Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemPlanning for dogs in urban environments( 2016)Dogs are the most common pet in Australia and increasingly occupy both social and cultural norms. There is a growing interest in more-than-human geography and my thesis extends this critical concern to the planning of urban environments as a human habitat. Contemporary literature in more-than-human geography typically and unconsciously anthropomorphises the experience of those other species and in turn accounts for other species from a human perspective. My thesis recognises this gap and endeavours to provide a critical account of planning for dogs through a lens of justice for animals. My research problem is predicated on the basis that Australian society lacks consensus on the appropriate treatment of dogs in urban environments, reflecting in local differentiation of opportunities available to dogs and yielding different outcomes of justice for dogs. My thesis accordingly examines how institutions and planners affect such freedoms through their language and actions. My thesis comprises a similar systems case study design that examines the phenomenon of planning for dogs using the case of Melbourne, a city of four million people and the capital of the state of Victoria, Australia, through the institutional discourse of eight representative councils (local government authorities). In order to critically address the fundamental uncertainty of anthropomorphism introduced by the dependent companion relationship, I elect to examine the discourse of government institutions as a credible, consistent and comparable reflection of society. Themes and theory emerge from the data through a disciplined application of qualitative content analysis underpinning a grounded theorisation of planning for dogs in cities. An operational framework describing justice for dogs is developed from first principles, suggesting the importance of animal management, open space planning and urban planning professions in planning for dogs. These roles demonstrate a clear ontological distinction, with the dominance of ontology shown to be exceedingly important to understanding planning for dogs. In operationalising a justice for dogs, I capture the pervasive anthropocentrism of planning which manifests in the animal management practices of councils and in how human agency is defined and exercised in the process and outcomes of planning for dogs. Whilst my thesis is ostensibly about planning urban environments and the role of local government, it also contributes to the social sciences more broadly. My approach distinguishes from what may be typical to other more-than-human geography literature through its treatment of planning for dogs as attending to underlying considerations of justice for dogs. A natural concordance with the justice as capabilities (derived from the Capabilities Approach espoused by Sen and Nussbaum) emerges, suggesting more authentic and just outcomes for dogs than in the utilitarian anthropocentric tradition where actions are guided by the demarcation of humans from animals. My thesis is a valuable contribution to this growing body of more-than-human geography literature and advances the philosophy of planning of urban environments beyond humanity, in doing so strengthening the bonds which connect the broader social sciences.
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ItemWomen and their career progression in the Australian construction industry( 2013)This comprehensive study of women and their career progression in construction makes five substantial research contributions: longitudinal data on Australian women's participation rates; the development and validation of a career advancement measure; empirical validation that women experience 'contest'career mobility; evidence a gender inclusivity continuum exists in construction; and the development of a career typology model for professional women in construction. Construction, an industry with an image of being macho, confrontational and riven with conflict, has not yet embraced gender diversity, despite the improvements this can make to corporate performance and the industry's ongoing skills shortages. The purpose of this research was to investigate women's participation in Australian construction and the career advancement of professional women in the industry. It involved three studies with Study 1 using secondary longitudinal data and Studies 2 and 3 involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. While it is well understood that construction is male-dominated, previous research had not investigated if this has changed and what roles women undertake within construction in Australia. Study 1 revealed that since the early 1990s female participation has been relatively stagnant overall, as well as within the construction trades. As well as identifying women's participation in many non-traditional roles, this study verified patterns of horizontal and vertical segregation. In addition, a significant disparity between women's increasing participation rates in professional roles and declining rates within management in construction prompted a study of professional women's career advancement. To date, research on women's careers in construction has focussed predominantly on barriers they experience (most of which are outside their control) and explanations for their under-achievement. However, in today's industry some women are advancing, so it is timely to understand organisational, interpersonal and individual factors which facilitate this process. Many theories can be used to explain women's advancement (the extrinsic component of career success) including: homophily; organisational support theory; theory of work adjustment; values congruence theory; social capital theory; human capital theory; trait theory; role scarcity theory; and role accumulation theory. Before an investigation of career advancement could be undertaken, a five-round Delphi study (Study 2) was conducted to develop and validate a scale to measure career advancement suitable for Australian construction. Study 3, a cross-sectional correlational field study involving 456 professional women, applied this new scale and investigated factors that affect women's career advancement. Individual factors, in particular human capital variables, rather than interpersonal and organisational factors were found to have the greatest influence on women's career advancement. This finding, contrary to previous research, indicates a 'contest', rather than 'sponsored'(the typical male pattern), career mobility path. Study 3 also tested a model developed to specifically explain women's advancement and investigated aspects the intrinsic component of career success known to be important to women. While this research did not find support for the model, the results indicate the experiences of women differ and that a gender inclusivity continuum exists in construction. A career typology model was developed which explains the career experiences and progression of professional women in construction. The development of the gender inclusivity continuum and the career typology are major theoretical contributions to women in construction research. The finding that interpersonal and organisational factors were not predictors of women's career advancement in construction was significant, as it counters the viewpoint of the majority previous research in the area. Lastly, the discovery that women follow a 'contest'career mobility pattern contributes significantly to both research in construction, as well as research exploring professional women's careers.
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ItemBeneath the veneer : negotiating British and colonial Australian relationships in Queensland domestic interiors, 1880-1901( 2012)Australian histories of design have largely characterised furnished interiors as passive imitations of European models, with Australia seen as marginalised by time and distance, and lacking in agency from the centres of international design. These interpretations have over-shadowed a range of cultural meanings attached to furnishings at this time. The examination of the discourse of design, business trade and consumer choice on furniture in this thesis, using the case study of Queensland in the late nineteenth century, exposed the dynamic co-dependent relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies, where issues around the materials and making of furniture figured prominently in the construction of colonial identity. Using a wide range of primary source material, including furnishing guides, trade journals and catalogues, parliamentary debates and inventories, the study showed that colonial Australians used their knowledge of the material and cultural aspects of furnishing acquired from British-based texts to maintain the overall appearance of British genteel middle-class interiors. Colonial Australians faced contested local issues around climate, local materials, race and labour relations, which saw colonial loyalty divided between Britain and their local industries. In response, they adopted new construction and branding techniques to subtlety distinguish locally made items from British ones based on native timbers, their functional performance and the employment of local European labour, rather than their visible aesthetic design. This thesis contributes further context for Australian interiors, and argues that the inclusion of more detailed business histories for objects designed for global consumption, such as domestic furniture, are required understand the subtle transfers of cultural meaning between imperial powers and settler nations which change over time. Ultimately, a combination of locally made and imported items and practices observable in different rooms of the home reflected the composite or hybrid nature of an emerging colonial Australian identity. Issues of materials and labour revealed agency on the part of colonies, which has hitherto been obscured by an over-reliance on surviving images of complete interiors and single nation studies. This is to certify that: - the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface; - due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; - the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices.
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ItemNational identity, Australian plants, and the natural garden in post-WWII Australia, 1945 to 1986( 2015)Dramatic changes to Australian cultural life following the Second World War prompted the search for new understandings of Australia’s national identity. Between 1945 and 1986, post-WWII Australian plant and natural gardens and the ideas and activities associated with their promotion, legitimation, and creation served important functions in the reformulation of Australian identity and nationalism. These gardens, ideas, and activities provided spaces for the development and articulation of distinctly national forms of cultural expression. They also offered a way for Australians to imagine a national community, and conceive new foundational myths. This thesis explores the ways in which Australian plant and natural gardens served, or reflected, national identity formulation and nationalism. It does this by investigating a rich and diverse body of sources which include: archival and documentary materials; popular gardening and horticultural literature, popular natural history writing, nursery catalogues, other popular media, garden design treatises, and professional landscape design discourses contemporary with the period studied; oral testimony; and. two physical places. This thesis also considers a range of events and activities related to Australian plant gardens which produced and disseminated knowledge and enthusiasm, the social spaces in which these occurred, and a network of native plant enthusiasts. Importantly for this thesis, the wide spectrum of views provided by this multiplicity of sources allows several voices and stories to emerge, thus helping to question current generalised views of the time and space under consideration. The first part of this thesis presents an innovative framework for the analysis and interpretation of national identity and nationalism through the prism of garden history and garden making. The second part examines the cultural activities and ideas that legitimated post-WWII Australian plant and natural gardens. Two case studies examining the post-WWII histories of the Canberra Botanic Gardens in Canberra, the Federal capital of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Royal Park in Melbourne, the capital city in the state of Victoria, follow in the third part. These case studies enable detailed exploration of state-sponsored and managed Australian plant gardens, one at a national scale and the other at a local government level. The case studies reveal the different functions and ways in which public Australian plant and natural gardens of the post-WWII period reflected attempts to formulate understandings of national identity and nationalism. By developing a theoretical and evidence-based discourse and applying it to the analysis of relevant archival documentation, oral testimony, ideas, and physical places, this thesis provides a new and richer understanding of the ways in which Australia’s national identity was shaped through garden making.
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ItemCultural adaptation to climate change and the 1997-2010 drought in the suburban landscape of Melbourne, Australia( 2013)The period of drought from 1997 to 2010 in Melbourne, Australia saw significantly below average inflows into Melbourne’s reservoirs due to persistent high temperatures and low rainfall, conditions that climate change modelling suggest will occur more frequently in the future. In response to a dwindling water supply, water restrictions were enacted by the Victorian government to reduce water demand at the same time as infrastructure projects were commissioned to increase the water supply. These water restrictions limited the use of water outdoors, and had negative impacts on the suburban vegetation. A range of technical and behavioural adaptations could be made to mitigate these negative impacts by reducing the need for the use of potable mains water in the landscape, and this research explored the hypothesis that, over the course of the drought, changing attitudes towards climate change and water use in the suburban landscape resulted in behavioural adaptations by suburban dwellers in Melbourne that led to observable changes to the suburban landscape of Melbourne. Three research methods were used to investigate relationships between changes in Melbourne’s suburban landscapes and people’s attitudes towards water conservation in the context of drought and climate change, namely: (1) a content analysis of newspaper articles related to water restrictions in Melbourne to look at the ways in which the topics of drought and climate change had been addressed within the public discourse; (2) an observation of the suburban landscape of Melbourne using Google Street View and aerial photographs to identify the observable adaptations that have taken place in a sample of 530 front yards; and, (3) a questionnaire survey of households in Melbourne to assess their attitudes towards their own private landscapes, water conservation and restrictions, drought, and climate change and its impacts. It was found that, both in the newspapers and from analysis of the questionnaire data, people generally agreed with the need to conserve water, especially during times of drought. Belief in climate change, and the need for people to personally take action to adapt to it, was also generally high. Observable drought adaptations in Melbourne front yards were rare, but in the questionnaire many respondents indicated that they had taken steps to conserve water, and some of the sampled front yards had changed between 2004 and 2008 to better adapt to drought conditions. However, the content analysis found that two of the four newspapers studied perpetuated expressions of unscientific climate change scepticism and uncertainty, consistent with the politicisation of the climate change issue. The questionnaire, which employed visual stimuli of front yard scenarios, found that water use requirements did not correlate with overall desirability, which was most strongly correlated with rated visual attractiveness. Despite the general agreement by respondents with regard to the need to conserve water, and their stated willingness to take concrete steps to do so, obstacles remain for successful drought and climate change adaptation, both in the responses of the public to change and the physical transformations of the landscape.
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ItemPublic transport for exurban settlements( 2012)Many planners believe that it is impossible to provide viable, high-occupancy public transport in low-density areas. The challenge is acute in Australia's exurban settlements—the small towns and villages in the commuter belts around major cities—where population densities are even lower than in the suburbs. The traditional response is to provide limited, welfare-oriented transport services; expand the role of park and ride; or trial expensive demand-responsive systems. An alternative approach suggests that in low-density areas, public transport can attract enough passengers to be viable if it is planned to form a network. In cities, high-frequency services can allow quick, convenient transfers between routes. However, in exurban areas, where demand is lower, less frequent services must be timed to connect. There is little information on the planning of 'pulse' or timed-transfer systems outside suburban North America, although some writers make brief references to services in rural Switzerland. This study thus investigates, in detail, the public transport in two Swiss case study regions: the exurban Zürich Weinland, near Switzerland's largest city; and the Lower Engadine and Val Müstair, a rural tourist district in the Canton of Graubünden. An integrated pulse timetable model allows their public transport systems to form fixed, inter-connecting networks that achieve high mode shares. The case studies' approaches, and the reasons for their success, are explored by examining operational, political, institutional and geographic factors. This analysis is then used to explore the feasibility of adapting the approach, by comparing the Swiss case studies to an Australian exurban region of similar population density: Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula. A sketch model is used to estimate the subsidy required for Swiss-style services. Results suggest that they would need higher overall expenditure, but significantly increase patronage and lower subsidies per passenger. The Swiss 'rural network approach' is found to offer a superior alternative to widespread demand-responsive services, and a viable strategy for exurban settlements seeking convenient alternatives to the car.