Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemGrowing up in Victoria, Australia, in the midst of the climate emergency(SAGE Publications, 2024-03)Children and young people (henceforth referred to as young people) are one of the groups most affected by climate change and are at the forefront of climate action. Yet, there is scarce evidence on how young people navigate the challenges presented by climate change using their personal strengths and the resources accessible to them. This study aimed to address this gap by drawing on qualitative data from workshops with 31 young people between 12 and 22 years of age from metropolitan Melbourne and a bushfire-risk region in Victoria, Australia. An inductive thematic analysis of workshop transcripts showed that participants had progressively become aware of climate change in an increasingly uncertain world and sought to gain a sense of connection, agency, and hope. Participants aimed to achieve the latter by becoming aware of opportunities for climate actions in everyday life and developing themselves as agents of change. We discussed our findings from a developmental perspective to gain a better understanding of how supporting young people in learning about and acting on climate change can benefit their mental health and sense of agency.
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ItemIdentifying the mechanisms by which irrigation can cool urban green spaces in summer(Elsevier, 2024-05)High temperatures in summer can prevent people from using urban green spaces. Irrigating urban green spaces is a promising strategy to reduce temperatures. In this study, we aimed to a) identify the proportional contribution of different irrigation cooling mechanisms and b) quantify the impacts of different irrigation amounts (from 2 to 30 mm d−1) on the cooling effect of irrigating turfgrass in Melbourne, Australia. We first used a field experiment in Melbourne to provide empirical data to calibrate and verify the performance of an urban ecohydrological model, UT&C. Then, we used UT&C to predict the impacts of irrigating turfgrass on evapotranspiration, the energy balance and microclimate. UT&C predicted that irrigating turfgrass 4 mm d−1 would increase the evaporation from grass canopy and soil surface by 0.2 and 0.6 mm d−1, respectively, whereas it would reduce transpiration by 0.6 mm d−1 due to intercepted water covering part of the grass canopy following the irrigation. UT&C predicted that daytime (10:00–16:59) mean air temperature reductions would increase from 0.2 to 0.4 °C when the irrigation amount increased from 2 to 4 mm d−1. However, increasing the irrigation amount beyond 4 mm d−1 would not increase the cooling benefits.
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ItemBeyond Capitalism? Organizing Architectural Education(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022)A power map of an electric toothbrush: an influencer; an architecture license. An organizational map linking the precarity of a construction worker to a window cleaner to an asset manager. A resource map of a public university: an architecture firm; a food co-op. These collaborative projects emerged during a free and virtual summer school named Architecture Beyond Capitalism (ABC), which launched in 2021 as an experiment in architectural education.
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ItemReading and Rebuilding(Library Association of Australia, 2022)Located in Dili, the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room is East Timor’s only public library. It was founded 2000 with international help. Including from academics, architects and policy experts at the University of Melbourne. Twenty-one years on, Dr Kirsten Day revisits the library she and a small team helped establish.
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ItemEvaluating the impact of material service life on embodied energy of residential villas in the United Arab Emirates(Emerald, 2024)Purpose: Recently, there has been a shift toward the embodied energy assessment of buildings. However, the impact of material service life on the life-cycle embodied energy has received little attention. We aimed to address this knowledge gap, particularly in the context of the UAE and investigated the embodied energy associated with the use of concrete and other materials commonly used in residential buildings in the hot desert climate of the UAE. Design/methodology/approach: Using input–output based hybrid analysis, we quantified the life-cycle embodied energy of a villa in the UAE with over 50 years of building life using the average, minimum, and maximum material service life values. Mathematical calculations were performed using MS Excel, and a detailed bill of quantities with >170 building materials and components of the villa were used for investigation. Findings: For the base case, the initial embodied energy was 57% (7390.5 GJ), whereas the recurrent embodied energy was 43% (5,690 GJ) of the life-cycle embodied energy based on average material service life values. The proportion of the recurrent embodied energy with minimum material service life values was increased to 68% of the life-cycle embodied energy, while it dropped to 15% with maximum material service life values. Originality/value: The findings provide new data to guide building construction in the UAE and show that recurrent embodied energy contributes significantly to life-cycle energy demand. Further, the study of material service life variations provides deeper insights into future building material specifications and management considerations for building maintenance.
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ItemTerrestrial Lidar Reveals New Information About Habitats Provided by Large Old Trees(Elsevier, 2024)Large old trees have been described as keystone habitats for several species. However, current research does not fully explain why these species show a preference for such trees. In this study, we combined field observations of birds with terrestrial lidar scans and computational feature-recognition to describe habitats provided by trees at an unprecedented level of detail. We conducted field observations of birds at 62 trees and used parameters including branch angle, branch diameter, branch state (living or dead), and trunk diameter at breast height (DBH) to develop a generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) that could predict which types of branch birds are more likely to visit. We then quantified angles, diameters, and states of 78,006 branch objects representing the complete canopies of 16 trees. By combining these two models we predicted that large trees (>80 cm DBH) contained, on average, 383 m of branches that were highly suitable for birds (i.e., the predicted probability of observing a bird was ≥0.5), which was more than seven times the average length of highly suitable branches provided by medium trees (51–80 cm DBH). Only one of the sampled medium trees contained highly suitable branches. Small trees (<50 cm DBH) contained none. Our analysis provides new knowledge about characteristics that make large old trees disproportionately attractive to birds and presents a novel method of assessment that can apply to other complex habitat structures.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLand surface and air temperature dynamics: The role of urban form and seasonality(ELSEVIER, 2023-12-20)Due to the scarcity of air temperature (Ta) observations, urban heat studies often rely on satellite-derived Land Surface Temperature (LST) to characterise the near-surface thermal environment. However, there remains a lack of a quantitative understanding on how LST differs from Ta within urban areas and what are the controlling factors of their interaction. We use crowdsourced air temperature measurements in Sydney, Australia, combined with urban landscape data, Local Climate Zones (LCZ), high-resolution satellite imagery, and machine learning to explore the influence of urban form and fabric on the interaction between Ta and LST. Results show that LST and Ta have distinct spatiotemporal characteristics, and their relationship differs by season, ecological infrastructure, and building morphology. We found greater seasonal variability in LST compared to Ta, along with more pronounced intra-urban spatial variability in LST, particularly in warmer seasons. We also observed a greater temperature difference between LST and Ta in the built environment compared to the natural LCZs, especially during warm days. Natural LCZs (areas with mostly dense and scattered trees) showed stronger LST-Ta relationships compared to built areas. In particular, we observe that built areas with higher building density (where the heat vulnerability is likely more pronounced) show insignificant or negative relationships between LST- Ta in summer. Our results also indicate that surface cover, distance from the ocean, and seasonality significantly influence the distribution of hot and cold spots for LST and Ta. The spatial distribution for Ta hot spots does not always overlap with LST. We find that relying solely on LST as a direct proxy for the urban thermal environment is inappropriate, particularly in densely built-up areas and during warm seasons. These findings provide new perspectives on the relationship between surface and canopy temperatures and how these relate to urban form and fabric.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableHaving a tree in front of one's home is associated with GREATER subjective wellbeing in adult residents in Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto, Canada.(Elsevier BV, 2024-02-13)While urban trees can be important determinants of human health and wellbeing in world cities, the specific influence of nearby urban trees upon human wellbeing has not been adequately explored. While many studies have associated urban greenery abundance with wellbeing scores, many measures of urban greenery do not specify the type of vegetation or the impact of co-location. Here we fill this gap by associating self-reported measures of the presence of nearby trees (tree in front of one's home) with validated subjective wellbeing (SWB) scores. We also tested for the mediating role of what people thought about trees and nature, with a focus on the values people associate with urban trees and nature relatedness (NR). We used electronic panel survey data based on a demographic and geographical representative sample of more than 3400 residents living in Toronto, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia. We analysed these data using regression-based mediation and path analyses. We found that having a tree in front of one's home was strongly and positively associated with SWB scores in both cities with similar results (Melbourne, β = 0.17, p < 0.05; Toronto, β = 0.18, p < 0.05), while accounting for NR, values associated with urban trees, and demographics (e.g., age, education, home ownership). The mediating role of NR and values was small. The specific pathways of association between tree in front of one's home, SWB, NR, and values, varied by city, when accounting for demographics. We discuss how increasing the abundance of nearby urban trees in cities may also increase human wellbeing.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAustralians' perceptions of the potential effects of increased access to alcohol via autonomous delivery services: A multi-method study(PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2024-01)INTRODUCTION: Rapid technological change will affect how people access harmful products. For example, automated delivery services are forecast to provide fast and affordable product access options for those purchasing alcohol. Information about the potential impacts of such innovations on alcohol purchase and consumption behaviors is lacking. The aim of this study was to explore how consumers may respond to future scenarios where alcohol is available via a range of autonomous alcohol delivery options. METHODS: In a two-stage process, qualitative individual interviews (n = 100) and a quantitative online survey (n = 1078) were conducted with Australians aged 18+ years. Quotas were used to achieve national representation on key demographic variables. Participants were exposed to scenarios outlining how autonomous vehicles are likely to be used for alcohol deliveries in the future and asked to discuss their intentions to use such services and their perceptions of any impacts on alcohol consumption at a societal level. RESULTS: Automated alcohol deliveries were generally considered to be highly convenient and therefore likely to be popular. Around one-third (37%) of survey respondents reported an intention to use such automated alcohol delivery services once they are available and almost half (47%) expected overall levels of alcohol consumption to increase across the population. CONCLUSION: Given potential levels of uptake, careful consideration needs to be given to the development and implementation of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to minimize the increased risk of alcohol-related harm associated with enhanced alcohol availability resulting from the emerging availability of autonomous delivery services.