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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ItemUrban planning for honeybees: The gap between science and policy( 2021)Honeybees are important to our cities because they provide essential ecosystem services and contribute significantly to our food production systems. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that they are in decline, particularly within urban settings, and that they can differ on a subspecies level in their resilience to urbanisation. The ability to successfully plan for the conservation of urban honeybees depends on urban policy and strategies that meaningfully engage with the science. However, literature demonstrates that some urban planning policies and strategies tend to fail to consider the best science. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to determine if the City of Melbourne’s (CoM) current policies and strategies for urban bee conservation consider the differences between honeybee subspecies in their resilience to urbanisation. Documents relevant to the CoM’s urban bee conservation planning were examined using a list of guiding questions and a coding system influenced by similar studies. It was found that not only do the CoM’s current policies and strategies for urban bee conservation fail to consider the discrepancies between honeybee subspecies in their resilience to urbanisation, they also fail to engage with the science on a meaningful or specific level. This is an important finding as it suggests that Melbourne is not effectively planning for the conservation of honeybees and is exposed to the adverse environmental, social and economic impacts of a declining urban honeybee population.
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ItemBuilding resilience through Community Bike Workshops: the grassroots case of The Bike Shed in CERES( 2021)In light of the urban challenges to overcome the climate change crisis, car dependent societies require an urgent behavioural shift in the transport paradigm. Supporting this aim, Community Bike Workshops (CBW) seek to empower existent and potential cyclists through technical bike educational strategies, increase their sense of security on the streets and provide a space to foster a community. Based on Sustainable Transition approaches, these niche innovations may contribute to large-scale urban transitions by increasing on street cycling demand and pressuring top down efforts for more and better cycling infrastructure. CBW could potentially trigger deep substantial system change for building the required adaptive capacity of societies in a changing climate. Despite their multiple benefits, they are poorly acknowledged and lack support from transport strategies and general top-down efforts. Intertwined to the outcomes of these environmentally friendly initiatives, is the slippery yet useful concept of Resilience, a key aspect in climate change management. This notion has guided policymakers in understanding cities’ vulnerabilities and opportunities to orient their strategies, plans and projects. Through an adapted mixed evaluation method, developed based on the analysis of resilience at three measurement scales -City, Community and Socio Ecological System- this research seeks to answer to what extent CBW are influencing the resilience of cities. Building on the experience of my own community as a case study -The Bike Shed in CERES-, this protocol will help understand how these community organisations are influencing the adaptive capacity of the wider city scale and potentially provide policymakers the incentives to further support these initiatives. Considering the dynamic nature and ethos of these types of organisations, and to further promote the identified potential of CBW, this research and general recommendations aim to improve the resilience of the communities that gather toward cycling activism.
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ItemSpatial planning to promote settlements’ resilience to bushfires( 2020)Bushfire hazards can pose significant risks at bushfire-prone urban-rural interfaces and peri-urban areas, highlighting the need to manage bushfire risk in relation to settlements’ planning and governance. Settlements’ resilience to bushfires can be purposively facilitated by the development and application of bushfire risk management knowledge. Spatial planning has the potential to support learning about and acting upon changing conditions and new bushfire information to promote settlements’ resilience to bushfires. However, the translation of new bushfire knowledge into meaningful spatial planning practices has been limited and spatial planning systems often struggle to integrate bushfire risk management. Thus, this research aims to contribute to understandings of spatial planning ability to improve its practices by identifying, reframing, and putting into action new considerations about bushfire risk management to promote settlements’ resilience to bushfires. This research used an inductive qualitative research approach employing two case studies: the spatial planning systems of Chile and Victoria (Australia). Qualitative data was collected from documentation, archival records, and semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using time-series analysis, qualitative content analysis, and cross-case synthesis techniques. The research was divided into four stages, two stages correspond to the individual case study analysis and the remaining two to cross-case synthesis and discussion. The research concludes that the Chilean and Victorian spatial planning systems are still constrained in their promotion of settlements’ resilience to bushfires due to internal and external complexities that frame and limit their ability for bushfire risk management. In Chile, there have been several mostly unsuccessful attempts to integrate bushfire considerations into the spatial planning system, thus the current system only outlines spatial planning mechanisms for bushfire risk management generically and inapplicably. In Victoria, the spatial planning system has partially and progressively improved its ways for dealing with bushfires, however, the current system still considers bushfire risk management partially and sometimes ambiguously. In practice, this implies that both spatial planning systems are sometimes allowing and even promoting settlements patterns that perpetuate bushfire risks. Based on a cross-case synthesis, the research concludes that spatial planning instruments that comprehensively address bushfires are necessary, suggesting an integrated approach that undertakes bushfire risk management at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of planning mechanisms and processes. This approach establishes the instruments’ role in bushfire risk management and other factors that provide directions for improving their ability to promote settlements’ resilience to bushfire. Furthermore, the research also concludes that reflexive processes are not always conducive to the development and improvement of spatial planning systems for bushfire risk management, due to the variance of willingness, understanding, and capacity issues within the system and in the wider context. Accordingly, thesis propositions about the barriers and facilitators that influence spatial planning progressing from the identification, to the reframing and implementation of change about bushfire risk management were suggested.
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ItemMain street / suburban mall / power centre: emerging retail synergies and resilient urbanity( 2019)This thesis explores a range of emerging shopping morphologies and their capacities for resilient urbanity. Twentieth century shopping centre development was largely marked by the rise of the suburban mall and power centre (big box store cluster) and the decline of the main street, along with a drift towards car-dependency and privatisation. Twenty-first century retail landscapes, however, increasingly form synergies between these three retail types, and these synergies are not well investigated in the existing research. Deploying a mix of assemblage, resilience thinking, and typomorphology, this thesis comprises a study of one hundred cases of contemporary retail synergies with a broad global spread. Detailed mapping and diagrammatic analysis are supplemented with interviews and observations from selected agents and shopping centres. These cases show a diverse range of emergent shopping morphologies: from simple combinations of any two retail types, to highly-experimental and complex assemblages of two or more synergies. Thirteen key forms of emergent retail synergies are identified, showing a trend towards more fine-grained, multi-functional, and pedestrian-friendly shopping morphologies consistent with more resilient forms of urbanity. Many retail synergies, however, continue to embody anti-urban tendencies including entrenched car-dependency and strong private control.
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ItemGreen stormwater control assets: a critical assessment of their management at three City councils within Greater Melbourne( 2019)In the context of global warming, with more intense, and more frequent, weather extreme events, like bushfires, heat waves drought and floods, the pressure on governments to guarantee water provision is increasing. Expectations exist at a basic level of service (water supply, access, and security); and further, in developed economies, expectations exist on the protection of public health, social amenity and —in some instances— environmental values. Indeed, these higher needs linked to quality of human life have been identified in literature as the next step in the progression of urban water management. Green Stormwater Control Assets (GSCA) have potential to contribute to these goals. GSCA are assets in the public realm, managed by Local Government; they are connected to urban stormwater drains, and have a vegetated component, that together with filter media, reduce the speed and contaminant load of urban runoff. Despite these assets’ potential contribution to urban water management, they are often found to underperform (in terms of their physical components, and operation, both in the short, and the long terms). Current literature indicates underperformance is due to unsatisfactory management and lacking maintenance. This raised the question driving this thesis: How are Green Stormwater Control Assets being managed at three City Councils within Metropolitan Melbourne? To address this question, six established management frameworks were considered, adapted and applied. Thousands of management frameworks are commonly used across countries and sectors. A management framework refers to a guideline that, when used consistently, can ensure materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. The use of management frameworks can foster higher transparency, environmental awareness and social welfare (Ibanez and Blackman, 2016). Six of such frameworks were selected for review, based on their relevance to GSCA management. The review identified ten key aspects specific to GSCA management. Together they form the “GSCA management framework” developed, which consisted of i) governance, leadership and commitment; ii) roles and responsibilities; iii) resources (financial and human); iv) operational control; v) competence, training, and education; vi) internal and external compliance and accountability; vii) audit, report, analysis and action; viii) documentation and records; ix) engagement (communication and consultation); and x) data and information systems. To investigate these key aspects in practice, a qualitative, exploratory and inductive research approach was employed. Three municipalities within Metropolitan Melbourne informed the research as case studies: The City of Melbourne, the City of Port Phillip, and Hume City Council. In total, thirteen stakeholders were interviewed to investigate the ten elements influencing GSCA management. A Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis System (NVivo) was used to support the analysis that uncovered underlying themes affecting GSCA management at the Municipalities studied. The contribution made to literature and practice enhancing GSCA management is twofold: 1) the GSCA management framework developed, that can prove beneficial for Councils managing GSCA or the like; and 2) the findings, implications, and recommendations specific to the municipalities under study. Notably, it was observed that whilst important efforts have been made by Victorian Local and State governments to develop the Metropolitan Melbourne water management system, attention is still required over the careful definition of an inclusive, coordinated, long‐term management strategy. It should include clear and specific accountabilities for parties involved, at an institutional, as well as government‐official levels. Similarly, to enhance GSCA’s sustained performance, it is necessary to invest on education, both of the general public and incumbent professionals, on key stormwater management matters, and environmental sustainability more broadly. Other findings relate to contractual agreements, and the procurement and use of financial resources.
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ItemResilience versus formalisation in the informal city: case study, the city of Golestan( 2015)This thesis is a study of the formalisation of informal settlements within a framework of resilience thinking with a focus on urban design scales and outcomes. Resilience is a framework for dealing with uncertainty and adaptation in complex developments. The thesis studies the effects of the urban formalizing processes in relation to resilience and adaptation capacities. It traces the transformations imposed by urban upgrading regulations by comparing three neighbourhoods in different phases of formalisation in Golestan, Tehran. Informal settlements have become an important part of urbanity due to rapid urbanization, lack of access to affordable housing, disasters, civil wars and climate change. These settlements have taken shape since the 1960s in Iran. Socio-political events as well the modernization process has exacerbated their formation ever since. This research is an urban design study on the effects of formalisation of informal settlements in Tehran, Iran. It will trace the process of change imposed by upgrading urban regulations and how it has affected their adaptation capacities. Resilience and complex adaptive systems as well as assemblage theories and their related concepts will be used as toolkits to conduct this research. The study will be conducted as a multiple case study inquiry on informal settlements in Tehran conurbation. Three case studies are chosen for this study: Soltanabad, where formalisation pricess is recently initiated, Feshargavi, where fast changes are in progression and New Golestan, which is a formally planned area. Drawing on methodological concepts, different techniques will be applied to collect and analyse qualitative data. Archival research, mapping, observation, and interview as well as document analysis are the main methods will employ in this research. This research will contribute to present new perspectives on effects of formalisation process as an agent of change on resilience of these areas.
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ItemUrban agriculture design for resilient cities( 2015)How might urban agriculture practices be more explicitly designed and managed to contribute to the resilience of urban socio-technical-ecological systems? The observed and potential impacts on cities of climate change and resource scarcity are being identified as motivations for theoretical and practical research into urban resilience. Urban agriculture (UA)–the production of food in urban environments–is argued by theorists and practitioners as one way to increase the resilience of cities by reducing vulnerabilities of current food supply systems. The anticipated value of UA in resilient cities contributes in part to a growing field of theory and practice focused on the task of designing and integrating UA into existing urban landscapes. This thesis reframes UA as a socio-technical-ecological system (STES) in which practitioners–consciously or otherwise–manage resources and relationships to produce ecosystem services. Framing UA in this way informed the selection of four case studies–three in the UK and one in the Netherlands–that seek to generate multiple benefits by creating UA networks across several sites in a city. Design research methods used in the fieldwork data collection and analysis stages revealed patterns that describe methods of working with UA as a STES that has cycles of growth and collapse. The patterns tested positively for coherence through discussion with urban agriculture practitioners in Melbourne. A comparison of the case studies and patterns with resilience methods and principles revealed correlations and gaps between the two. Working with social and ecological diversity, embracing experimentation and risk in socio-ecological systems are resilience-building principles that occurred in the case studies. Working at multiple scales and preparing innovative projects in anticipation of disturbance in the STES are resilience-building principles that were not identified in the case studies or patterns. The scope of the case studies in this thesis was limited to those that worked on multiple sites in a city because the presence of distributed urban agriculture is anticipated to contribute to urban resilience. The thesis found, within these limitations, that there are some correlations between resilience-building principles developed from rural and peri-urban case studies and the UA practices investigated. It also found gaps between the principles and the UA practices. The UA case studies demonstrated some common patterns of practice that were recognisable, if unusual, to UA practitioners in Melbourne. There is some possibility that UA network practices might be more explicitly aligned with resilience-building principles and that patterns might continue to be drawn from them, allowing such methods to be applied in different cities.
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ItemInheriting sustainability: World Heritage listing, the design of tourism development and the resilience of social-ecological complex adaptive systems in small oceanic islands: a comparative case study of Lord Howe Island (Australia) and Fernando de Noronha (Brazil)( 2014)Tourism development and sustainability are pressing issues to small oceanic islands featuring important and scarce natural heritage assets; these islands normally present small geographical areas with clearly defined boundaries, typically limited economic development alternatives combined with environmental systems and resources that are fragile and difficult to restore, once modified. Nevertheless, however paramount and highly interdependent the conservation of natural heritage and the obtaining of economic and social benefits through tourism might be, they do not seem to be subject of easy control; tourism development sustainability is dependent on the behaviour of many different agents, with not always complementary but rather, quite often, competing interests. From a Social-Ecological Complex Adaptive System – SECAS perspective, this research sought to understand how different forms of interpersonal and inter-organisational relationships of cooperation and competition influence the sustainability of Tourism Development - TD in small oceanic islands. Additionally, it sought to identify strategies that could influence these drivers and inhibitors within different social economic contexts, the influence of World Heritage Listing – WHL investigated as one possible global strategy for Localised Conservation – LC. Structured as a qualitative multiple case study, this research took place in two small oceanic island tourist destinations: Lord Howe Island – LHI in Australia and the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago – FDN in Brazil. With relatively similar geographical, tourist, regulatory and environmental characteristics, these sites presented the researcher with cases that have experienced the effects of WHL in different time spans and under different circumstances. They are also microcosms of the distinct social and economic contexts deriving from the different development models of the countries they are part. Aiming to contribute to the body of knowledge on the dynamics of sustainability transitions within tourism development in tourist destinations, this research: provided an overview on the evolution of the multiple concept of sustainability and proposed a working definition; carried a discussion on tourism development in the context of sustainability and developed an associated explanatory model and working definition; developed and applied a conceptual working model for researching the dynamics beneath the resilience of SECASs; bridged different areas of knowledge and applied Grounded Theory – GT methods to the research of SECASs; developed a transdisciplinary approach to research on Sustainability; concluded that Local Empowerment, Local Social Cohesion, Attachment to Place and Local Identity are fundamental to the resilience of Local SECASs and therefore to the sustainability of TD; and concluded that, when analysed from a SECAS approach, LC can both increase and decrease the resilience of global and local social-ecological systems.