Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 77
-
ItemRethinking the Inflexible City: what can Australian planning learn from successful implementation of ‘temporary uses’ across the world?( 2013)Temporary uses have been identified as a low-cost, participatory, and economically beneficial method of managing urban change. As planning practice increasingly deploys temporary use, good outcomes require an understanding of how the two interact. Using the case study methodology, this thesis examines the ways in which formal planning practice can encourage, support, complicate and hinder informal temporary urbanism. The thesis does this by analysing the experiences of four agencies facilitating the implementation of temporary uses worldwide, examining their interaction with the planning system, and identifying common constructive and obstructive policy mechanisms. Temporary use projects can be initiated without high levels of support from formal planning; however, having to comply with the formal planning process is a significant hurdle. Traditional planning does not make provisions for short-term urbanism, imposing costly and time-consuming processes incommensurate with the short duration and low cost of the temporary use. Applications for change of use, requirements for building safety triggered by the planning process, and the perceived arbitrariness of the decision-making process are the biggest hurdles that formal planning imposes on temporary use. Temporary uses are best supported through dedicated processes, staff, and relaxed regulations. The findings confirm that temporary uses are a successful method for finding opportunity in situations of uncertainty and crisis. Formal planning practice can strategically deploy temporary projects to achieve long-term planning objectives. These findings should spark more debate about, research on, and experimentation with temporary uses.
-
ItemBarriers and facilitators to nature-based stormwater management in Melbourne’s private realm: the role of statutory planning frameworks and actors( 2021)Sustainability transitions in Australia’s Stormwater Management (SM) sector over the past two decades have led to the realisation that achieving a ‘Water Sensitive City’ is critical to ensure the health and wellbeing of urban residents and urban ecosystems, as climate change and urbanisation increase uncertainty around the quality and quantity of water in urban environments. ‘Nature-Based Stormwater Management’ (NBSM) is increasingly acknowledged as an important approach to accelerate transitions to a Water Sensitive City due to the multifunctional role of vegetation. In response to sustainability shifts in planning and urban water sectors, the Victorian state government and several municipalities across Melbourne introduced strategic plans and guidelines supporting Integrated Water Management (IWM), Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD). More recently, a series of local and state-wide planning scheme amendments in the statutory system have formalised IWM, WSUD, SM and Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) requirements for development on private land. However, current literature highlights that a wide variety of systemic and actor-based factors influence uptake of NBSM in Melbourne and ultimately restrict practical implementation of NBSM systems. This thesis employed qualitative semi-structured interviews with twelve public and private statutory actors to identify barriers and facilitators in Melbourne’s inner-city statutory framework that influence uptake of NBSM on private land. Findings suggest that while more prescriptive policy requirements are important to prioritise the use of vegetation, they are insufficient in isolation to produce effective NBSM outcomes. This is due to barriers presented by competing interests, inconsistencies between councils, poor technical knowledge, and siloed decision-making. Instead, targeted collaboration between actor groups at the early stages of project development, supported by state-led knowledge-sharing initiatives, will be necessary to successfully deliver NBSM and maximise co-benefits provided by vegetated systems. Recommendations from this study can be used to inform targeted strategies for Melbourne’s public and private practitioners to establish healthier relationships with urban water systems long into the future and simultaneously achieve a wide variety of planning objectives.
-
ItemGovernance and planning for cultural diversity on the local scale in Victoria, Australia( 2021)The unprecedented volume of international migration in recent decades driven by globalisation has made planning for cultural diversity a reality and a practically necessary task for cities. Policy approaches to cultural diversity remain contested as Australia aspires to proceed to a ‘post-multicultural’ era, where cultural diversity is celebrated while social inclusivity and sense of belonging is promoted. This study focuses on how cultural diversity has been interpreted and addressed on the local scale against this backdrop to close the research gap on planning and governance for cultural diversity in local practices. Two local councils (the City of Melbourne and the City of Ballarat) along with their latest planning strategies addressing cultural diversity (the Melbourne for All People Plan 2014-2017 and the Ballarat Intercultural Strategy 2018-2021) are selected for a comparative case study between the inner and regional city in Victoria. A systematic analysis is conducted to identify the key factors shaping local plan making for cultural diversity by employing the 3Is framework, followed by a plan quality evaluation expanded on Fincher (2010)’s framework examining the ability of the local plans to comprehensively address cultural diversity issues. Empirical results highlight that cities are to establish authentic and aligned understanding of cultural diversity and to build local knowledge and tool to comprehensively respond to cultural diversity through meaningful encounters with stakeholders and community members to fulfil the institutional and attitudinal expectations towards the post-multicultural Australian society.
-
ItemInformal Music Events, a Subculture’s Claim to the City( 2021)This thesis explores the role of informal music events, as a subcultural practice, in Melbourne, focusing on their potential to be recognised as an exercising of the right to the city through the theoretical lenses of place and social capital. This area of study was chosen in an attempt to shed light on potential inequalities within the production space of Melbourne. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used to gauge the presence of place processes and social capital within informal music events and understand the experience of these events from the point of view of the event organisers. The six place processes were found to be present along with two social capital typologies, indicating that there is place-based social value to this subculture that would make it valuable for mediation with planners and policy makers. Informal music events were found to be an alternative to the competitive formal live music venues, but also served as a key creative starting point that allowed organisers to access these formal venues later. This competitive creative environment was perceived to be related to policy such as the late-night freeze and the urban redevelopment of Melbourne’s inner municipalities. If planners are to foster creative subcultures that create social value within the city, then there needs to be a mediation of claims to the city to ensure that less economically viable subcultures may access formal spaces to prevent urban conflicts around land usage.
-
ItemMelbourne flats: Marne Street, South Yarra: a micro case study( 2021)In early 2021, I undertook research on the architect, Edwin J Ruck. During that research, I found an old photograph which indicated who had design the “Mayfair” in Marne street South Yarra. The beautiful old photo attracted me, and I want to see the real building. I went to Marne Street, but, I didn’t find “Mayfair”. Late on, I found that the building had been demolished. However, I found Marne Street to be a very special street for Melbourne’s interwar flats. I decided to do more research, using this street as case study microcosm the history of Melbourne’s flats.
-
ItemA path for the conservation of the Old City of Tripoli( 2021)The Old City of Tripoli faces a significant noticeable deterioration and possibly a highly problematic future for its heritage. This thesis aims at highlighting this problem while suggesting solutions to clarify the site's heritage prospects. Those solutions result from a thorough investigation on local and international levels, searching for models that could explain how the Old City of Tripoli can be successfully conserved. The research methodology includes two experimental studies. The first provides a critical assessment of the current conservation works done by a local organisation called OTCAB while exploring the dynamics of change and authenticity. The second study is more of a futuristic reflection on potential UNESCO inscription as well as building up scenarios based on comparative analysis of different global old cities. This thesis shows that the Old City of Tripoli's is constrained by circumstances that inevitably affected the priorities of its conservation which requires us to explore ways of expanding our notions of heritage beyond materiality. Providing opportunities to refine the OTCAB to be considered as a successful local model is a way of achieving proper conservation to the site. Moreover, a living heritage approach demonstrated in successful international case studies like Hoi An is another prospect worthy of consideration. However, the way forward for a bright future for the Old City of Tripoli will depend on a serious governmental heritage vision that contributes to the solvation of the faced problems as well as negotiating options that help the implementation of the recommended solutions.
-
ItemThe influence of urban policy on green infrastructure development in the city of Moreland( 2021)Green infrastructure (GI) as an adaptation action can mitigate the negative impacts of rapid urbanisation and climate change on cities. Although GI is an urban governance technology that can provide multiple ecosystem services, the development of GI is influenced by a number of factors. Numerous studies have demonstrated that there appears to be a link between urban policy and the implementation of GI guidelines. The City of Moreland has developed many greening strategies since 2017 and has seen a significant increase in the number of GI projects in its city in recent years. Therefore, this paper explores the potential relationship between GI development and urban policy using the city of Moreland as a case study and a policy analysis research approach. The findings suggest that the level of priority given to GI in urban planning policy and the completeness of the relevant plans in terms of content may have an impact on the development of GI.
-
ItemNavigating planning networks: identifying the decision-making network behind 20-minute neighbourhoods( 2021)While there are many plans that set expectations and objectives for the development of Melbourne, the city is ultimately changed by people and the networks in which they are embedded. At times, these networks of public and private actors that influence the project agenda may not follow the plans set in front of them or they may frame those plans in a way that aligns with their own interests and priorities. This is when urban regimes can begin to emerge, cementing path dependency in development. The effect of these urban regimes can have a significant impact on the urban outcomes of strategies. In the example of Plan Melbourne 2017-2050’s 20-minute neighbourhood, a goal that prioritises equity and accessibility may fail to address those principles depending on who the decision-makers are behind the implementation of that strategy. In order to challenge the governance of urban regimes, the planner has a unique positioning within the network of decision-makers to build advocacy coalitions and identify opportunities in which they can actively influence the transformation of a project agenda. By identifying the wider decision-making network for 20-minute neighbourhood planning, and the similarities between its attributes and characteristics of urban regimes, the planner can play a critical role in upholding the principles behind the 20-minute neighbourhood. This research looks at the Sunshine West 20-minute neighbourhood pilot program in order to add visibility to the network that shapes the 20-minute neighbourhood and its characteristics that help or hinder the implementation of the principles behind that vision.
-
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.
-
ItemAre there more diversity and noise in public opinions expressed on open discussion platforms？ A case study of the new protected bike lane project in Melbourne( 2021)This study systematically compares government-led digital platforms and online news portals regarding e-participation. Although both digital platforms have been shown to have distinct pros and cons, scholars tend to discuss them separately rather than treating them as references for each other, creating a gap in the academic field. Some scholars have observed that the informality possessed by citizen-led discussion portals can compensate for the homogeneity of voices on government-driven platforms. Nevertheless, its inclusiveness can cause distortions in the dialogue process - content that is not part of the established subject matter naturally appears, thus causing noise of opinion. This thesis chooses the new protected bike lane project as a case study to contrast government-operated and open discussion platforms in terms of diversity and noise of opinion. This research collected secondary data generated from Participate Melbourne and online news comment sections of the Age and the Herald Sun. It used the NVivo package to conduct a qualitative content analysis. Firstly, this study has identified that open discussion platforms produce more diverse voices in word clusters, thematic concerns and opinions than Participate Melbourne. The second significant finding was that both news platforms generated approximately 20% to 40% noise of opinion. The insights gained from this study contribute empirical evidence to understanding the opportunities and limitations of open discussion portals in e-participation and promoting a deep digital democracy. Its methods and findings should help establish a thematic framework to measure digital participation and lay the groundwork for future research.