About The Urban Developer

The Urban Developer

Overview

The Urban Developer is an Australian online news and business platform for the property development and urban development industries, published from Brisbane, Queensland, at theurbandeveloper.com. Founded in 2014 by property developer Adam Di Marco, it combines a daily news service with paid membership, industry events, awards, webinars and professional education, all aimed at the people who plan, fund, build and sell urban development projects. The publication describes itself as "Australia's largest, most engaged and fastest growing community of property developers and urban development professionals" — a characterisation of its own that it uses across its site — and states its vision as building an integrated platform of media, events, education and products for the development industry. Its newsroom publishes daily coverage of development projects, planning policy, construction, transactions, residential markets and infrastructure, and in October 2026 its homepage was carrying current stories from its correspondents in several states, confirming the title remains in active daily operation.

History

The Urban Developer was founded in 2014 by Adam Di Marco, a Brisbane property developer who remains its founder and chief executive and who is also a director of Brisbane-based developer Di Marco Group. Di Marco has said the business began in modest circumstances — "We've come a long way since our humble beginnings in a bedroom four years ago," he remarked in the publication's own report of its recognition at the Mumbrella Publish Awards, where it received a high commendation in the Australian Business Website of the Year category, judged on editorial content, reader engagement, marketing, design and execution. Lachlan Webb was named as co-founder in the same report, and the site's annual conference now presents a Lachlan Webb Lifetime Achievement Award, which its 2026 program records as going to Springfield City Group chairman Maha Sinnathamby AM. From its news-only beginnings the business expanded through the later 2010s into a broader platform: a paid membership offering, a national events program, the Urbanity conference, an annual awards program, on-demand webinars and short courses, and a sister development-listings platform, DevelopmentReady, to which the news site links its listings section. The DevelopmentReady platform, which the company describes in its own material as Australia's leading development site acquisition platform, allows buyers and sellers of development sites to search, track and transact opportunities. Di Marco has explained in podcast interviews that he created the title in response to what he saw as a need for greater engagement, information and transparency in the property sector.

Programming and Content

The news service is organised into beats that mirror the development cycle: Project news covers new and approved developments, Policy covers planning and regulatory change, Construction covers builders and delivery, Deal covers transactions and capital, Residential covers housing markets, and Infrastructure covers major public works. Bylines appearing on the site in October 2026 included managing editor Taryn Paris and journalists Phil Bartsch, Kirsten Craze, Leon Della Bosca, Clare Burnett, Patrick Lau, Hudson Farr, Lindsay Saunders, Chris Thomson and Ben Jackson, reporting stories such as a 51-storey tower approved over Brisbane's Victory Hotel site, a Japanese takeover of builder Multiplex, Victoria's loosened rules for small second homes and the Southern Hemisphere's biggest wind farm clearing a planning hurdle. Alongside news, the platform produces sponsored partner content (labelled as such), project submissions and listings, and a substantial events and education slate: the multi-day Urbanity conference — its 2026 program promised three days and more than 500 delegates, with workshops, a live studio and industry case studies — the Urban Developer Awards, the Property Development Masterclass delivered with firms such as Urbis, Stamford Capital, Gadens and Mitchell Brandtman, the Office Leaders Forum in Sydney, and a library of on-demand webinars. An editorial charter, republishing guidelines and a complaints handling policy are published on the site.

Audience and Reach

The publication's audience is the professional development community rather than the general home-buying public: developers, investors, planners, architects, builders, financiers, agents and consultants who work on urban projects across Australia. Its own description of that audience — the "largest, most engaged and fastest growing community of property developers and urban development professionals" line quoted above — is the publication's claim about itself and is presented here as such; no independently audited audience figure for the title was sighted in preparing this profile. The scale of its events operation gives some indication of the community it convenes: Urbanity is billed as a three-day conference drawing more than 500 delegates, and its forums and masterclasses are staged in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with senior industry speakers. Membership is sold in tiers, including a Professional membership, and members receive access to content, events and products behind the site's membership system. The title also maintains an active social presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, where its interviews and event coverage extend the reach of the newsroom's reporting.

Digital Presence

The Urban Developer is a digital-native publication: it has no print edition, and its website is the hub for news, membership, event registrations and on-demand video. The homepage is refreshed daily with top stories and the latest project, policy, construction, deal, residential and infrastructure news, and the site carries an archive of articles stretching back to its early years. Related services sit on subdomains and sister domains, including its events portal, the Urbanity conference site at urbanity.theurbandeveloper.com, a membership support desk, and the DevelopmentReady listings platform. Readers can follow individual journalists and topics, watch webinars on demand, and listen to its Blueprint podcast series, in which property developers and entrepreneurs discuss how they built their projects and businesses. The business was recognised early for the quality of this digital offering, receiving the Mumbrella Publish Awards high commendation for Australian Business Website of the Year noted above.

Ownership and Organisation

The Urban Developer is an independent, founder-led company based in Brisbane. Its management team, as published on its own About page, is led by founder and chief executive Adam Di Marco; managing editor Taryn Paris leads the editorial team and brings a background across print and digital news, including reporting as a war correspondent in Afghanistan with News Corp. The wider leadership group named on the page comprises national events director Emma Drennen, partnerships director Corey Timms — who joined the company in 2017 and leads its advertising and commercial partnerships — and head of corporate services Liz Frazer-Ryan, who oversees human resources, legal and finance. Founder Adam Di Marco remains active in the industry he covers as a director of the Di Marco Group development business, a dual role the company discloses openly on its own site. The publication operates under a published editorial charter and commenting policy, and its commercial model combines membership subscriptions, event ticketing, education products and advertising or partnership campaigns.

Contact and Availability

The Urban Developer is published online at theurbandeveloper.com and is available to any reader, with membership tiers unlocking its full platform of news, events and education products. Enquiries are handled through the website: the site provides separate contact routes for general enquiries, advertising, contribution enquiries, project submissions and membership enquiries, and a dedicated support desk for members. Its events, including the Urbanity conference, the Property Development Masterclass and city forums, are booked through its events portal, and its development listings are carried on the DevelopmentReady platform. The newsroom's reporting can also be followed through its LinkedIn company page, Facebook page, Instagram account and YouTube channel.