Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemExploring Perceptions of Urban Leftover Spaces and their Multifunctional Possibilities: The Neighbourhood Perspective( 2023-07)Rapid urban development and urbanisation have resulted in various types of underutilised or formally neglected land, referred to as urban leftover spaces. While they project a negative impression, the literature has identified positive social and ecological implications of such spaces, particularly in urban neighbourhoods, as valuable resources for local communities. However, the significance of leftover spaces at the neighbourhood level and residents’ relationship with these spaces, particularly in developing countries, remains unclear. This research explored different types of leftover spaces and how residents perceived them within four urban neighbourhoods in the Kirulapone precinct of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It aimed to better understand these spaces and their potential based on an exploratory, bottom-up approach through a perception-based framework. The study adopted a mixed methodology, which included field reconnaissance, projective mapping, focused interviews and photo elicitation using the photo Q-sort method. These methods were used to identify neighbourhoods and leftover spaces within them, explore residents’ perceptions of the associated landscape features and assess their preferences to inform potential treatment. Residents’ knowledge of the physical environment and social networks primarily influenced how they conceptualised their neighbourhood areas and boundaries. Although seven types of leftover spaces were identified in Kirulapone, the four most commonly defined by residents lacked formal development and stewardship. These spaces encouraged informal uses, which reflected an ambiguity in residents’ distinction between the public and private domains. Such spaces were perceived as unclean or unsafe and typically had distinct visual qualities attributed to the effects of informal uses and unintended vegetation. However, the spaces with vegetation and features that could afford recreational opportunities were most preferred, while messy and polluted spaces were the least preferred. Residents’ socio-demographic conditions also influenced their preferences. Further, three perceptual dimensions underlying residents’ preferences revealed perception related to the degree of cleanliness, naturalness and defined use in such spaces, reflecting residents’ evaluations for potential improvement based on aesthetic quality and utilitarian values. Overall, their perceptions highlighted inherent values that need to be considered in treating these spaces and ecological and socio-cultural attributes that can be addressed to benefit the local community. The findings suggest multifunctional treatment and management can be explored in these leftover spaces to serve diverse community needs and various socio-cultural, ecological, economic and aesthetic functions. Potential improvements of these spaces include introducing recreational amenities, enhancing their ecological value, integrating existing community functions, aesthetic improvement and more formally programmed uses. This thesis contributes a bottom-up approach that design professionals and local authorities can adopt to instigate community engagement in informing the treatment of leftover spaces. Thus, it promotes a nuanced understanding of such spaces and their potential to create more sustainable and socially responsive neighbourhood spaces for the future.
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ItemFrom Environmental Data to Landscape Design: Responding to urban heat in inner city Melbourne( 2023-05)External site design is traditionally the domain of landscape architecture and urban design, yet the challenges of climate change in inner urban projects require joint expertise from the sciences, engineering, planning, architecture, and landscape architecture. Despite the increasing need for collaboration, little research examines how these diverse disciplinary values, methodologies, and knowledge come together in the design of the built environment. With a focus on Melbourne, Australia, a city known for its fluctuating climate, this thesis addresses this gap through an interrogation of the multi-disciplinary processes which inform the conceptualisation of designing for urban heat. Part One (chapters 2-4) comprises an extensive literature review tracing the development of environmental data, simulation, and thermal sensation research. This section documents the major theoretical and technical drivers influencing how architects, landscape architects and engineers conceptualise and engage with thermal conditions for designing external urban space. Part Two (chapters 5-7) then turns to the challenges of designing for heat in the unique climate of Melbourne, Australia. Chapter five establishes the core models of built environment interdisciplinarity and further draws on theory from social and political geography to highlight the influence of institutional, sociological, and epistemic values in shaping how disciplines come together in response to complex problems like urban heat. These values provide the analytical lens for exploring the policy and design case studies in the final two chapters. Chapter six focuses on the evolution of climate policy related to heat in inner Melbourne, where the institutional response, aided by the rise of digital tools, has shifted from risk assessment towards collaborative planning models, followed by design guidelines and tools. Chapter seven focuses on a major built project that foregrounds the landscape's value and addresses urban heat in the initial project proposal. This final analysis traces the evolution of that project through the design brief, interviews with designers and the constructed outcome. This study reveals layers of misalignment from policy to practice, which shape how urban heat is addressed in external site design. Fragmentation of the Australian climate governance structure and the adoption of loading-dock models privilege science in policy development and contribute to persistent implementation gaps between research priorities, policy-led ambitions, and design in the competitive built environment industry. In all contexts, the role of external space is overloaded with competing demands, from climatic and ecological performance to community engagement, social programming and functional concerns like access and maintenance. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that while technology, simulation, and data provide more knowledge and tools for working with the complex conditions of urban heat, it cannot be assumed that they offer the answer. Instead, institutional frameworks, power dynamics and conflicting disciplinary values continue to shape the success of policy and design in addressing the demands of climate change.