Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemEvaluating cultural learning in virtual environments( 2006)There is still a great deal of opportunity for research on contextual interactive immersion in virtual heritage environments. The general failure of virtual environment technology to create engaging and educational experiences may be attributable not just to deficiencies in technology or in visual fidelity, but also to a lack of contextual and performative-based interaction, such as that found in games. This thesis will suggest improvements will result from more research on the below issues: 1. Place versus Cyberspace: What creates a sensation of place (as a cultural site) in a virtual environment in contradistinction to a sensation of a virtual environment as a collection of objects and spaces? 2. Cultural Presence versus Social Presence and Presence: Which factors help immerse people spatially and thematically into a cultural learning experience? 3. Realism versus Interpretation: Does an attempt to perfect fidelity to sources and to realism improve or hinder the cultural learning experience? 4. Education versus Entertainment: Does an attempt to make the experience engaging improve or hinder the cultural learning experience? This doctoral thesis outlines a theoretical definition of place, culture, and presence that may become a matrix for virtual environment design as well as a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of appropriating game-style interaction to enhance engagement. A virtual environment was built using Adobe Atmosphere to test whether cultural understanding and engagement can be linked to the type of interaction offered. The thesis also includes a survey of evaluation mechanisms that may be specifically suitable for virtual heritage environments. In its review of appropriate methodology, the thesis suggests new terms and criteria to assess the contextual appropriateness of various evaluation methods, and provides seven schematic examples of game-style plot devices that lend themselves to evaluation. The test-bed is the evaluation of a virtual archaeology project in Palenqué Mexico using theories of cultural immersion as well as computer game technology and techniques. The case study of Palenqué involved five types of evaluation specifically chosen to assess cultural awareness and understanding gained from different forms of interaction in a virtual heritage environment.
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ItemClient and contractor attitudes to prequalification and selection processes for construction work(University of Melbourne, 2002)Pre-qualification is a process of screening contractors prior to tender using a predetermined set of criteria. The criteria should be such that the decision maker can reduce risk factors in the choice, and also have a high probability that the firm will complete the project within time and cost, and also meet the appropriate quality standards. Pre-qualification criteria are intended to provide clients with a framework, understanding and methodology for pre-qualifying and selecting only those firms most suitable for future projects. Pre-qualification in some form has become almost standard practice within government procurement processes. The primary objective of this research is to examine the pre-qualification processes used by public sector clients in order to examine the effectiveness of their procedures. The justification for pre-qualification has been that it improves the quality and certainty of the construction process. The objective of this research is to determine the attitudes of contractors and clients to pre-qualification. The issue is to examine if the perceived advantages of pre-qualification outweigh the perceived disadvantages and thus provide some indication of its worth. This research identified two significant research questions. The first question relates to the effectiveness of existing pre-qualification criteria. Many past researchers have suggested criteria that client's consider to be important, however very little research has considered the perceptions of contractors. The success of pre-qualification is partially dependant on the attitudes of contractors, because they are stake-holders in the process. This research shows that clients and contractors often hold very different opinions on the importance of pre-qualification decision criteria; this is likely to undermine the effectiveness of the pre-qualification process. This represents a gap in past research that needs to be investigated. This research used a questionnaire to elicit the views of both clients and contractors to commonly used pre-qualification criteria. The second research question examines the effectiveness of the selection decision-making process. Once a project has been identified pre-qualified contractors are shortlisted down to a small group that are latter invited to tender. Past research established that the selection decision is highly subjective, and possibly adhoc. This research used semi-structure interviews and a series of case studies to investigate selection decision-making processes of public sector clients. The results show that a number of decision factors can be identified, and that their influence is dependant on the circumstances in which the decisions are made. The main conclusion is that stake-holders have different attitudes to the value of pre-qualification, and that this may have affected its success in the past. This research suggests that pre-qualification and selection decisions should be managed using a quality management process. All stake-holders must work more closely together in order to resolve their differences, and use benchmarking practices to more effectively manage the pre-qualification and selection environment. This research has important implications for clients that are seeking to reduce their dependence on low-bid selection procedures, and increase the use of partnering and alliance arrangements. Keywords: Contractor selection, pre-qualification, non-price selection, tendering
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ItemRoom to move : the politics of protecting the place of alternative culture(University of Melbourne, 2005)At the same time as changing global political-economies of land use are displacing low-income people from inner-cities, changing socio-cultural forces are inspiring marginal communities to resist. This research focuses on a relatively benign level of marginality in alternative cultures, whose loss of place in the inner-city has produced mobilisations in Europe and Australia claiming their right to the city and to difference in central, public space. The coincidence of interests between alternative cultures and cities reliant on their cultural economy has prompted some city governments to turn to their planning and heritage systems to protect their valued, and valuable, cultural diversity. But unexamined use of planning control and heritage protection can cause as many problems as it solves. The very question of protecting the place of alternative culture raises fundamental paradoxes. Advances in the last forty years in planning theory and interpretations of cultural heritage have prepared planning and heritage professionals for an exploration of new ways of treating place. Can inclusive planning and heritage practices facilitate continuity of ways of life, and contribute to a diversity of uses and meanings in the city? The paradoxes are negotiated in different ways in different contexts, and some of the stories from this research demonstrate that nuanced interventions can facilitate the continuity of alternative cultures, by creating or maintaining the conditions for their evolution and allowing them room to move. When it becomes clear that the paradoxes can be negotiated then the question changes from `can it be done?' to `what does it take?', to produce such responses not only to the place of alternative cultures, but to other areas of marginality with less symbolic capital but just a great a claim to the city. The thesis argues that marginal gentrifiers have a more important role in these processes than is usually allowed. As neither the cause nor victims of gentrification, and as participants, often, in alternative cultural and political movements, they have the resources, ability and, sometimes, willingness to mobilise in interests other than their own. Their capacity to modify the passage of gentrification comes from being part of both the political-economic and socio-cultural changes that are shaping the cities and regions of the twenty-first century, and from reflexive understandings of themselves as part of a new cultural politics of difference.
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ItemMarvellous artistry' : curiosities of nature and art in Kunstkammer collections of the late 16th and early 17th centuries(University of Melbourne, 2005)
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ItemPlanning rationality, interest intermediation and the reinstatement of political liberalism(University of Melbourne, 2001)
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ItemTransformation of Jalan Malioboro, Yogyakarta : the morphology and dynamics of a Javanese street( 2001)Streets are an important element of urban form and function. For their future development it is essential to understand the processes of transformation they have undergone in the past. This thesis is specifically concerned with Jalan Malioboro, the principal street of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which has had many historic roles and has undergone many transformations since its establishment in 1756. The various plans and regulations put forward in the past for the development of this street have proved to be inadequate to manage its invaluable but fragile local character. The aim of this research project is to understand and define the prevailing processes and forces that have brought about the transformation of Jalan Malioboro's streetscape since its establishment up to the present. Two approaches were used: morphological analysis for the physical-spatial characteristics of the streetscape through graphical representations and their qualitative descriptions; and socio-cultural analysis of the functions, meanings and activities taking place on the street, also done descriptively and qualitatively. A retrospective method was applied to reveal the processes that had occurred in the past and a prospective method to analyse the current condition and envisage its prospects. The overall process of transformation shows both continuities and changes of both the morphology and functions and meanings of Jalan Malioboro. The only true continuity is that of the very original axis. Everything else was and is in constant flux depending upon the contemporary forces. Although Jalan Malioboro forms a prominent linear space that provides a vista from Kraton to Tugu as part of a cosmological axis, it has grown spontaneously and incrementally. Socioculturally, the most striking transformation has been from its royal ceremonial function to its current predominant commercial function. The processes of transformation also demonstrate the dialectic between the form and function of the spaces along Jalan Malioboro, which has produced a hybridised and lively street. Its linearity, an orderly form derived from its function as a cosmological axis, has had superimposed on it different forms and activities, thus producing an ambiguous and chaotic streetscape. There are five key forces that have brought about the transformation: (a) the religious syncretism of the Javanese culture; (b) the political subversion, (c) lack of planning control, (d) modernisation, commercialisation and commodification of space; and (e) the 1997 economic downturn. Any development efforts for Jalan Malioboro arising from an examination of its process of transformation should attempt to ensure that its cultural significance, including its complexity and the dynamism of the street environment, is maintained.
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ItemTeletechnologies, place and community( 2006)This thesis discovered how notions of place and community circulate in the literature on various forms of teletechnologies and place-making. To do this, its aim was, first, to understand the interactions and interconnections between teletechnologies (or, information and communications technologies), place, and community, both within and outside of the literature on teletechnologies, and, second, to ascertain what relevance place and community might continue to have in the electronic age. The research was carried out using textual analysis and was developed within an interdisciplinary framework which ranged across quite diverse (con)textual terrain. The texts examined were drawn from a range of disciplinary fields, including media and communications, philosophy, sociology, literature, urban design, and architectural theory. The results of this examination reveal that the notions of place and community circulate in complex and at times contradictory ways in relation to information and communications technologies. Yet, in overall terms, the study revealed that these notions are of enduring relevance in understanding how we think about and experience who we are, where we are, and the ways that we interact and relate with one another. Nevertheless, this study also revealed the need for more careful articulation of intended meanings and possible implications when engaging with and employing ideas of place and community. Moreover, there is significant scope for further theoretical refinement of ideas of place and community in light of the impacts of and interconnections with teletechnologies. In response to the study findings, the thesis developed a three-part proposal to accommodate the complex interconnections between teletechnologies, the spaces and place in which we live, and various forms of social engagement. The proposal provides a theoretical framework which addresses: (1) the complicated interactions between the `actual' and the `virtual'; (2) an alternative and `non restrictive' approach to thinking about community; and (3) an account of place which emphasises openness, reIationality, and its heavily mediated nature. This tripartite proposal provides a series of productive initial steps towards the development of a fuller, more unified, and theoretically coherent response to these areas and the issues they raise. This work contributes to knowledge on the interactions and interconnections between teletechnologies, place and community. In particular, it challenges the way that the notions of place and community are understood to circulate in relation to, and how they operate in tandem with, the social as well as wider uses of teletechnologies. Finally and fundamentally it underscores the enduring importance of ideas of place and community in the present age, and the urgent need to continue to think about and engage with these ideas.
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ItemRegional change in Kyrgystan : bazaars, open-air markets and social networks( 2006)Recent interest in economic analysis of regional change has revealed and emphasized the uniqueness of regional economies and the significance of regional relational assets expressed in social capital and social infrastructure. This research aims to analyse the role of regional relational assets in economic development of parts of Kyrgyzstan as expressed in the development of markets in that country. It does so in two stages. First, through the analysis of three open air markets/bazaars in two culturally different regions: Northern and Southern Kyrgyzstan. By analysing and comparing the economic performances of three markets (as a dependent variable) and relational assets and social networks shaping the activities on the market (as an independent variable) this research reveals how cultural and relational differences of two regions are reflected in the economic performances of these markets. Secondly, the research compares the economic performance and relational characteristics of three distinct ethnic groups of merchants: Kyrgyz, Russian and Uzbek. The research establishes a link between the complexity of trading operations on these markets on one side and the nature of relational assets of traders on the other. It also reveals a deeper connection between the inherent but evolving cultural qualities of three ethnic groups and their role in the market activity. Findings of this study show that markets in Kyrgyzstan arid this informal trade emerging from the ground up play a very important role in the economic development of Central Asia. Markets are proven to be very territorial institutions reflecting both geographic and cultural uniqueness of their location. The key cultural factor distinguishing the relational assets of three ethnic groups is the role of family networks. By analysing the importance of family in the life Kyrgyz, Russian and Uzbek merchants the research starts constructing the notion of truly Central Asian perspective on sustainable economic development and gives recommendations to the economic policy formulation.
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ItemIdentifying the institutional barriers to sustainable urban transport in Pakistan( 2006)Urban transport is one of the most important sectors that have a direct bearing throughout the world on greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, road crashes and the deteriorating urban environment. These concerns are managed in Pakistan by relieving congestion by building larger and better roads. Therefore, road construction has consumed the largest part of transport investment in Pakistani cities. By contrast the principles of sustainable urban transport encourage the use of non-motorised and low cost public transport. These modes of transport are more successful in high density cities. Although demographic indicators show that Pakistani cities could perform well with sustainable modes of transport, the direction of current policy is in the opposite direction: to heavy investment only in roads. The in-depth study of transport institutions in Pakistan indicates that transport solutions are primarily a matter of the export of knowledge from the developed to the developing world, mainly driven by international development institutions and their associated consultants. Pakistani cities, especially Lahore, have welcomed this transfer of urban transport knowledge on the part of international institutions. However, the transfer of concepts from the developed world results in a mismatch of transport policy with local needs for mobility and safety, as well as ecological sustainability. The theoretical framework developed from the concept of path dependence has helped to develop a detailed explanation for this mismatch in urban transport capacity in Pakistan. By applying the methodological approach on the basis of `critical juncture' and `self-reinforcement mechanism', the research has explored how urban transport solutions in Lahore become locked-in over time as a result of past decisions on infrastructure investment, funding priorities, organisational structure, technical methodologies and mental models of international and local institutions. The research has identified institutions, techniques and discourse fields in path dependence as barriers to sustainable urban transport planning in Pakistan. In the institutional field, while the position of international institutions was critical in advancing the road development paradigm, the research has particularly identified how weak institutional capacities at provincial and local levels were also significant in promoting the road based transport paradigm. The research found technical `lock-in' as a barrier to the development of the range of solutions necessary to meet the needs of Pakistani cities. The research shows the importance of conventional discourse underpinning existing policy settings. The research concluded that the three fields in path dependence are reinforcing each other over time and require full treatment for institutional change, not only to save Lahore from air pollution and road crashes but also to save the world from the threat of climate change. However, such institutional change should cover more than just organisational structure and must include a change of social and financial priorities, change of assumptions and techniques and change of mental models.
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ItemMarine cities 1958 to 1978 : architectural experiments and ocean systems( 2005)This thesis recovers architectural designs for marine cities on and under the seas between the years 1956 and 1978. It comprehensively documents over 50 projects that fall into this distinct category redressing gaps in recent scholarship. The architects of these projects were not merely fantasists but employed overarching notions and methods related to General Systems Theory to engage with the Cold. War political narratives of the period. The thesis tests the hypothesis that in their designs for marine cities - both floating and underwater - architects drew upon diverse narratives circulating in popular culture related to and generated from the prevailing Cold War geopolitical context. The first section of the thesis draws on widely dispersed primary and secondary material, and this establishes a chronological and, contextual history of marine cities. During this Cold War era, popular culture was saturated with images of cities on other planets and under the oceans. At the same time, architects in Japan, England and France produced so called utopian proposals for schemes on and under the seas. In contrast to outer space, architects saw the colonisation of inner space as a more immediate possibility. During the 1960s up to the mid 1970s, marine cities were included in the period's contemporary historical texts as they were developed. The architectural high-point of all this activity was the construction of Kikutake's Aquapolis at the Okinawa Oceanic Expo of 1975. However, by this time these projects had become targets of the increasing criticism of modernist architecture. These critiques tended to exclude and foreclose the engagement of architecture with technology. As a result, marine cities became wrongly associated with the shibboleths of utopia, Science Fiction and megastructure. In the second section of the thesis, the narratives circulating in popular culture which architects drew upon in their designs for these cities are identified and examined. To achieve this, selected marine cities are examined at a number of different spatial scales. This aids an understanding of the way in which these narratives, and their associated technologies, were transmitted to, actively assimilated into, and given status within architectural discourse. This methodology assists in mapping the circulation and uses of technology in the collective architectural imagination. This analysis concludes that the architects of marine cities drew upon a broad systems framework less related to cybernetics and more directly concerned with holistic governance, biological notions of structural organisation, innovations in production, and life support systems.