Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemMaking Civic Space: A Comparative Study of Civic Space Design in the Contemporary Settler Societies of Australia and New Zealand( 2019)Designers in settler colonial cities around the world are being asked to respond to the demands of decolonisation as nations increasingly acknowledge their ethical obligations to redress colonialism. This thesis explores the state of decolonising practice in design through the lens of civic space in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, as compared through two exemplary projects - Adelaide’s Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga and Wellington’s Waterfront. The politics of settler nations are intrinsically spatial, as legislative and symbolic processes of sovereignty negotiate territory. Traversing conflicting layers of history in the spatial present is very complex, as physical ecologies and topographies both disrupt and support the legacy of colonialism. This research examines the textual, conceptual, spatial and architectural modes of practice which together collectively ‘make’ civic space. Civic space offers the opportunity to explore shared histories, experiences and practices, between indigenous and settler subjectivities However, the very notion of ‘civic’ is problematic within the settler context, where space and politics are inherently ‘unsettled’. The study considers the approaches to the design of civic space from placemaking and planning through to the scales of landscape architecture and architecture. This study found that despite progress and good-will on the part of design practitioners and stakeholders, the position of designers in Australia continues to be compromised by the arrested development of reconciliation in terms of legislation, governance and the redress of history. In the absence of meaningful change, designers are reliant on creative placemaking practices of acknowledgment, applied through techniques of interpretation and curation. When viewed in contrast, the constructs established by the legislative and policy redress of New Zealand have provided designers with a stronger footing from which to explore finer grade spatial design responses to decolonisation. When viewed together these two spaces offer a revealing collision of design, policy and indigenous reconciliation.
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ItemAn investigation into construction management practices influencing labour productivity in multi-storey building projects( 2017)Productivity improvement in construction projects is essential for the economic growth of a country, for increasing the profit margin of contractors and for reducing the project delays and the related consequences such as liquidated damages. Previous studies indicate that management related problems are negatively influencing labour productivity in construction projects. However, understanding the management practices which are suitable for improving productivity in specific project type in a certain location, planning the appropriate practices, monitoring the implementation of the planned practices, and assessing whether the implemented practices are associated with high or low productivity can help to increase productivity. Previous studies identified the best practices for increasing productivity in infrastructure and industrial construction projects in North America. However, it is possible that none of these practices is suitable to enhance productivity in multi-storey building construction projects in Australia as the management practices and their effectiveness would depend on the context such as differences in the resources supply chain within the local market, local regulatory requirements and project types. Furthermore, there is little or no research conducted on what these practices might be and which of them are the most important in the context of multi-storey building projects in Victoria State, Australia. Also, no research has been conducted on how the management practices that could enhance productivity in multi-storey building projects are measured, planned, monitored and evaluated. Additionally, no tool has been developed to predict a productivity value or a probability of exceeding a certain productivity value when the levels of planning of the management practices are known. The purpose of this research is to identify the management practices that have the potential to improve productivity in multi-storey building construction projects, refine and validate scoring tools for measuring, planning, controlling and evaluating the practices in the context of building projects, and develop a tool for predicting the probability of exceeding a baseline productivity factor when the levels of planning of the management practices are determined. The research adopted a two-phase exploratory sequential mixed methods design. During Phase-I, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 experts who have been involved in the delivery of multi-storey building projects. The qualitative data was analysed, construction management practices that have the potential to improve productivity were identified, and the unweighted scoring tools for the practices were prepared. In Phase-II, quantitative data was collected from 39 principal contractors on 39 projects using questionnaires. During stage I of the quantitative data analysis, the data collected from the 39 principal contractors’ experts regarding the relative importance of the practices in enhancing the productivity of multi-storey building projects were analysed to prioritise the practices identified in Phase I, and on that basis, the weighted scoring tools were prepared. During stage II of the quantitative data analysis, the data collected from the 39 multi-storey building projects were analysed to validate the scoring tools and to develop as well as validate the logistic regression model for predicting the probability of exceeding baseline productivity factor using a sigmoid graph when the scores of the practices are known. Overall, 47 construction management practices that have the potential to improve productivity in multi-storey building projects in the context of Victoria State, Australia have been identified and prioritised. The practices ‘well-defined scope of works,’ ‘safety and health policy,’ and ‘safety and health plan’ are found to be the three most important practices. The findings of the correlation analyses revealed that all the 47 construction management practices are positively associated with productivity. The output of linear regression analysis also indicated that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between productivity and the management practices. The findings of Friedman test showed that the practices ‘well-defined scope of work,’ ‘safety and health policy,’ ‘safety and health plan,’ ‘hazard analysis,’ ‘long-lead materials identification,’ ‘safe work method statement’ and ‘toolbox safety meetings’ are equally important to improve productivity in multi-storey building projects. The study revealed that high levels of implementation of the construction management practices are associated with low levels of project delays. The use of practices also varied according to the project costs. Long-lead materials identification, procurement plans for materials, and materials delivery schedule are found to be the three most important construction materials management practices. Construction equipment maintenance, construction equipment procurement plan, and construction equipment productivity analysis are identified as the three construction equipment management practices. Traffic control plan, project start-up plan, machinery positioning strategy, project completion plan, and dynamic site layout plan are found to be the top five practices which are related to construction methods. Well-defined scope of work, short interval plan, buildability review, construction work packages, and regulatory requirement are found to be the five most important pre-construction phase management practices. Clear delegation of responsibility, stability of organizational structure, and crew composition are found to be the three most important human resource management practices. Finally, safety and health policy, safety and health plan, and hazard analysis are the three most important safety and health practices. The scoring tools which can be used to measure, plan, monitor and evaluate the management practices have been refined and validated. Thus, the scoring tools for construction materials management practices, construction equipment management practices, pre-construction phase management practices, management practices related to construction methods, human resource management practices, and safety and health practices are prepared and validated. The baseline scores against which the users of the scoring tools assess the adequacy of their practices have been determined and validated. The baseline scores can be used as benchmarks to evaluate if the planned or implemented management practices on a certain multi-storey building project would be associated with high or low productivity. Hence, the baseline scores for the overall management practices, construction materials management practices, construction equipment management practices, pre-construction phase management practices, management practices related to construction methods, human resource management practices, and safety and health practices are set. Logistic regression models that can be used for predicting the probability of exceeding baseline productivity factors are built and validated. The associated sigmoid graphs have been developed to determine the corresponding probabilities when the scores of the construction management practices are known. Thus, the logistic regression models for predicting the probability of exceeding baseline productivity factors based on the aggregated scores of the construction management practices as well as based on the scores of construction materials management practices, construction equipment management practices, preconstruction phase management practices, management practices related to construction methods, human resource management practices, and safety and health practices are built and validated. Additionally, linear regression models which are used to predict the productivity factors of multi-storey building projects based on the scores of the construction management practices are developed and validated. The study has practical implications. Contractors involved in the construction of multi-storey buildings in Victoria State, Australia can implement the identified practices to enhance productivity in their projects. They can also measure their management practices and evaluate whether their practices are adequate or not. Furthermore, the contractors can use the probability-based predictive model to assess the risk of low productivity for specific levels of implementations of the construction management practices. During the project planning phase, the management practices scoring tools can be used to plan appropriate practices which can be implemented to potentially increase productivity. Moreover, the productivity predicting tools can be used to estimate the productivity of a certain multi-storey building project based on the levels of planning of the management practices. By using the estimated productivity, the likelihood of occurrence of project delays can be predicted, and corrective actions can be taken prior to commencing the construction of the project. During the construction phase, the scoring tools can be used to control the implementation of the planned practices. Finally, during the project closure phase, the scoring tools can be used to evaluate whether the implemented practices are associated with the predicted productivity. If not, lessons can be learnt, and suitable practices can be planned for future projects. This research contributes to the body of knowledge in construction management by identifying and prioritising the management practices which are suitable to enhance labour productivity in multi-storey building construction projects. The findings of the study can facilitate international comparisons as well as sectoral comparison and provide useful information for future researchers and companies seeking construction works in Australia. This study also contributes to the growth accounting framework (neoclassical economic growth theory) by investigating the under-researched areas of the drivers of labour productivity. The technological advancement and capital deepening are the two main factors which were explained by the theory. However, the theory did not provide an in-depth explanation of the management practices. This research increases the understanding of the importance of the management practices for increasing labour productivity in the context of multi-storey building projects.
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ItemPlanning for dogs in urban environments( 2016)Dogs are the most common pet in Australia and increasingly occupy both social and cultural norms. There is a growing interest in more-than-human geography and my thesis extends this critical concern to the planning of urban environments as a human habitat. Contemporary literature in more-than-human geography typically and unconsciously anthropomorphises the experience of those other species and in turn accounts for other species from a human perspective. My thesis recognises this gap and endeavours to provide a critical account of planning for dogs through a lens of justice for animals. My research problem is predicated on the basis that Australian society lacks consensus on the appropriate treatment of dogs in urban environments, reflecting in local differentiation of opportunities available to dogs and yielding different outcomes of justice for dogs. My thesis accordingly examines how institutions and planners affect such freedoms through their language and actions. My thesis comprises a similar systems case study design that examines the phenomenon of planning for dogs using the case of Melbourne, a city of four million people and the capital of the state of Victoria, Australia, through the institutional discourse of eight representative councils (local government authorities). In order to critically address the fundamental uncertainty of anthropomorphism introduced by the dependent companion relationship, I elect to examine the discourse of government institutions as a credible, consistent and comparable reflection of society. Themes and theory emerge from the data through a disciplined application of qualitative content analysis underpinning a grounded theorisation of planning for dogs in cities. An operational framework describing justice for dogs is developed from first principles, suggesting the importance of animal management, open space planning and urban planning professions in planning for dogs. These roles demonstrate a clear ontological distinction, with the dominance of ontology shown to be exceedingly important to understanding planning for dogs. In operationalising a justice for dogs, I capture the pervasive anthropocentrism of planning which manifests in the animal management practices of councils and in how human agency is defined and exercised in the process and outcomes of planning for dogs. Whilst my thesis is ostensibly about planning urban environments and the role of local government, it also contributes to the social sciences more broadly. My approach distinguishes from what may be typical to other more-than-human geography literature through its treatment of planning for dogs as attending to underlying considerations of justice for dogs. A natural concordance with the justice as capabilities (derived from the Capabilities Approach espoused by Sen and Nussbaum) emerges, suggesting more authentic and just outcomes for dogs than in the utilitarian anthropocentric tradition where actions are guided by the demarcation of humans from animals. My thesis is a valuable contribution to this growing body of more-than-human geography literature and advances the philosophy of planning of urban environments beyond humanity, in doing so strengthening the bonds which connect the broader social sciences.
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ItemWomen and their career progression in the Australian construction industry( 2013)This comprehensive study of women and their career progression in construction makes five substantial research contributions: longitudinal data on Australian women's participation rates; the development and validation of a career advancement measure; empirical validation that women experience 'contest'career mobility; evidence a gender inclusivity continuum exists in construction; and the development of a career typology model for professional women in construction. Construction, an industry with an image of being macho, confrontational and riven with conflict, has not yet embraced gender diversity, despite the improvements this can make to corporate performance and the industry's ongoing skills shortages. The purpose of this research was to investigate women's participation in Australian construction and the career advancement of professional women in the industry. It involved three studies with Study 1 using secondary longitudinal data and Studies 2 and 3 involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. While it is well understood that construction is male-dominated, previous research had not investigated if this has changed and what roles women undertake within construction in Australia. Study 1 revealed that since the early 1990s female participation has been relatively stagnant overall, as well as within the construction trades. As well as identifying women's participation in many non-traditional roles, this study verified patterns of horizontal and vertical segregation. In addition, a significant disparity between women's increasing participation rates in professional roles and declining rates within management in construction prompted a study of professional women's career advancement. To date, research on women's careers in construction has focussed predominantly on barriers they experience (most of which are outside their control) and explanations for their under-achievement. However, in today's industry some women are advancing, so it is timely to understand organisational, interpersonal and individual factors which facilitate this process. Many theories can be used to explain women's advancement (the extrinsic component of career success) including: homophily; organisational support theory; theory of work adjustment; values congruence theory; social capital theory; human capital theory; trait theory; role scarcity theory; and role accumulation theory. Before an investigation of career advancement could be undertaken, a five-round Delphi study (Study 2) was conducted to develop and validate a scale to measure career advancement suitable for Australian construction. Study 3, a cross-sectional correlational field study involving 456 professional women, applied this new scale and investigated factors that affect women's career advancement. Individual factors, in particular human capital variables, rather than interpersonal and organisational factors were found to have the greatest influence on women's career advancement. This finding, contrary to previous research, indicates a 'contest', rather than 'sponsored'(the typical male pattern), career mobility path. Study 3 also tested a model developed to specifically explain women's advancement and investigated aspects the intrinsic component of career success known to be important to women. While this research did not find support for the model, the results indicate the experiences of women differ and that a gender inclusivity continuum exists in construction. A career typology model was developed which explains the career experiences and progression of professional women in construction. The development of the gender inclusivity continuum and the career typology are major theoretical contributions to women in construction research. The finding that interpersonal and organisational factors were not predictors of women's career advancement in construction was significant, as it counters the viewpoint of the majority previous research in the area. Lastly, the discovery that women follow a 'contest'career mobility pattern contributes significantly to both research in construction, as well as research exploring professional women's careers.
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ItemBeneath the veneer : negotiating British and colonial Australian relationships in Queensland domestic interiors, 1880-1901( 2012)Australian histories of design have largely characterised furnished interiors as passive imitations of European models, with Australia seen as marginalised by time and distance, and lacking in agency from the centres of international design. These interpretations have over-shadowed a range of cultural meanings attached to furnishings at this time. The examination of the discourse of design, business trade and consumer choice on furniture in this thesis, using the case study of Queensland in the late nineteenth century, exposed the dynamic co-dependent relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies, where issues around the materials and making of furniture figured prominently in the construction of colonial identity. Using a wide range of primary source material, including furnishing guides, trade journals and catalogues, parliamentary debates and inventories, the study showed that colonial Australians used their knowledge of the material and cultural aspects of furnishing acquired from British-based texts to maintain the overall appearance of British genteel middle-class interiors. Colonial Australians faced contested local issues around climate, local materials, race and labour relations, which saw colonial loyalty divided between Britain and their local industries. In response, they adopted new construction and branding techniques to subtlety distinguish locally made items from British ones based on native timbers, their functional performance and the employment of local European labour, rather than their visible aesthetic design. This thesis contributes further context for Australian interiors, and argues that the inclusion of more detailed business histories for objects designed for global consumption, such as domestic furniture, are required understand the subtle transfers of cultural meaning between imperial powers and settler nations which change over time. Ultimately, a combination of locally made and imported items and practices observable in different rooms of the home reflected the composite or hybrid nature of an emerging colonial Australian identity. Issues of materials and labour revealed agency on the part of colonies, which has hitherto been obscured by an over-reliance on surviving images of complete interiors and single nation studies. This is to certify that: - the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface; - due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; - the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices.
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ItemArchitectural design studio and the real world out there : an investigation of content in Architectural Design Studio at three faculties of Architecture in Australia from years 1-5 (2003-2007)( 2011)In Anglophone countries, architects appear disengaged from the public realm despite professional bodies' policies. Critics frequently blame architectural education's core pedagogy, design studio. This research examined studio handouts from Australian universities against professional design brief criteria, and by discourse analysis, seeing how studios might contribute. Few studios aimed to solve problems, most focusing on form-making and aesthetics, under-stressing social, environmental and financial issues, sometimes unintentionally. But rare, conceptually 'thicker' proposals often targeted social housing and engagements with the 'real world.'
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ItemReducing greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings in Australia : impact, opportunities and barriers impeding progress( 2003)The quest underlying this research is improved understanding of greenhouse gas reductions attributable to residential buildings in Australia. Past efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from residential buildings in Australia focus predominantly on operational energy and to a lesser extent CO2 emissions attributable to energy embodied in the building structure, i.e. an individual dwelling and its site. The emissions and corresponding opportunities associated with the life support systems servicing the dwelling, e.g. water supply, food supply, sewage disposal, are still relatively unexplored. The first part of this research takes a wider view by including the life support systems. As a demonstration of how the impact of the life support systems can be studied, water supply and sewage disposal are explored in detail. Once potential opportunities for reduction are identified, these opportunities also need to be realised. Both the theory and practice of energy conservation in residential buildings worldwide, and in Australia, have been there since the 60s and 70s. However, there is evidence that implementation in Australia has not transferred into the mainstream as yet. Efforts have been made to identify the barriers impeding progress to energy efficiency. These are mostly based on personal observation. Structured methods based on empirical data are restricted to individual key players such as architects or householders. Empirical studies of a limited cross section of the key players have been carried out overseas but are restricted to commercial buildings. These studies have also been isolated attempts and not as part of an overall management strategy. In the second part of this research a diversity of needs and barriers faced by a wide cross section of key players is identified empirically, as part of an overall management strategy aimed at achieving energy and related CO2 reductions from residential buildings in Australia. Energy reduction is taken to include operational energy, embodied energy and the energy associated with the life support systems of a dwelling. It is proposed that both these domains of opportunity identified present opportunities for significant reductions in CO2 emissions from residential buildings in Australia.
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ItemSex and the slum : imperialism and gender in nascent town planning, Australia and New Zealand, 1914-1919( 2003)This thesis explores early 20th century town planning discourse in two of Britain's dominions, Australia and New Zealand. It uses the first national town planning conferences held in Australia and New Zealand (1917, 1918 and 1919) as a vehicle for examining themes of imperialism and gender within town planning discourse. In both dominions, women had a visible presence and an increasing voice in the nascent town planning movement. The women planning advocates were predominantly middle-class, they supported the continuation of women's traditional domestic role and they celebrated women's position as the `mothers of the race'. They wanted improved housing standards in order that women could undertake their important work of mothering to better effect. Similarly, they wanted more extensive kindergarten and playground facilities in order to shape and mould the citizens of tomorrow. But more than this, the women who took the most active role in the Australian and New Zealand town planning conferences were imperialist, win-the-war loyalist and in some cases even militarist. It was the imperial race that was at stake. The term `planning's imperial aspect' has been used by others to describe the initiatives of imperial powers in exporting town planning to their colonies and dominions. However, in view of the Australian and New Zealand enthusiasm for importing town planning, and the extent to which Australian and New Zealand planning advocates promoted town planning in terms of its potential to benefit the imperial race, this thesis expands the usage of the term to encompass colonial/dominion initiatives in importing town planning from the relevant imperial power, in this case from Britain. The thesis shows that in early 20th century Australia and New Zealand, the activities of women planning advocates clearly demonstrate planning's imperial aspect. This is because the women recognised the particular plasticity of children's bodies and minds and the consequent opportunities that infancy and youth provided for the instillation of middle-class values and behavioural norms, and thus focused their attention on the sites and activities that had the greatest potential to positively modify the fitness, health and morality of children - the imperial soldiers, workers, wives and mothers of tomorrow.
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ItemThe order of housing things : public housing policy discourse in New Zealand and Australia, 1983-1999( 2001)The purpose of this thesis is to examine discourses of housing assistance to understand how empirical knowledge came to be effected in the state housing assistance arrangements of New Zealand and Australia. To achieve this purpose a discursive methodology was crafted to account for both the constitution of empirical knowledge, and the bureaucratic apparatus by which housing assistance is administered. By pursuing the theoretical insights of US pragmatist thinkers, and recent French post-structuralist authors, empirical knowledge in the thesis was understood as a series of regular relations between abstract categories of 'things' or 'statements', as enunciated in the utterances of housing assistance policy actors and agents. Similarly the state was viewed as a discursive apparatus, which operates to constitute reality through the enunciation of this empirical order of things. The results of the methodological strategy were to be found in the empirical case studies of housing assistance in New Zealand and Australia during the period 1983 to 1999. In New Zealand a regular arrangement of housing policy discourse operated. until 1990. This 'order of housing things' constituted its subjects as unable to operate effectively in the housing market, thus requiring direct intervention via the housing assistance apparatus to ensure their needs were met. After 1990, this arrangement was replaced by an order in which the market was constituted as able to efficiently allocate housing to those in need, with maintenance of an adequate income becoming the sole basis for state action. In Australia, the order of housing things has consistently been one in which the directly provided subsidised state housing is the enunciated and practiced 'truth' of housing assistance. While alternative orders have been enunciated, such as the provision of assistance solely through an income payment, none of these alternatives obtained the status of the incumbent order during the study period. The thesis contributes to social scientific understanding through the careful and extensive empirical analysis of public housing policy in the two countries under consideration. Added to this understanding are the detailed theoretical explorations, which tease out recent post-structural approaches to discourse and the state, and which provide methodological solutions to questions of the nexus between empirical reality, language, practice, subjects and government policy.