Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemDensity and environmentally sustainable urban development : tensions(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemThe grid in history and its relevance to transport infrastructure planning in the present( 2015)This research is a study of gridded street patterns in history, critically examining the ways in which the grid has been utilised throughout history, its advantages and limitations, and what features of this street pattern – its rectangular and/or square blocks, and straight, orderly, parallel and perpendicular intersecting trajectories which are mostly wide or coupled with narrower streets – aid in its capacity to adapt, and flexibility to accommodate changing circumstances and needs. More specifically, this thesis explores the retrofitting of and alteration to essential (transport) infrastructure, and associated services and networks in varying street patterns, given how critical this, and the movement of people and goods, is to the functionality of cities. Delivery of infrastructure takes place in both formally planned grid and non-grid (e.g. radial) arrangements, and organically developed settlements. This thesis specifically addresses the contribution made by the grid – an essential design element used in the planning of urban spaces – and whether the features of this rectangular geometric form are able to better facilitate the construction and/or retrofitting of and alterations to essential elevated, surface and underground hard infrastructure, and associated services and networks, particularly those of transport, in a more effective and extensive, and less disruptive manner. Theoretical and practical examples of how well various street layouts adapt to accommodate change, particularly in regard to the application and patterns of essential infrastructure, and associated services and networks in question, are examined. This is predominately tested from the era of industrialisation (beginning with the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century) onwards, as it is from then that urbanisation and unprecedented city population growth was occurring. Associated with this was the need for improved health, sanitation, and movement of people and goods, and the solutions to this including the development of infrastructure, and related services and networks, such as that of transport, still remain integral to societies. Case studies selected, the nineteenth century British (who were particularly active in utilising grid planning tools in delivering settlements) colonial settlements – now central cities – of Melbourne, Australia; Hong Kong (i.e. the approximate extent of what was the City of Victoria on the north face of Hong Kong Island); and Dunedin, New Zealand; support the wider analysis of street patterns, providing an array of simpler and more complex grids for examination. The main research question asked is: In what way has the grid been used throughout history, what are the reasons for its use, what are the features of this street pattern that contribute to its benefits, and how does this compare to other layouts of urban form?