a>. The study indicated that the negative effect of air pollution on life satisfaction can be equivalent to major life events, such as divorce.</p> <p>In general, urban areas have between <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanplh/PIIS2542-5196(21)00255-2.pdf">two to four times the levels of air pollution</a> than rural areas, suggesting people who live in cities may be more likely to experience worse mental health as a result. However, the agricultural industry also generates <a href="https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/aqeg/2800829_Agricultural_emissions_vfinal2.pdf">high levels of air pollution</a> meaning some rural dwellers in certain settings may also be at risk.</p> <h2>Regional variation in wellbeing</h2> <p>Of course, these are just a few of the factors that affect a person’s day to day mental health – and it appears neither city nor country living is significantly better than the other when it comes to your mental health.</p> <p>Indeed, research has found that the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00343404.2019.1645953?needAccess=true">region of the country</a> you live in may be more important when it comes to your mental health than whether you live in the city or the countryside. There are many factors that may explain this effect, including the cost of living in certain areas, alongside local politics and a person’s economic status.</p> <p>Where we live is clearly very important when it comes to our mental health. But the place that works best for your mental health will depend largely on broader social and economic factors as well as which aspects of your lifestyle are most important to you.</p> <p><em><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Image credit: Shutterstock</span></em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/mental-health-how-living-in-the-city-and-country-compare-200402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a></em><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">.</span></p>

Mind

“As good as it gets”: Behind the scenes of Elton John’s final tour

<p>Richard Wilkins has shared priceless insights into the backstage experience of Sir Elton John’s final Australian tour after attending the music legend’s concert in Newcastle – and he even ran into a few more rock celebrities while meeting the man himself. </p> <p>Wilkins had the privilege of catching up with Elton in person, after Elton launched the Australian leg of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Farewell Tour in Newcastle, and the Today entertainment editor reported that he "absolutely delivered in spades".</p> <p>"To witness Elton John in concert is to witness an absolute masterclass in stadium entertainment and rock and roll - witnessing a legend at the top of his game," said Wilkins on the Today segment.</p> <p>And Wilkins wasn't alone backstage when it came to rubbing shoulders with the rock and roll royalty; Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were in attendance, and seemed more than happy to share a candid photograph with Sir Elton and Wilkins.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CnMB89Uri1u/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CnMB89Uri1u/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Richard Wilkins AM (@richardwilkins)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Wilkins went on to say that everyone lucky enough to see Elton live would be waking up this morning "with a big smile on their face".</p> <p>"It's a joyous experience," he said.</p> <p>"A show for the ages and the great man will be waking up with a smile on his face as well knowing he's made a lot of people happy."</p> <p>“On-stage at seven. Offstage at nine-thirty. Two-and-a-half hours of hit after hit after hit… He’s “still standing”, and when he hits that piano you instantly know.”</p> <p><em>Image: Richard Wilkins / Instagram</em></p>

Music

The real reason Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban returned to Australia

<p dir="ltr">The real reason for Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s return to Australia has been revealed.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Aussie lovebirds and their daughters Sunday, 14, and Faith, 11, landed Down Under in time for Christmas to spend some quality time with their mothers.</p> <p dir="ltr">"My mum just turned 80 and Nic’s mum … who knows how many Christmases we get with anybody ever, but particularly with our mums,” Keith told <a href="https://www.newidea.com.au/nicole-kidman-mum-janelle-sick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Idea</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“[We] really cherish that chance to spend Chrissy with [our mums] and our family in Australia,” he added after mentioning the loss of their fathers in the last few years.</p> <p dir="ltr">During Nicole’s last visit to Australia at the start of 2022, she revealed that her mother Janelle, now 82, was unwell.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We’re here primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren,” Nicole said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“She has every brain faculty available, so she hasn’t lost anything. She hasn’t lost any memory, which is fascinating, and she’s extremely bright.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So I’m getting access to the world through her eyes, my mother’s eyes, so therefore a part of me at 80.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The pair however are making sure their children are being accustomed to the Aussie way of life by soaking up the sun at Sydney’s Balmoral Beach.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Instagram</em></p>

International Travel

When hosting mega-events like FIFA, cities market themselves at the expense of the most vulnerable

<p>Few events capture the attention of the globe like the Men’s FIFA World Cup — in 2018, the event boasted a viewership of <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/2018russia/media-releases/more-than-half-the-world-watched-record-breaking-2018-world-cup">3.5 billion people</a>. Yet, despite the enormous popularity of the World Cup, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2022/11/17/do-host-countries-make-money-from-the-world-cup">host cities and countries invariably lose money</a> on the event itself, with FIFA capturing most of the profits despite its non-profit status.</p> <p>The calculus of host cities is based on the hope that successfully hosting a World Cup (or Olympics) will significantly enhance a city’s urban brand and ultimately lead to long-term increases in tourism and foreign direct investment.</p> <p>In other words, the argument is that a successful stint as a host city will identify that city as “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40643231">world-class</a>” and change its economic fortunes. This justification, at least from an economic point of view, relies on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02614360500504628">some pretty fuzzy math and long-term forecasting that rarely gets audited</a>.</p> <p>I attended the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to study how various communities attempted to have their voices heard and needs met through the planning process for that event. I continue to research how hosting large-scale events intersect with other trends in global and local urbanization.</p> <p><strong>Urban branding</strong></p> <p>This mission of improving one’s urban brand to attract tourist and foreign investment leads cities to focus their attention to the perceived needs. Or, more precisely, the perceived desires of potential tourists and investors, as opposed to the needs and desires of the people who already live, work and play in these cities.</p> <p>This shift in focus is part of larger trends of cities becoming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.1989.11879583">increasingly entrepreneurial in our globalized world</a>.</p> <p>And to this end, host cities pursue a fairly predictable path to demonstrate their world-classness. As Streetnet International, a South Africa-based international organization of street vendors, put it in their World Class Cities For All campaign:</p> <blockquote> <p>“It has become a boringly predictable reality that, when a country prepares to host a high-profile international event, <a href="https://streetnet.org.za/document/world-class-cities-for-all/">the country and its local government authorities prepare to create ‘World Class Cities’ of a particular type</a>, i.e. ‘World Class Cities’ which will attract foreign investment; have modern up-to-date infrastructure; have no visible signs of urban decay; have smooth traffic flows; have no visible poor people or social problems.”</p> </blockquote> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497721/original/file-20221128-4871-ip7vgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="overhead view of a building site in the desert" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">In Doha, several stadiums were built to host the FIFA World Cup.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Increased policing, decreased social investment</strong></p> <p>There are common themes to how cities approach their hosting duties and branding pursuits. However, the particular interventions that each city makes to create this type of world- class city are unique to their particular context.</p> <p>Unfailingly, cities significantly increase policing, both in the sheer numbers of police, military and surveillance measures as well as the powers afforded to the police and military. These powers are used to police undesirable activities and individuals — those activities and people deemed incommensurate with the desired world-class brand.</p> <p>Youth, the unhoused or precariously housed, street vendors and racialized individuals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2010.520938">experience the brunt of these increases</a>.</p> <p>In South Africa in 2010, FIFA courts were established to exact “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/sports/soccer/21iht-wcsoccer.html">swift and severe justice</a>” for crimes committed against tourists and journalists during the 2010 World Cup. In Qatar, there has been <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/2022/11/24/lgbtq-and-other-rights-issues-at-world-cup-a-huge-blemish-on-fifa-hall-of-famer.html">targeted policing of LGBTQ+ people and allies</a>.</p> <p>Additionally, the quest for this type of world-class-city brand also leads to uneven investment and under-investment as cities are forced to make choices about how to invest their municipal budgets.</p> <p>Tourist areas <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25765282">see significant infrastructure investments while those off the tourist map are often ignored</a>. This is intensified by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859905275971">television coverage of these places and events</a>.</p> <p>In Durban, South Africa, this meant significant investment along the waterfront and the construction of a shiny new soccer stadium (across the street from an existing rugby stadium) while other parts of the city, off the beaten path of journalists and tourists, continued to lack even basic infrastructure.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1080&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1080&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497776/original/file-20221128-14-4gf988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="armed police on horseback watch over a crowd." /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">In this image from video, Qatari police stand by on horseback as other security officials try to control a crowd at a FIFA Fan Zone on Nov. 19, 2022. Authorities turned away thousands of fans from a concert celebrating the World Cup beginning the next day.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Srdjan Nedeljkovic)</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Exposes the cracks</strong></p> <p>The current approach to hosting a World Cup puts unique and focused pressures on urban systems and infrastructure. In the process, it exposes the already existing cracks in the system and exacerbates existing inequalities.</p> <p>The World Cup did not create the labour system and working conditions of temporary migrant workers in Doha. However, both the magnitude and speed of construction to meet hosting needs undoubtedly ramped up the exploitation of the system, leading to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022">thousands of worker deaths</a>.</p> <p>We need to reframe how a world-class city is defined to one that is more liveable, sustainable and just. This will inspire future host cities to pursue this status in a manner that does not increase policing and exacerbate inequalities.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195069/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em>Writen by David Roberts. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-hosting-mega-events-like-fifa-cities-market-themselves-at-the-expense-of-the-most-vulnerable-195069" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Real Estate

Proof that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are our sweetest rock and roll couple

<p dir="ltr">Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman will forever be known as the sweetest rock and roll couple. </p> <p dir="ltr">The loved up couple once again proved that during one of Keith’s shows where Nicole made a surprise appearance on stage.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We love you Nashville,” a smiling Nicole said as Keith embraced her. </p> <p dir="ltr">She then turned to get off stage for her husband to start his show before telling him to “play some music”. </p> <p dir="ltr">"Happy wife, happy life. You guys know what I'm talking about,” Keith responds.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nicole later shared a stunning noir photo of her and Keith with their arms around each other backstage at the show in Nashville. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjeWh7NpWdG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjeWh7NpWdG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Fans went crazy at the photo, with many thanking the couple for being incredible and sweet during tour. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Nicole you looked amazing last night. I loved your outfit. I waved to you as I was very close to you. You and Keith are such a beautiful blessed couple. Love to you both and your family,” someone wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Love you two Nicole and Keith! You guys are so beautiful together!” another commented. </p> <p dir="ltr">“You two were the sweetest last night - I love seeing a couple still thriving together- gives us all hope,” someone else wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Do you know what I love the most about this photo? It’s the utter love the two of you share — you’re close, you're touching, you’re communicating, you’re supporting, you're in it together. Love it!” another read. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Music

Why turning old city bridges into new urban parks is such a great idea

<p>The recent opening of the <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/castlefield-viaduct/features/a-garden-in-the-sky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Castlefield Viaduct Sky Park</a> in Manchester, UK, has brought fresh attention to the growing number of projects that reuse urban infrastructures to create linear parks.</p> <p>When the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/07/paris-promenade-plantee-free-elevated-park-walkway-bastille-bois-de-vincennes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Promenade Plantée</a> opened in 1993 on top of an abandoned railway viaduct in Paris, it was reportedly the first of its kind. It provided local residents a green escape, ten metres above the tarmac of the street below, and a beautiful, three-mile meander from the Bois de Vincennes to Bastille. The opening of New York’s fabled <a href="https://www.thehighline.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">High Line</a>, in 2009, further cemented this type of urban regeneration as something for cities to aim <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">for.</span></p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ztZl6fYuXhQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Post-pandemic,</span> finding innovative ways to eke out accessible green spaces in the urban environment is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-can-add-accessible-green-space-in-a-post-coronavirus-world-139194" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more urgent than ever</a>. Doing so provides <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-021-10474-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">health</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-green-cities-to-become-mainstream-we-need-to-learn-from-local-success-stories-and-scale-up-119933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">environmental</a> benefits alongside <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-investing-in-green-infrastructure-can-jump-start-the-post-coronavirus-economy-139376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic</a> ones, by <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12876" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promoting</a> biodiversity, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721036779" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mitigating</a> air pollution, and in some (though <a href="https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2019/09/the-solution-to-urban-heat-is-not-one-size-fits-all/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not all</a>) cases, reducing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6458494/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the heat island effect</a>.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Plantlife spills over the edges of an elevated railway above a busy intersection" /><figcaption><em><span class="caption">The High Line in Manhattan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-july-2017-entry-1371108503" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Krzysztof Stefaniak | Shutterstock</a></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>How a local approach to high lines is needed</strong></p> <p>Since the 2000s, city planners across the world have tried to replicate what has been called <a href="https://publicjournal.online/the-high-line-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“the High Line effect”</a>. Built on top of a disused stretch of elevated freight rail line in western Manhattan, the High Line garnered considerable <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/arts/design/09highline-RO.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4e1dALkhc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media</a> coverage from the outset. It has been rightly championed as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/arts/design/15highline.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">success story</a>, attracting eight million visitors a year and <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nycs-high-line-park-marks-10-years-of-transformation/1646268/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fostering new economic activity</a>.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M8H8dqMjUCo?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">But</span> not everywhere else is wealthy Manhattan. By reinvigorating the industrial heritage and cultural identity of a place, this approach can <a href="https://idus.us.es/bitstream/handle/11441/116705/TS2_Libro-de-Actos_-Proceedings-Book-1-655-669.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increase tourism</a> which can have mixed results.</p> <p><a href="https://cityparksalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Equity_and_Parks_Funding_7.16.19.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recent research</a> has shown that without policies in place to ensure that lower-income local communities can enjoy the benefits of newly greened spaces, including health benefits, these projects can actually exacerbate inequality by raising property values and causing the displacement of long-term residents who can’t afford to stay. Urban planning experts talk about green gentrification, as has been noted in the case of the <a href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/green-gentrification-and-lessons-of-the-606/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">606 linear park in Chicago</a>, among others.</p> <p>Instead of simply trying to copy what has been done elsewhere, this type of regeneration is best done when attuned to the local heritage. As Historic England <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/wellbeing-and-the-historic-environment/wellbeing-and-historic-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has emphasised</a>, the best way to steward heritage sites and the historic environment is by keeping people’s wellbeing in mind. In particular, it’s about giving local people a voice, a place to be active and a sense of belonging.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Signposts at a junction in a pedestrianised green space." /><figcaption><em><span class="caption">The 606 elevated trail in Chicago.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chicago-usa-september-20-2018-chicagos-1184490604" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock</a></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Why reusing existing structures is best</strong></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-reusable-cups-bags-and-bottles-so-why-are-our-buildings-still-single-use-171345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adapting</a> existing infrastructure is an integral part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-cities-new-challenges-mean-we-need-to-reimagine-the-look-of-urban-landscapes-151709" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rethinking the city</a> in an era of <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150152/a-july-of-extremes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate emergency</a>. The era of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1587078" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grand visions for public parks</a> is largely over, as most cities are already full. Both spatially and economically, forming large green spaces from scratch is not possible.</p> <p>Reworking old railway lines and bridges into parks, conversely, contributes to a wider strategy of adaptive reuse and what designers term <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/948304/urban-acupuncture-regenerating-public-space-through-hyper-local-interventions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urban acupuncture</a>. Since the 1960s, <a href="https://theconversation.com/parks-help-cities-but-only-if-people-use-them-103474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pocket parks</a> have been created out of small, hidden or overlooked bits of land between existing buildings.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A pond set between planted beds in an elevated walkway." /><figcaption><em><span class="caption">The Promenade Plantée in Paris.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seoul-korea-21-september-2019-top-1539297443" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joao Paulo V Tinoco | Shutterstock</a></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p>The hyper-local nature of this type of urban greening makes it easier for residents to access and benefit from these spaces. As pressure increases on how we use resources and keep carbon in the ground wherever possible, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-021-10474-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enabling everyone</a> to have access to green space for <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-parks-and-waterways-in-cities-could-prevent-premature-deaths-study-finds-170973" target="_blank" rel="noopener">health reasons</a> is critical.</p> <p>This can be challenging in those cities where a large proportion of residents do not have access to private gardens. Capitalising on a city’s vertical space – as elevated walkways do – is a huge advantage in high-density cities where significant pressure on ground-level space exists. What’s more, the structures being turned into parks are usually found in those parts of a city that are post-industrial and in need of regeneration.</p> <p>In terms of environmental impact, these parks have great potential. Each year the High Line, for example, <a href="https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/high-line" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sequesters</a> over 1.3 tons of atmospheric carbon and its tree canopies collect over 24,340 gallons of stormwater.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="An overhead shot of an elevated park in a city centre." /><figcaption><em><span class="caption">The Seoullo 7017 Skygarden.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seoul-korea-21-september-2019-top-1539297443" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keitma | Shutterstock</a></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p>Further, by reusing existing industrial structures rather than demolishing and replacing them, embodied carbon can be <a href="https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/15481-continuing-education-embodied-carbon-adaptive-reuse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kept where it is</a>. Research on the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/143/1/012061" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seoullo 7017 Skygarden</a> in Seoul, a linear park built atop a disused highway overpass which cuts across the city’s main rail station, has shown that rewilding and landscaping urban infrastructures is more cost effective and less environmentally impactful than completely replacing them.</p> <p>There is growing evidence of how important <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/9/799/4056044" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biodiversity in cities</a> is, not just during daylight hours but <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-need-to-embrace-the-darkness-of-the-night-sky-heres-why-149129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at night</a> too. Reused infrastructure projects can play an important role in providing ecological corridors across <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179121000074" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cities for nocturnal creatures</a>. Supporting both human and non-human life in this way is a valuable step towards <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/cities-ecosystems-biodiversity-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improving</a> the sustainability and resilience of places.</p> <p>Linear parks thus <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329947799_The_Sustainable_Vertical_City_Research_Project" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weave nature</a> into the flow of a city. They support wildlife. They encourage sustainable transport and physical activity (walking, biking, jogging). They are, as landscape architect Diana Balmori puts it in her 2010 book, <em><a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300156584/a-landscape-manifesto/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Landscape Manifesto</a></em>, dynamic spaces: “not peaceful retreats but ways”.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188182/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nick-dunn-131665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nick Dunn</a>, Professor of Urban Design, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/lancaster-university-1176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lancaster University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-turning-old-city-bridges-into-new-urban-parks-is-such-a-great-idea-188182" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Real Estate

Sweet 16: Nicole Kidman shares wedding day snap

<p dir="ltr">Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have celebrated their sweet 16 wedding anniversary. </p> <p dir="ltr">The loved up couple shared heartwarming photos to their respective Instagram accounts with adorable captions.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Aussie actress dug her photo out of the archives of the pair lighting a candle on their wedding day in 2006.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Sweet XVI Remember this like it was yesterday. Forever,” her caption read with a couple of heart emojis. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfO2y-arY_M/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfO2y-arY_M/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Keith shared a more recent photo of themselves at a recent outing and smiling at the camera. </p> <p dir="ltr">“HAPPY SWEET 16 BABY xxxxx,” he wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">The sweethearts began dating in 2005 and got married the following year. They share two daughters, Sunday Rose, 13, and Faith Margaret, 11.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nicole is also mother to two other children Isabella, 29, and son Connor, 27, with ex-husband Tom Cruise.</p> <p dir="ltr">Speaking about her relationship with the musician, Nicole said that she couldn’t be happier with him.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfQF4UvusEQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfQF4UvusEQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Keith Urban (@keithurban)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">"I met him later in life and it's been the best thing that's ever happened to me. That man is the best thing that's ever happened to me," she said in January.</p> <p dir="ltr">Keith also commended his relationship with the actress for settling him and stopping his wild party days. </p> <p dir="ltr">"Life is very different nowadays. I'm trying to set a good example for the kids, but I still don't know if I'm getting it right," he previously told The Sun.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I have made so many mistakes, but you have to work out what works for you. My message to them is always to do whatever they are passionate about, I don't care, as long as they work hard to achieve it.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Both Nic and I worked really hard. For me, it was like paying dues twice. I worked my way up through the clubs in Australia to get a record deal, and then moved to the US and had to start all over again from the bottom. Luckily things worked out a second time.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Relationships

‘You can’t stop it’: in rural Australia, digital coercive control can be inescapable

<p>Domestic and family violence perpetrators commonly use technology such as phones and other devices as a weapon to control and entrap victims and survivors, alongside other forms of abuse. This “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/59/3/530/5172990?login=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital coercive control</a>” is not bound to a particular location and can follow targets anywhere, any time they access devices or digital media.</p><p>For women outside urban Australia, technology-enabled abuse can pose more risk than for those in cities. In research funded by the <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Institute of Criminology</a>, we spoke to <a href="https://doi.org/10.52922/ti78405" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13 such women who have been subjected to digital coercive control</a> to understand what it is like.</p><p><strong>The disturbing side of technology</strong></p><blockquote><p>… you see a side of a phone that you probably wish you didn’t know about [Shelly]</p></blockquote><p>The women reported that abusers used technology to harass and stalk. The majority experienced image-based sexual abuse (the creation and/or release of intimate images without consent) or recordings made of victims or survivors, overtly or covertly.</p><p>Some experienced doxxing (release of personal and identifiable information). Perpetrators in some cases impersonated real or fake people and initiated contact with women or their children. Authorised functions of phones and other devices and accounts were sometimes impaired, or unauthorised functions enabled.</p><blockquote><p>I think you can feel a lot safer knowing they are not in proximity; they can’t hurt me. When it comes to technology it can – I guess you’re more hyper-vigilant because they can come any time and you can’t stop it. Even if you block someone, they find another way. They do; he always found other means to make contact with me. I never – I guess you never got to escape, which I hadn’t experienced before, because every other type of abuse I was able to – it ended at some point. [Kira]</p></blockquote><p><strong>It is different outside the cities</strong></p><p>These behaviours have also been observed in <a href="https://accan.org.au/Domestic%20Violence%20and%20Communication%20Technology%20final%20report%2020190801.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urban settings in Australia</a>. Also, like in cities, we found that violence persisted (and often increased) after separation.</p><p>However, women outside cities face higher barriers when seeking help and responding to family violence, and they can also be at greater risk.</p><p>Domestic violence agencies are further from women’s homes in non-urban areas, as we have observed in this study and in <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/104420/13/Landscapes%2Bof%2BViolence%2BCW%2Bedit%2BFINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other work</a>. Legal services can be limited and there are shortages in alternative and crisis accommodation.</p><p>Complicated financial arrangements and pressures may hinder women’s ability to exit violent relationships, such as where they work on farms or other small businesses and there may be few employment and educational opportunities in the region.</p><p><strong>No anonymity</strong></p><p>Numerous survivors spoke of the lack of anonymity in rural areas, so they and/or their abusers were more likely to be known when disclosing and reporting violence. This can be confronting, especially when perpetrators are well-known and well liked.</p><blockquote><p>He is established - he knows people and he’s well liked … he’s in a boys’ club and knows lots of people … whereas I don’t. [Fiona]</p></blockquote><p>This could be heightened for women with family and networks out of the region or overseas, culturally and linguistically diverse women, criminalised women, or those viewed as “different” outsiders.</p><p>As well as actively destroying women’s social networks, abusers would challenge women’s accounts of abuse and attempt to gather allies, as Claire explains:</p><blockquote><p>He went around the streets telling people that I’m crazy … Because we’re in a small country town he was going in and out of shops … He affiliated himself with one of the local churches and got them on his side.</p></blockquote><p><strong>Isolation and fear</strong></p><p>Abusers socially isolate women, and those in non-urban areas are often socially further from family, friends and support services than those urban areas. We found too, that some abusers sought to extend geographic isolation, by moving women to more remote locations.</p><p>Technology could provide channels to communicate with others and to seek assistance and support. Natalie had “a good amount of friends” and so would be “on the phone, or I’d be texting, and that was my outlet for a crazy situation”. However, some women felt this was not always possible when devices had been taken over or were monitored by abusers.</p><blockquote><p>[I was] too scared to use it [technology]. I just couldn’t reach out to people … I didn’t want to use it just in case [Lola]</p></blockquote><p>Fear loomed large in women’s accounts of digital coercive control. All those we spoke to had contact with police.</p><p>Some had positive encounters, most commonly with specialist (domestic and family violence liaison officers, who are less available in many rural areas) but more spoke of negative encounters. Women who were dissatisfied with police felt that officers were dismissive of digital coercive control.</p><p><strong>‘Homicide flags’</strong></p><p>We believe digital coercive control warrants attention. Coercive control, obsessive tendencies, stalking, and threats to kill or self-harm have all been noted as signals of fatal violence by <a href="https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/586182/domestic-and-family-violence-death-review-and-advisory-board-annual-report-2017-18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death review teams</a>.</p><p>The women we interviewed reported all these behaviours. Non-fatal strangulation is another “homicide flag” and was reported by 46% of our participants.</p><p>Firearm ownership and threats to use firearms also signal high risk. Firearm ownership is common on farms and in many rural areas.</p><p>An assault can become a homicide in rural areas, because of the sheer distance between the site of an attack and a hospital or medic.</p><p>It is imperative that we acknowledge and address how technology is used against survivors and the impact that technology-facilitated abuse has on women across landscapes. We must also recognise that women in rural locations face elevated risks, and that digital coercive control can provide evidence and signal risk of fatal violence.</p><hr /><p><em>Pseudonyms have been used for the women quoted in this article.</em></p><p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line – <a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1800 RESPECT</a> (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em><img style="border: none !important;margin: 0 !important;max-height: 1px !important;max-width: 1px !important;min-height: 1px !important;min-width: 1px !important;padding: 0 !important" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176980/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bridget-harris-547362" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bridget Harris</a>, Associate professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland University of Technology</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/delanie-woodlock-1287646" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Delanie Woodlock</a>, , <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSW Sydney</a></em></p><p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-cant-stop-it-in-rural-australia-digital-coercive-control-can-be-inescapable-176980" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>.</em></p><p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Technology

Up on a roof: why New Zealand’s move towards greater urban density should see a rooftop revolution

<p>New Zealand has historically been a suburban land. Famously <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/1997/the-half-gallon-quarter-acre-pavlova-paradise">characterised</a> as a “quarter-acre pavlova paradise”, the domestic ideal has long been a single dwelling on a full section. But that is changing fast.</p> <p>With soaring house prices and homes in short supply, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300433304/labour-national-announce-sweeping-housing-density-law-threestorey-homes-without-consent">medium-density development</a> is set to fill urban and suburban horizons. Combined with a growing awareness of ecological sustainability, it seems Kiwis may soon be looking up to those green spaces they once looked at through backyard windows.</p> <p>So, why not a rooftop revolution? Humans have made use of roof spaces since the invention of housing. Legend has it the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that greened the ancient city were created on roofs and terraces by those yearning for nature within their urban landscape.</p> <p>These days, rooftop gardens and the “green roofs” movement are trending internationally, both as domestic and commercial spaces. Once useful for solar power and collecting rainwater, roofs are now used for food production, growing mini “forests” to mitigate climate change, “wildlife gardening”, leisure and entertainment.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436848/original/file-20211210-68670-1hdfld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s famous roof garden on the restrooms in Kawakawa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>Rooftops of the world</h2> <p>Examples of rooftop regeneration are everywhere. Thailand’s Thammasat University, for instance, boasts urban farming on its rice terrace-influenced <a href="https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/thammasat-university-the-largest-urban-rooftop-farm-in-asia/">green roof</a>, a multipurpose organic food space, public commons, water management system, energy generator and outdoor classroom.</p> <p>The rooftop of the Paris Exhibition Centre is <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2020/06/28/the-world-s-largest-rooftop-garden-has-just-opened-in-paris">now a vegetable garden</a>, aimed at cutting the cost of food miles and feeding locals. With its massive, architectural “supertrees”, Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay invents a lush oasis in the densely populated city-state.</p> <p>Closer to home, the artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s famous roof garden on the <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7817/kawakawa-public-toilets">restrooms in Kawakawa</a> was a precursor to his remarkable Waldspirale building in Darmstadt, Germany.</p> <p>Typical of his belief in culturally diverse urban forms that co-exist with nature, the apartment complex includes a <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/waldspirale">forest on its spiral roof</a>. Even more ambitious, Whangārei’s brand-new Hundertwasser Art Centre has a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/452692/hundertwasser-art-centre-due-to-open-in-whangarei">forest rooftop</a> that includes more than 4,000 plants.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436849/original/file-20211210-188518-tv3ice.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>The green roof</h2> <p>Similar ideas inform the the <a href="https://www.greenroofs.com/projects/university-of-auckland-engineering-building/">green roof</a> on the University of Auckland’s engineering building. The project involves six plots containing 3,600 native and succulent plants, chosen for their ability to cope with both drought and flood conditions. Pumice, clay and bark are among the soil substitutes on trial, all part of proving a model for both commercial and domestic buildings.</p> <p>To the west, the <a href="https://greenroofs.co.nz/projects/waitakere-civic-centre/">Waitākere Civic Centre green roof</a> was designed to manage rainwater runoff, increase energy efficiency and promote biodiversity. The flat 500sqm garden contains ten types of native plant, iris and sand dune coprosma. The roof provides food and habitat for native insects and birds.</p> <p>Rooftop development also offers the opportunity to decolonise cities, showcasing local culture and ecology and creating Māori spaces. Part of a renaissance in Māori architecture, Auckland International Airport’s green roof was <a href="https://inhabitat.com/the-cloak-fearon-hay-architects-install-a-maori-inspired-green-roof-at-auckland-international-airport/">influenced by korowai</a> and made from flax fibre with geometric patterning.</p> <p>And to the south, with part of its intention being to absorb noise pollution from the airport, Remarkables Primary School in Queenstown has a green roof that blends into the landscape and can be <a href="https://greenroofs.co.nz/projects/remarkables-primary-school-queenstown-new-zealand/">used as a classroom</a>.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436850/original/file-20211210-188518-1pudl1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">The Press Lounge rooftop bar in New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>Drinking in the view</h2> <p>If there’s a pioneer of the sky-high lifestyle it’s probably the rooftop bar and restaurant. Kensington Roof Gardens in London opened in 1938, and from 1981 to 2018 was the site of Richard Branson’s appropriately named Babylon restaurant.</p> <p>But the city rooftop bar is now a staple around the world. <a href="https://www.therooftopguide.com/rooftop-bars-in-auckland.html">Auckland</a> and <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/the-best-rooftop-bars-in-wellington-new-zealand/">Wellington</a> boast multiple options, and post-earthquake Christchurch defies the loss of so much of the central city with two bars atop restored heritage buildings.</p> <p>For those old enough to remember, these rooftop playgrounds might make them nostalgic for the real versions from their childhoods.</p> <p>Taking their lead from the US, magical department store rooftop playgrounds thrilled generations of Kiwi children while their mothers shopped. On the Farmer’s rooftop in Auckland they could drive model cars, happily caught up in a fairground atmosphere that featured a giant toadstool.</p> <p>On the Hay’s rooftop in Christchurch there were cheap rides on spaceships and fibreglass dinosaurs to slide down. There was even a popular purpose-built crèche on top of the then new Wellington railway station between 1937 and 1941.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436854/original/file-20211210-25-1gja0wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>Embracing Babylon</h2> <p>All of this suggests we might be ready for the rooftop revolution. The question is, however, is there a political and civic commitment to greening the mass of new medium-density roof spaces now being built?</p> <p>It will likely take a shift in mindset, supportive legislation and perhaps subsidies. In bucolic “God’s Own Country”, where our mental maps are of wide open spaces rather than vertical ones, roofscapes are going to take a bit of getting used to.</p> <p>Might embracing a Kiwi Babylon mitigate our nostalgia for low-density living and let us re-imagine green spaces in exciting new ways? Let’s hope so. History tells us rooftops can combine utility with pleasure and sustainability. We just need to look up.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172226/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katie-pickles-547300">Katie Pickles</a>, Professor of History, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canterbury-1004">University of Canterbury</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/up-on-a-roof-why-new-zealands-move-towards-greater-urban-density-should-see-a-rooftop-revolution-172226">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Home Hints & Tips

The new enclosure: how land commissions can lead the fight against urban land-grabs

<p>When Boris Johnson sold the 35-acre <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f7b5599c-c7b0-11e2-9c52-00144feab7de">Royal Albert Docks in London</a> to Chinese buyers in 2013, it was his biggest commercial property deal as mayor of London and one of China’s largest investments in the UK. The Greater London Authority sold off further parcels of land in the area in a bid to regenerate the Royal Docks, which had fallen into disrepair with the decline of the docklands from the 1960s.</p> <p>Over the past few decades, huge transfers of land from public to private ownership have occurred throughout Britain. Since Margaret Thatcher was elected prime minister in 1979, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3050-the-new-enclosure">one-tenth</a> of the entire British landmass, or about half of the land owned by all public bodies, has been privatised. This has included, for instance, dozens of <a href="https://www.forces.net/services/tri-service/more-50-bases-go-mod-estate-sell">former military bases</a> on Ministry of Defence land.</p> <p>In our cities, one result of this land privatisation has been the long-term shift from public to private housing tenure: social rented housing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13604813.2012.709403">declined</a> from 31% of Britain’s total housing stock in 1981 to just 18% in 2012.</p> <p>As what was effectively our <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-commons-are-under-siege-in-the-age-of-austerity-heres-how-to-protect-them-121067">common wealth</a> is sold off, local authorities are losing the capacity to address the interconnected housing and climate change <a href="https://www.tcpa.org.uk/blog/blog-the-need-for-better-environmental-standards-in-homes-old-and-new">crises</a>. From London to Leeds, this transformation of land has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275115300299">impeded democratic involvement</a> in urban planning. It has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13604813.2012.709403?needAccess=true">displaced</a> working-class communities. And it has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13604813.2012.754190">heightened</a> social inequalities.</p> <p>In a bid to make Liverpool the fairest and most socially inclusive city region in the UK, the mayor, Steve Rotherham, launched England’s first land commission in September 2020. The commission’s findings chime with <a href="http://www.gmhousingaction.com/who-owns-the-city/">our research</a>. It argues for a fundamentally new understanding of what land is.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433148/original/file-20211122-17-1h5hnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Panoramic view of London from Highgate Hampstead Park" /> <span class="caption">Even many of our so-called urban commons don’t belong to the people at all.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panoramic-view-london-highgate-hampstead-park-632934269" class="source">pabmap | Shutterstock</a></span></p> <h2>What is a land commission?</h2> <p>Liverpool was the first metropolitan area in England to establish a participatory land commission. The participants were from the public, private and voluntary sectors as well as from academia. They were <a href="https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/steve-rotheram-launches-englands-first-land-commission-focused-on-community-wealth-building/">tasked</a> with a radical year-long mission: to figure out how to make the best use of publicly owned land in the city region.</p> <p>The idea is to build what economists call <a href="https://cles.org.uk/community-wealth-building/what-is-community-wealth-building/">community wealth</a>. In response, the commission released its <a href="https://cles.org.uk/publications/our-land/">final report</a> in June 2021, in concert with the Manchester-based <a href="https://cles.org.uk/">Centre for Local Economic Strategies</a>.</p> <p>Public authorities in recent decades have largely looked at urban land through a narrow economic growth lens. This has focused on <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-city-champions-league-final-20494480">attracting investment</a> at the expense of wider community needs – social housing, say, or public green space.</p> <p>By contrast, the commission recognises that land plays an important function in <a href="https://landforthemany.uk/">addressing</a> social and environmental, as well as economic, needs. This challenges the processes of privatisation, commodification and wealth extraction that have characterised urban development since the 1980s, and which political economist Brett Christophers has described as the <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3050-the-new-enclosure">“new enclosure”</a>. Similar processes can be seen in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X16305484">other countries</a> around the world too.</p> <p><a href="https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/enclosure-grand-scale">Karl Marx</a> and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-invention-of-capitalism">others</a> drew a direct connection between the <a href="https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=568">enclosure of the commons</a>, which took place during the 16th-19th century in England, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. If enclosure led to the dispossession of the rural peasantry, that storing up of wealth by the privileged few, in turn, led to the rise of capitalism in western Europe.</p> <p>As historical <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520260009/the-magna-carta-manifesto">research</a> shows, the very notion of the commons is revolutionary. It defines land as collective wealth that belongs to everyone. This stands in stark contrast to the capitalist model of private property.</p> <p>It is this idea that motivated the 17th-century reformer, <a href="https://www.culturematters.org.uk/index.php/culture/theory/item/2978-a-common-treasury-for-all-gerrard-winstanley-and-the-diggers">Gerard Winstanley</a>, along with a group of men and women who became known as the Diggers, to create a social order based on common ownership of the land.</p> <p>This historical tradition animates the Liverpool land commission’s vision of how urban land can be managed for the benefit of the many rather than the few. The report explicitly situates the commission’s work within that long history of enclosure and resistance, quoting a <a href="http://jacklynch.net/Texts/winstanley.html">1649 pamphlet</a> from Winstanley: “The earth was not made for you, to be Lords of it, and we to be your Slaves, Servants and Beggars; but it was made to be a common Livelihood to call, without respect of persons.”</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433146/original/file-20211122-25-nausrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433146/original/file-20211122-25-nausrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Overhead view of the Three Graces and the Liverpool waterfront" /></a> <span class="caption">Urban land is increasingly seen as an economic asset, at the expense of its social functions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/lrG9KIuxQzo" class="source">Phil Kiel | Unsplash</a>, <a href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en" class="license">FAL</a></span></p> <h2>Practical steps</h2> <p>The commission’s report includes a series of practical recommendations to reclaim the social function of urban land. These include establishing a citizen-led body for governing public land. It recommends making public land available to community organisations for socially valuable projects such as cooperatives, green spaces and social enterprises. And it suggests establishing an online map of public land resources, including empty land, that is currently held by councils.</p> <p>Further, it recommends capturing rising land values (future profits derived from the development of currently underused land) to fund reparations for Liverpool’s historic role in the transatlantic slave trade. And it suggests using public land to install the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change.</p> <p>If adopted, these recommendations will mark a rupture from the Thatcherite approach to <a href="https://theconversation.com/ending-austerity-stop-councils-selling-off-public-assets-113858">selling off public assets</a> that has dominated since the 1980s. As such, the commission demonstrates how decisions about urban land use can be undertaken in a democratic, participatory and transparent manner.</p> <p><a href="http://www.gmhousingaction.com/who-owns-the-city/">Our research</a> on public land privatisation in the neighbouring city of Manchester suggests that the land commission approach needs to be expanded to other UK cities. We raised a number of concerns about public land sales by Manchester City Council, including the lack of transparency around deals and the fact that large amounts of public land have been sold to private developers to build <a href="http://www.gmhousingaction.com/report_launched_on_housing_finance_gm/">city centre apartment blocks</a> that contain no social or affordable housing.</p> <p>In response to this research, over 60 civil society organisations <a href="http://www.gmhousingaction.com/gm-land-commission-letter/">signed an open letter</a> calling for the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to stick to his <a href="https://andyformayor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Andy-Burnham-Manisfesto-v2.1-002.pdf">manifesto</a> commitment to establish a Greater Manchester land commission.</p> <p>The UK government’s “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56238260">levelling-up</a>” programme has brought regional inequality and postindustrial urban decline to the fore once again. But addressing these longstanding issues will require a fundamental rethink about what land is for and the purpose it serves in today’s society. The Liverpool land commission has opened the door to the future. Which cities will follow?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167817/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-silver-534810">Jonathan Silver</a>, Senior Research Fellow, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sheffield-1147">University of Sheffield</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tom-gillespie-1253447">Tom Gillespie</a>, Hallsworth Research Fellow, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-manchester-1204">University of Manchester</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-enclosure-how-land-commissions-can-lead-the-fight-against-urban-land-grabs-167817">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Songquan Deng | Shutterstock</em></p>

Real Estate

Explorer finds abandoned cottage with dirty dishes still in the sink

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">UK-based YouTuber and urban explorer Daniel Sims, who goes by BeardedReality on YouTube, discovered an abandoned house in Anglesey, Wales, that included such finds as dirty dishes waiting to be washed in the sink, a gramophone, cabinets with shelves of china, and a taxidermied pheasant. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sims, who is from West Yorkshire, regularly explores abandoned and forgotten buildings and structures, a hobby known as ‘urban exploration’, or Urbex for short. He found this particular home following a recommendation from a fellow explorer, and decided to investigate the site with his friend Charlotte. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They found a home on a vast stretch of land, complete with two caravans in the yard. Searching the caravans first, the pair found dishes, both clean and unwashed, scattered across the kitchen counter and sink. Sims described the caravan as having been left to overgrow. </span></p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oE6dMPY5mhg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the main house, the finds were a lot more varied. The front door and some windows had been left open, and an eclectic collection of art, homewares and technology was soon discovered. This included a framed Kellogg’s cornflakes advertisement, old photographs, and artworks that Sims said have obviously been damaged over time due to their exposure to the elements.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other discoveries included a gramophone, speakers, old records, a computer scanner and an old keyboard, as well as cabinets with shelves full of china. A variety of different wallpapers can be seen peeling off the walls throughout the house. In one of the final rooms he looked through, Sims found a single taxidermied pheasant in a glass case. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Sims said the place looked ‘foreboding and kind of creepy’, he nonetheless found it a fascinating place to explore, explaining, “It’s crazy to see what is left behind in a property like this, as it is kind of like the people that used to own the place are still there or just left, but you can clearly see that a vast amount of time has gone by with these items left out.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It felt like we were seeing a part of history that not many people get to experience, such as old artefacts and old brands that have long gone and disappeared from the shelves.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: YouTube</span></em></p>

Home & Garden

Nicole Kidman shares the moment she knew Keith was 'the one'

<p>Nicole Kidman has revealed the sweet moment she knew she was "a goner" for her husband Keith Urban, when he turned up at the door of her New York apartment at 5 am with flowers.</p> <p>The Aussie actress told Jimmy Fallon about the special moment during an appearance on <em>The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon</em>.</p> <p>"He sat on the stoop of my New York apartment,” she said. “I came out, it was 5 am in the morning and it was my birthday, and he had flowers," Kidman recalled of the day back in June 20, 2005.</p> <p>"And that was it. I was a goner. I'm like, 'Yes I'll marry you'," she added.</p> <p>Kidman didn’t elaborate if that was the moment Urban proposed to her or just the moment she realised she wanted to marry the country singer.</p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uk9wV_Cm7qE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>Celebrating 15 years of marriage</strong></p> <p>The couple, who first met at G'Day LA in 2005, married on June 25, 2006 in Sydney.</p> <p>In the interview on <em>The Tonight Show</em>, Fallon congratulated the pair on their recent 15th wedding anniversary in June of this year.</p> <p>"For a second there, I thought you said 50 years," Kidman laughed, before adding: "Hopefully one day, but 15 years, which is pretty amazing, right?"</p> <p>Fallon tried to get the actress to divulge how the couple celebrated their relationship milestone but Kidman kept details of the celebration private.</p> <p><strong><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/ca21f771ab00460e9382cb079b8d38f0" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 359.70636215334423px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844350/nicole-kidman-1-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/ca21f771ab00460e9382cb079b8d38f0" /></strong></p> <p><strong>No joint albums coming out soon</strong></p> <p>It's certain the happy couple won't be marking the milestone by creating an album of duets together because the actress was horrified when Fallon asked if that will ever be on the agenda.</p> <p>While Kidman has sung in musicals like <em>Moulin Rouge</em><br />and <em>Nine</em> as well as a duet with Robbie Williams, she says she's not confident as a performer and would rather "stay in my lane" and leave the music to her hubby.</p> <p>Kidman previously told <em>People </em>magazine in a 2019 interview it was her 38th birthday when she knew Urban was the one for her.</p> <p>"I believed by that point he was the love of my life," she said.</p> <p>"Maybe that's because I am deeply romantic, or I'm an actress, or I have strong faith as well, but I just believed, 'Oh, okay, here he is,'" she added.</p> <p>And speaking of their relationship in 2007 with <em>Vanity Fair</em>, the actress described it as the right timing.</p> <p>"I would probably say that two very lonely people managed to meet at a time when they could open themselves to each other. We were a mixture of frightened and brave," Kidman said.</p> <p>The couple share two daughters together Sunday Rose, 13, and Faith, 10.</p> <p><em>Image: The Tonight Show and Instagram</em></p>

Beauty & Style

"Most expensive urban property in the world" to go under the hammer

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A sprawling home in Los Angele, nicknamed “The One”, is </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/us-news-mega-mansion-once-worth-683-million-defaults-on-136-million-in-debt-forcing-a-sale/58a4d087-723c-428f-bbd4-f26f3238a755" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">expected to be sold</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> after the owner defaulted on $136 million in loans and debt.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dubbed America’s most expensive home, the 105,000-square-foot property developed by former film producer Nile Niami was expected to sell for $683 million, according to Niami.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, after suffering delays and complications and racking up debt, Niami faces a court-ordered sale to pay his debts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Niami bought the property for a cool $28 million, before partnering with architect Paul McClean to build “The One”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Original plans for the home included a cinema, four-lane bowling alley, beauty salon, five pools, a private nightclub, and a casino.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As for bedrooms, Niami planned for 20, with the largest being a 5,500 square-foot master suite, complete with its own office, pool, and kitchen.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite its original completion date being set for 2017, Niami borrowed $112.78 million from Hankey Capital in 2018 to continue building the home.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The design also underwent changes, with the number of bedrooms dropping to nine and plans for an extravagant jellyfish tank being dropped.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In March 2021, Hankey served a notice of default to Niami, who had 90 days to pay or negotiate the now $150 million debt, according to court documents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With no payment as of July, the home was placed in court-ordered receivership, an alternative to foreclosure.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Theodore Lanes Management Services received the property, and is required to account for debts against the property, then selling it and repaying lenders and creditors with the proceeds.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite Niami promising the home was nearly complete in April, there is still some work to be done. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This includes a lack of gas service until a certificate of residence is issued, and an empty space where a commercial-grade catering kitchen was expected to be installed, after the permit to build it was denied.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s a pretty extensive list [of issues],” Lanes told </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">CNN Business</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The home also has more than $2 million in unpaid taxes and invoices for concrete, air conditioning, and scaffolding, according to Lanes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This is a very complicated property with quite a few open issues,” Lanes said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“At present, the focus is to obtain complete insurance and develop a timeline and budget to secure the certificate of occupancy in order to maximise value and to make the property more marketable.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Speaking to </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/americas-most-expensive-home-the-24958036" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">NBC</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Lanes said, “What I would love to see happen is that the house gets completed, the certificate of occupancy is awarded and we have an orderly sale that maximises the value.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Hopefully, there will be sufficient proceeds from the sale to fund the secured and unsecured creditors and for the equity to realise some value.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Images: nileniami / Instagram, Bel Air Mansion</span></em></p>

Real Estate

The Voice fans outraged at Rita Ora's pick for final four

<p><em>The Voice Australia</em> fans have expressed their outrage at Judge Rita Ora for picking girl group G-Nat!on over Sian Fuller and some have even slammed the competition as 'rigged.'</p> <p>On Sunday's episode of <em>The Voice Australia</em>, the judges had to pick between their last two finalists for the grand final next week and it was Rita Ora’s choice which left fans fuming.</p> <p>Ora chose girl group G-Nat!on over Sian Fuller and this infuriated fans – many of whom took to Twitter to express their disappointment.</p> <p>The top four artists competing for the title on <em>The Voice Australia </em>next Sunday are Bella Taylor Smith from Team Guy, Arlo Sim from Team Keith, Mick Harrington from Team Jess and G-Nat!on from Team Rita.</p> <p><strong>Sian had become a fan favourite</strong></p> <p>Sian Fuller has become a fan favourite on the show as she merely accompanied her talented brother, Jordan, to the audition and it was the host, Sonia Kruger, who asked Sian if she would like to try out to be part of the show.</p> <p>Sian said “yes” and when she auditioned, she was accepted. She competed with everyone else, including her brother Jordan, and both of them made it to the semi-finals last night.</p> <p>Jordan was unfortunately not picked by his coach as well. In a difficult choice, Guy Sebastian chose Bella Taylor Smith. But at least fans could understand these were competitors were both very gifted.</p> <p><strong>Outraged fans took to Twitter</strong></p> <p>But when Rita Ora chose G-Nation over Sian, fans expressed their anger with one posting: 'Thought it was The Voice not The Voices', while another said, 'What the hell wrong choice'.</p> <p>Someone else added: '#TheVoiceAU is rigged! What a crappy decision to take the girl group through instead of a beautiful amazing girl! Rigged I say!'</p> <p>Another didn't mince words, writing: 'I am gob smacked. Rita you are an idiot. I'm so disappointed'.</p> <p>Another chimed in: 'What's with the whole 'the world needs another girl group' we'll be fine, I promise'.</p> <p>Yet another complained: 'G NATION OVER SIAN????? F**k off Rita!' while someone else wrote: 'What the hell wrong choice'.</p> <p>G-Nat!on is made up of Isla Ward, 17; Taylah Silvestri, 18; Emma Caporaso, 18; Mateja Sardelis, 16; Alessia Musolino, 17 and Rylee Vormelker, 17.</p> <p>The six girls hail from Adelaide and they're the largest group to ever audition for <em>The Voice Australia</em>. They’re also the only group to take part this season.</p> <p><em>Image: Channel 7</em></p>

Music

Our Partners

Over 60

News

Shop

Catalogues

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Games

Information

Keep up to date

Search

The Voice 2025 coaches line-up leaked

Nicole Kidman bids farewell to her mother at intimate funeral

"Skippy ain't playing": Urban kangaroo stuns with epic leap

"Blew our marriage to smithereens”: Keith Urban's emotional admission

Nicole Kidman's daughters help celebrate mum's historic first

"It's been really hard": Nicole Kidman's Mother's Day heartbreak

Mental health: how living in the city and country compare

“As good as it gets”: Behind the scenes of Elton John’s final tour

The real reason Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban returned to Australia

When hosting mega-events like FIFA, cities market themselves at the expense of the most vulnerable

Proof that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are our sweetest rock and roll couple

Why turning old city bridges into new urban parks is such a great idea

Sweet 16: Nicole Kidman shares wedding day snap

‘You can’t stop it’: in rural Australia, digital coercive control can be inescapable

Up on a roof: why New Zealand’s move towards greater urban density should see a rooftop revolution

The new enclosure: how land commissions can lead the fight against urban land-grabs

Explorer finds abandoned cottage with dirty dishes still in the sink

Nicole Kidman shares the moment she knew Keith was 'the one'

"Most expensive urban property in the world" to go under the hammer

The Voice fans outraged at Rita Ora's pick for final four

Our Partners