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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ItemHealthy Public Space: Assessing the contribution of green space policy & design in Melbourne( 2023)Green spaces provide many benefits for the urban environment and for human health. Strategies in different countries are placing growing emphasis on green areas, and the City of Melbourne is following suit. Melbourne's current strategic planning document advocates the need for sustainable cities and promotes the planning and design of green spaces in the city. However, how policy influences the design of green space and the extent to which policy and practice are aligned for green space is not clear in Melbourne. This thesis first examines the relationship between strategic planning documents and green space, and understands which environmental factors contribute to the green space design. It then, analyses the consistency between policy and design by assessing three parks in Melbourne. The strategies analysed in this research are the Urban Forest Strategy, Open Space Strategy, and Nature in the City Strategy; and the three green spaces in Carlton, are University Square, Lincoln Square and Argyle Square. The analysis shows that there is a high degree of consistency between the three strategies and the three green space plans, with the exception of Argyle Square, where there is some inconsistency in its policies. In addition, University Square and Argyle Square have inconsistencies between their policies and the implementation of designs. The ultimate results of the research indicate the degree of consistency between the policy, plan, design, and actual implementation of the three green spaces. It was also found that Argyle Square, with the oldest park plan, lacks the design features that can more effectively support the delivery of green space benefits and functions. As such, the research highlights the roles of maintaining up-to-date park planning and design, to ensure parks can continue to support healthy public spaces.
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ItemFor what is Artificial Intelligence likely to be useful in Victorian urban planning?( 2023)The prevalence of artificial intelligence has led to various industries expanding their use of AI technology to assist them in their daily work. However, there is currently no precedent for the use of AI in urban planning in Victoria. In a wide range of sectors, it has been demonstrated that artificial intelligence can assist personnel and help them achieve outstanding results. Would people better contribute to urban sustainability and use AI to revolutionise urban planning with the assistance of AI? This article focuses on the prospects for the use of AI in the Victorian planning system. The article uses pattern matching, seeking examples and interviews with people from different parts of the Victorian planning system. Through the mix-method, it assesses whether AI might be able to navigate 'what planning does' and 'planning challenges' better than current methods. According to research, artificial intelligence can assist with urban planning in Victoria. This can be accomplished through the provision of support in the identification of spatial environmental factors, the improvement of consultation efficacy with various planning institutions, the facilitation of policy formulation and planning decision-making, and ultimately, the mitigation of planning risks. The lack of widespread adoption of AI in planning systems and the constraints of AI technology contribute to a lack of public confidence in AI, which is one factor impeding its advancement in urban planning. Moreover, 'planning challenges' such as political negotiation, community engagement, and other intricate planning endeavours that influence society greatly will be beyond the capabilities of AI due to its deterministic nature. This study demonstrates the significance and trajectory of artificial intelligence, or digitalisation, in the context of Victorian urban planning.
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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.
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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.