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The purpose for this paper is to share jurisdictional knowledge on local law-making theory and praxis, an area of law not well represented in the literature despite its involvement in day-to-day life.

The paper not only shares knowledge about the local law-making process in Melbourne, Australia, but also explores attitudes to local law-making gathered through semi-structured interviews from a sample of relevant stakeholders.

The paper reports on findings from a study undertaken in Melbourne, Australia. Stakeholder perceptions and attitudes were canvassed regarding local law-making in the areas of land use planning and waste management. Overall, stakeholders were satisfied that Melbourne is a robust jurisdiction offering a fair and transparent local law-making system, but they see scope for more public participation.

The findings suggest that even though the state of Victoria offers a fair and transparent system of local law-making, there is still significant scope for more meaningful involvement from the community, as well as space for more effective enforcement of local laws. The stage is set for greater cross-jurisdictional reciprocal learning about local law-making between cities.

This paper offers meaningful and utilitarian insight for policy and law makers, academics and built environment professionals from relevant stakeholders on the operation and transparency of local law-making.

This paper examines gender diversity in the Australian valuation industry from the perspective of valuers in senior management and leadership roles and discusses gender diversity policies and practices in their organisations. Then, it explores the initiatives that can be implemented to improve gender diversity in the Australian valuation industry.

A focus group discussion was conducted with valuers in senior management and leadership roles from selected large valuation firms and government valuation agencies in Melbourne, Australia. Data collected through the focus group discussion was combined with secondary data sourced from journals, online articles and archival materials.

The findings reveal that whilst gender diversity in the Australian valuation industry has improved over the years, females remain underrepresented. Nonetheless, whilst some valuation companies have recognised the need to address the underrepresentation of women and introduced specific gender-focussed human resource policies and practices, these initiatives are not streamlined and implemented across the industry.

The study highlights the need for closer collaboration between key stakeholders such as universities, professional associations, valuation companies and government agencies in devising strategies to attract female talents into the valuation industry.

The paper is the first empirical study to assess gender diversity in the Australian valuation industry from the perspective of valuers in management and leadership roles. The proposed policies can inform future initiatives to improve gender diversity in the valuation industry.

This paper aims to set out an argument for the use of blockchain technology as a land registration tool, for Cyprus and other disputed land contexts, to assist with land disputes, which may, in turn, promote peace and harmony.

The paper is exploratory in nature. It raises the historical and present land issues in Cyprus and highlights that blockchain technologies could work as a tool to record disputed property rights on the Island.

While there have been many pilots to date for blockchain land registration, there is still scope to develop blockchain as a tool to record land interests. Cyprus offers an exemplar opportunity to use such a tool to assist in developing peace on the Island.

While the paper is conceptual in its application of blockchain technologies, it is novel in that it strives to show how technologies such as blockchain can act as a tool to assist with land registration matters, which, in turn, can assist with new ways to approach the peace process. More research is necessary for this area of inquiry, especially as to how sidechains can act as a conduit for recording competing land interests and disputed land claims.

With current commercial space activities accelerating, the purpose of this paper is to contexualise enlivening the discipline of real estate law for outer space.

Drawing on essential topics in real estate law, contracts and insurance, this paper discusses these themes in their terrestrial and extra-terrestrial contexts.

Real estate law for the outer space environment carries many similarities to real estate law but also significant differences. At this early stage in human space exploration and travel, there is a need to deal more with goods/chattels (property assets); however, this will change as land – the Moon, asteroids, planets – are made available for mining and other activities. Given outer space activities carry high risk for spacecraft and humans, there are reciprocal lessons for real estate law and practice.

Real estate law for outer space is an area already in existence. However, as access to space develops further, particularly with inevitable human presence on the Moon and exploration to Mars, real estate law will also grow in importance and sophistication. Real estate law for outer space relies on contract and property law. These are levers for commercial activities, and a further array of complex law and governance – the Outer Space Treaties, international and national law, international custom, guidelines, codes and standards. Real estate law for space will require an interdisciplinary and global approach in an era where human needs are already reliant on goods and services derived from space, as well as in the quest for exploration beyond the earth and the moon itself.

The time is ripe for space law to be taken into nuanced areas, with real estate law being an important step. Entrenched into the combined real estate and outer space disciplinary context must be consideration of the environment (earth and beyond), sustainability, heritage protection issues, etc., as well as ensuring outer space has equitable opportunities for all nations and citizens.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which gatekeepers of information stymie due diligence investigations in the multi-owned property environment.

The study reviewed and analysed the relevant state legislative provisions providing statutory protections for (pre)purchasers of lots within the multi-owned property context. Further, an exploratory survey questionnaire was distributed to owners corporation (OC) managers in Victoria to gain knowledge and a greater understanding of the extent to which OC managers are gatekeepers of information.

The study emphasises how relevant state governments, OC managers and sellers of multi-owned properties (MOPs) are involved in gatekeeping activities. The governments have created a legislative framework that appears to offer “protections” to pre(purchasers), however, discretion and exemptions within the legislation can hinder the undertaking of due diligence investigations. OC managers are, generally, protective about the information in their custody and contribute to the gatekeeping environment by stymieing the dissemination of information.

To date, there has been a paucity of scholarly attention directed to understanding the barriers faced by purchasers when buying into the MOP environment. This paper contributes to the wider body of knowledge relating to purchasing decisions within the multi-owned property context. More specifically, gatekeeping theory is used in this context to highlight the barriers that stymie a buyer’s right to discover information and decide on their purchase. The findings of this study are relatable to other countries using a similar MOP structure as Australia.

This paper aims to advance best practice by gaining insights into key multi-owned property (MOP) issues challenging policymakers and communities. Ontario (Canada) and Victoria (Australia) are internationally recognised for best practice in MOP living and law. Yet, both jurisdictions struggle with the emerging urbanism related to condominium MOP.

Different ways of recognising community in MOP urbanism will be examined against public policy and political theory perspectives promoting social sustainability. A rich mixed-data and content analysis method is relied upon which synthesises three pillars of MOP community governance: harmonious high-rise living; residential-neighbourhood interface; and metropolitan community engagement. The article cross-examines Canadian policy and law reform documents and Australian dispute case law from the state of Victoria to explore and showcase critical MOP management, residential and policy issues.

A theory-building typology formally recognises “community” as an affective performance across MOP governance contexts: cosmopolitan, civic-citizen and neighbourly. These ideal types differentiate community affects in and beyond (case) law and land-use planning: from determining alternative dispute resolution remedies; addressing neighbourhood and metropolitan NIMBY-ism in urban consolidation to bridging the critical policy and civic gap between the limits and aims of socially sustainable MOP vertical-tenured community affects.

Strong cross-jurisdictional MOP community lessons exist, as other cities follow best practice in legal and governance structures to effect change at the frontiers of twenty-first century urbanism.

Past studies emphasise classifying dispute issues, single-issue concerns or historical and life cycle evaluations. This theory-building article advances why and how community must be better understood holistically across community contexts to inform cutting-edge governance practices.

Sustainable values and implementation tools are now more widely included in Australian land use planning and development. Planning agreements are one instrument by which environmental values and preservation can be made more enduring, particularly as planning agreements run with the land. Little has been said about these agreements and the purpose of this paper is to strive to add to the body of knowledge in this area. The aim of this paper is to introduce a contextual framework for planning agreements, drawing on collaborative planning theory and practice. It also demonstrates how planning agreements can been used as a tool to preserve environmental values and principles generally, and more particularly the rich flora and fauna in the surrounding housing estate adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The paper relies on a case study from the municipality of Casey located in the state of Victoria and introduces measures taken, via planning agreements between the municipality and estate developers, to preserve green values and the flora and fauna located in the surrounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Cranbourne.

The case study suggests that, whilst the planning agreements may have established excellent procedure and practice to preserve the flora and fauna at the botanic gardens and in its surrounds, the effectiveness of the planning agreements as an environmental preservation tool has limitations. This may be due to the lack of resources for more effective information dissemination and enforcement. Ultimately, it may have to be left to the goodwill of residents to ensure environmental protection of the botanic gardens and its surrounds is maintained.

As the housing estate is still a young development, the case study is an exploratory approach. This leaves open the opportunity for further data to be gathered from estate residents into the effectiveness of the preservation and enforcement of the green values and principles raised in the planning agreements. There is also the opportunity to take the study further to ascertain longitudinally, how respectful original and subsequent owners are of the green values planted in the planning agreements.

The analysis of the case study is instructive, particularly as there is a dearth of literature on how effective planning law agreements are as an environmental preservation and sustainability tool.