In Absence: Exploring urbs nullius and decolonising urban landscapes in ‘Australian’ cities

In Australian urban contexts, I argue that gentrification cannot be understood solely as a class-based process but must be recognised as a continuation of colonial dispossession, where urban redevelopment reasserts settler claims to land through the logics of improvement, ownership and spatial control. Drawing on Indigenous scholarship and the concept of urbs nullius , the article shows how Aboriginal presence is framed as decline while neighbourhoods are recast as ‘wastelands’ awaiting renewal. Through the case of Redfern, I demonstrate how contemporary urban planning and property regimes reproduce the erasure of Aboriginal sovereignty, restricting mobility, belonging and cultural continuity. By centring Aboriginal law, story, and relational ethics, the paper argues for a decolonial reimagining of urban design, one that restores accountability to Country and challenges the dominance of settler-colonial systems of value, ownership, and urban progress.