Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA data-driven investigation on urban form evolution: Methodological and empirical support for unravelling the relation between urban form and spatial dynamics( 2023-06)Investigating the patterns of urban development and transformation and unravelling the principles behind these processes are critical for understanding how cities evolve under different physical conditions. While socio-economic, political and cultural forces undeniably shape the patterns of spatial change and persistence, urban form should not be perceived as a passive resultant or a mere consequence of these processes. Quite the contrary, urban form plays a determinant role in establishing the spatial conditions that influence future development patterns by constraining some choices while facilitating others. Recognising the scarcity of systematic, diachronic and quantitative studies on urban form evolution, this thesis is driven by an interest in understanding the relationship between urban form and spatial change. It aims to develop theoretical, methodological and empirical support for unravelling the influential role of urban form in guiding spatial dynamics. The thesis develops a diachronic and quantitative methodological framework to investigate how urban form conditions created by plots, buildings, streets and land uses affect the patterns of change and persistence in three different grid cities: Midtown Manhattan, New York (US); City Centre, Melbourne (AUS); and Eixample, Barcelona (Spain). As part of the research, three longitudinal morphological datasets were generated, drawing upon a rich array of historical cartographic resources and geospatial databases to enable a comprehensive assessment of urban form evolution within each city between the 1800s and 2000s. Through quantitative analysis of urban form and its association with spatial dynamics, the thesis demonstrates that urban form conditions have a measurable impact on the patterns of physical and functional change. This understanding contributes further to the fact that design does not exclude the possibility of change but may even favour it under particular conditions. A rigorous and evidence-based understanding of the interplay between urban form conditions and patterns of spatial change empowers practitioners and policymakers to choose particular forms and structures over others, guide the long-term evolution of urban form and improve the adaptive capacity and resilience of the built environment.
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ItemConsolidating the Australian Dream: Housing Aspirations of Young Adults in Melbourne( 2022)The notion of ‘home’ as a house on a large block of land has been a key ideal of a longstanding ‘Australian Dream’. Chasing the Australian Dream is common in the psyche of a settler-colonial and immigrant society where, for several generations now, it has often meant a ticket to financial profit, conventional family comfort and a stake in the political agenda. The cultural concept is oft considered to be a powerful social norm in Australia, so much so that there continues to be de-facto democratic support for urban sprawl and restrictions on densification in established residential neighbourhoods, despite the impacts on sustainability and social equity. The thesis takes an exploratory approach to better understand how ideals of the Australian Dream may or may not be influencing the kinds of housing and neighbourhoods that young adults actually want to live in. An online survey was created in an attempt to answer the following research questions; 1) to what extent do young adults living in Melbourne aspire towards the Australian Dream?, and 2) what kinds of housing and neighbourhoods do young adults wish to see more of in Melbourne? Overall, the results show that ideals of the Australian Dream were substantially more private and inward focused than the contemporary issues that young adults were concerned about when considering notions of home. Young adults overwhelmingly prioritised proximity to services and public transport over dwelling size, amount of storage and private features. Despite some limitations in the sampling and survey methodology, the implications of this research are that much more needs to be done to plan and deliver on 20-minute neighbourhoods and to open up space for more medium density mixed use housing, particularly across established inner and middle suburbs of Melbourne.
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ItemEmbedding placemaking in planning Nature-based Solutions: A complementary case study of Nature-based Solutions’ policies in Melbourne and Guangzhou( 2022)Nature-based Solutions (NBS) is an adaptative measure addressing climate change and urban regeneration by restoring the ecosystem services of the natural system. However, existing research has illustrated a lack of consideration of local context and community participation in the current planning and implementation of NBS. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote ‘nature-based placemaking’, which embraces local context and community perspective in practice. This research examines how placemaking principles are reflected in the Nature-based Solutions policies in Melbourne and Guangzhou. This research will investigate the functions and implications of placemaking strategy in Nature-based Solutions (NBS) planning, with a complementary case study on two river management policies: 1) Yarra Strategic Plan 2022-2032 in Melbourne, Australia; 2) Guangzhou Ecological Belt Master Plan 2019-2035 in Guangzhou, China. Qualitative policy analysis is based on the five transformative elements in the ‘Nature in Place’ framework (Bush et al., 2020). The comparative analysis found that both case studies illustrate a transformative nature-based placemaking in river management, though with different focuses. Melbourne’s plan embedded placemaking principles in the planning stage, while Guangzhou’s plan embedded placemaking in co-design and co-management in the implementation stage. The different focuses of Melbourne and Guangzhou present context-specific planning governance with different levels of community participation. The top-down planning approach effectively delivers the concept of NBS and intergovernmental collaborative governance. Nevertheless, community participation and empowerment in NBS are the keys to maximising multiple co-benefits and achieving integral environmental management and nature stewardship.
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ItemWhere should the restricted parking area for shared e-scooters be located? Create criteria and maps for ‘no-parking zones’ for Flagstaff Station( 2022)Heritage identification by nation-state governments have historically favoured monumental sites with popular historical narratives, typically representing majority cultures. Recent challenges of these hegemonic selections have broadened our understanding and definition of cultural heritage and heritage values. The nomination and management by heritage bodies, of sites based on criteria which go beyond identifying physical or aesthetic characteristics has prompted greater acknowledgement of the social meaning or value of a place through heritage policies. The DAAR’s (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research) recent attempts to nominate Dheisheh camp of Palestine in the UNESCO world heritage list, explores heritage nomination and conservation in spaces of refugeehood, statelessness, contested memories and temporary urban forms. This paper attempts to identify a key challenge of recognising and conserving sites such as Dheisheh. How can we form heritage values and narratives around temporary urban structures that transcends formal state boundaries and contain complex ownership? The paper examines the Dheisheh camp to understand how it confronts this challenge by rethinking heritage and conservation through different perspectives which transcend the expectations of spectacular architecture with Outstanding Universal Value, that aids in the commodification, consumption and long-term viability through tourism revenue of specific cultural heritage sites. The DAAR’s process of rebuilding, reimagining and re-producing spaces attempts to understand and confront the paradox of creating permanence and celebrate refugeehood as a valid form of heritage. The human or social resilience of Dheisheh becomes the main theme of this case study as illustrating the site’s significance. The thesis offers new ways of understanding intangible heritage and social value in unconventional heritage places and temporally precarious environments.
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ItemA spatiotemporal analysis of private garden area in North-East Melbourne: 2010-2021( 2021)Urban densification and expansion are occurring simultaneously in Melbourne, Australia; manifesting in a loss of nature outside and within the urban environment. However, Australian cities are biodiverse hotspots due to the interconnection of vulnerable native species and variation of habitat sizes, with 40.7% of urban vegetation cover in private residential land. The absence of urban planning regulations on garden retention and practices of urban densification in Melbourne have degraded the ecological networks and risk the social ‘extinction of everyday nature experience’ as greater dwelling density decreases both public and private spaces, and once land has been built upon it has lost its potential for conservation. Despite the importance of private spaces for ecological sustainability in Melbourne, there has been no attempt to spatially analyse the changes of private garden area in relation to densification over the past decade. The research objective is to spatially analyse the changes in area of private gardens in sixteen Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1) sites, over two time scales 2010 and 2021 in the North East Melbourne municipal councils of Banyule and Darebin. The analysis was conducted to address the following research questions: 1) what is the spatiotemporal change of private gardens and public green space in the North East of Melbourne?; and 2) to what extent are land-use planning mechanisms and spatial dependencies effecting changes in private garden size? The results showed that a potential total loss of private gardens equivalent to 229.79 ha, which is equal size to Albert Park and Lake in Melbourne, has occurred in Banyule and Darebin between 2010 and 2021 while public green space quantity and size has not increased. Meanwhile, loss of private garden has occurred independent from spatial effects such as proximity to public green space and major transportation routes. Similarly, although land-use planning regulations have disproportionately affected the scale of private garden loss, they are not a dependent variable as loss has occurred extensively across zones and overlays.
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Item‘Leisure, pleasure … rubbish and rats?’: the planned and unplanned reclamation of bluestone quarry sites in urban Melbourne, 1835-2000( 2020)This thesis explores how regulatory mechanisms and community perceptions of urban extractive industry have changed, particularly during the twentieth century. Extractive industries operational in the twenty-first century are now located well outside of the metropolis, obviating the impacts of this deleterious industrial practice. Yet this was not always the case. Australian cities, settled following the industrial revolution, made great use of these extractive resources often accessing them in quite densely settled areas. Such land-use often took place in inner-urban locales, and the infancy of planning practice at that time saw these quarries established in an ad hoc manner. The absence of controls with respect to the location and management of quarries culminated in an uncomfortable closeness with nearby residential areas. As quarrying operations moved towards the urban periphery during the early twentieth-century, the absence of comprehensive planning failed to prevent suburban development from encroaching upon extractive industry, and in some cases this led to conflict between residents, government, planning bodies, and industry. This is especially apparent in Melbourne, the world’s largest metropolitan area atop a basaltic plain, from which the stone has been utilised for construction and roadwork since the city’s inception in 1835. Urban planning for quarries was historically absent until the formation of legislation in the 1960s in response to urban and land-use conflict; additionally, the city’s ongoing reliance on rubbish tips led tipping to be a default after-use for such sites, also raising ire. Improvements in this process encompassed the creation of legislation, planning policies, and the formation of activist groups to agitate for change. These developments were prompted by land-use conflicts, demographic change, and increased environmental awareness, all contributing to a perceived need for better planning. The tipping process was recast through a lens of social justice as undesirable undertakings no longer compatible with residential life. This thesis focuses on the use and after-use of sites of extractive industry in Melbourne, and how these sites and their final outcomes were planned—by government and planning bodies—and ‘unplanned’—left to the market or the community to resolve. It demonstrates that comprehensive urban planning for quarries and their after-uses have been historically absent: this was exacerbated by the city’s reliance upon landfill as a mode of refuse disposal, which could also be harnessed to remediate excavated sites. These findings were revealed in undertaking case study analyses of the western suburbs of Newport and Niddrie. Although communities in both areas were fundamentally successful in limiting or preventing the complete transformation of their local quarry sites into tips, the form and success of quarry remediation was still fundamentally subject to the limitations of the state government’s planning directives. This thesis found that local communities and groups were crucial to the achievement of a compensatory and judicious land-use outcome for urban quarry sites. The investigations within this thesis reveal the importance of local community as ‘watchdogs’ of planning processes and procedures in an instance of legislative and regulatory oversight spanning two centuries.