G'day 
My submission to the challenge is urban design and I think it's one of the most vital aspects in architecture and design as it is what builds thriving communities and creates joyful places to live work and play.
My wifes a local government councillor and part of her role includes setting the direction of our growing municipality which is probably one of the hardest aspect of her role. You can't undo or knock down and rebuild an entire suburb if you get it wrong so it is vital that urban design including look and feel of each suburb is acheived early on or it's a recipe for disaster.
Further impacting the design process is that Australia is a multicultural society and in my community alone there are over 156 different nationalities that call our municipality home. 40% of residents are born overseas so it is important that you capture everyone's wants and needs into the planning process to ensure successful thriving suburbs.
Early on town planning wasn't a major focus it was alot straight forward, here's some land build houses on it. Oh now we need a school put a school here, we need a park now let's find a small place to put it. This unfortunately led to "concrete jungles' and in the process hundreds of thousands of trees were removed creating what is now referred to as "hot zones". A reduction in trees also increases heat in suburbs and densely shaded communities can be upto 10°C+ cooler during peak summer periods. In Australia that's alot!
Fortunately in today's day and age Urban design incorporates alot more than just houses and a build as you go mentality with municipal councils planning education zones, recreation zones, shopping precincts, health precincts and entire communities are built around these plans.
Roads and traffic direction are also incorporated in design to support the reduction of bottle necks occurring and at the establishment of new municipalities round abouts are used instead of traffic lights. Once populations increase they are replaced with traffic lights.
Wet lands and water is also a common theme which has really picked up alot lately, bodies of water provide moisture for the air on hot days which also provide a cooling process as well as being incorporated into the look and feel of communities providing a community asset for walks, exercise and enjoyment.
Probably one of the most important forms of architecture and design.
Thanks for having me and I'll be sure to pop around for future show cases of aerial views of many of the wonderful architectural and design master pieces in Australia, from the air.
