Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemConsolidating the Australian Dream: Housing Aspirations of Young Adults in Melbourne( 2022)The notion of ‘home’ as a house on a large block of land has been a key ideal of a longstanding ‘Australian Dream’. Chasing the Australian Dream is common in the psyche of a settler-colonial and immigrant society where, for several generations now, it has often meant a ticket to financial profit, conventional family comfort and a stake in the political agenda. The cultural concept is oft considered to be a powerful social norm in Australia, so much so that there continues to be de-facto democratic support for urban sprawl and restrictions on densification in established residential neighbourhoods, despite the impacts on sustainability and social equity. The thesis takes an exploratory approach to better understand how ideals of the Australian Dream may or may not be influencing the kinds of housing and neighbourhoods that young adults actually want to live in. An online survey was created in an attempt to answer the following research questions; 1) to what extent do young adults living in Melbourne aspire towards the Australian Dream?, and 2) what kinds of housing and neighbourhoods do young adults wish to see more of in Melbourne? Overall, the results show that ideals of the Australian Dream were substantially more private and inward focused than the contemporary issues that young adults were concerned about when considering notions of home. Young adults overwhelmingly prioritised proximity to services and public transport over dwelling size, amount of storage and private features. Despite some limitations in the sampling and survey methodology, the implications of this research are that much more needs to be done to plan and deliver on 20-minute neighbourhoods and to open up space for more medium density mixed use housing, particularly across established inner and middle suburbs of Melbourne.
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ItemEmbedding placemaking in planning Nature-based Solutions: A complementary case study of Nature-based Solutions’ policies in Melbourne and Guangzhou( 2022)Nature-based Solutions (NBS) is an adaptative measure addressing climate change and urban regeneration by restoring the ecosystem services of the natural system. However, existing research has illustrated a lack of consideration of local context and community participation in the current planning and implementation of NBS. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote ‘nature-based placemaking’, which embraces local context and community perspective in practice. This research examines how placemaking principles are reflected in the Nature-based Solutions policies in Melbourne and Guangzhou. This research will investigate the functions and implications of placemaking strategy in Nature-based Solutions (NBS) planning, with a complementary case study on two river management policies: 1) Yarra Strategic Plan 2022-2032 in Melbourne, Australia; 2) Guangzhou Ecological Belt Master Plan 2019-2035 in Guangzhou, China. Qualitative policy analysis is based on the five transformative elements in the ‘Nature in Place’ framework (Bush et al., 2020). The comparative analysis found that both case studies illustrate a transformative nature-based placemaking in river management, though with different focuses. Melbourne’s plan embedded placemaking principles in the planning stage, while Guangzhou’s plan embedded placemaking in co-design and co-management in the implementation stage. The different focuses of Melbourne and Guangzhou present context-specific planning governance with different levels of community participation. The top-down planning approach effectively delivers the concept of NBS and intergovernmental collaborative governance. Nevertheless, community participation and empowerment in NBS are the keys to maximising multiple co-benefits and achieving integral environmental management and nature stewardship.
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ItemWhere should the restricted parking area for shared e-scooters be located? Create criteria and maps for ‘no-parking zones’ for Flagstaff Station( 2022)Heritage identification by nation-state governments have historically favoured monumental sites with popular historical narratives, typically representing majority cultures. Recent challenges of these hegemonic selections have broadened our understanding and definition of cultural heritage and heritage values. The nomination and management by heritage bodies, of sites based on criteria which go beyond identifying physical or aesthetic characteristics has prompted greater acknowledgement of the social meaning or value of a place through heritage policies. The DAAR’s (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research) recent attempts to nominate Dheisheh camp of Palestine in the UNESCO world heritage list, explores heritage nomination and conservation in spaces of refugeehood, statelessness, contested memories and temporary urban forms. This paper attempts to identify a key challenge of recognising and conserving sites such as Dheisheh. How can we form heritage values and narratives around temporary urban structures that transcends formal state boundaries and contain complex ownership? The paper examines the Dheisheh camp to understand how it confronts this challenge by rethinking heritage and conservation through different perspectives which transcend the expectations of spectacular architecture with Outstanding Universal Value, that aids in the commodification, consumption and long-term viability through tourism revenue of specific cultural heritage sites. The DAAR’s process of rebuilding, reimagining and re-producing spaces attempts to understand and confront the paradox of creating permanence and celebrate refugeehood as a valid form of heritage. The human or social resilience of Dheisheh becomes the main theme of this case study as illustrating the site’s significance. The thesis offers new ways of understanding intangible heritage and social value in unconventional heritage places and temporally precarious environments.
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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.
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Item‘Leisure, pleasure … rubbish and rats?’: the planned and unplanned reclamation of bluestone quarry sites in urban Melbourne, 1835-2000( 2020)This thesis explores how regulatory mechanisms and community perceptions of urban extractive industry have changed, particularly during the twentieth century. Extractive industries operational in the twenty-first century are now located well outside of the metropolis, obviating the impacts of this deleterious industrial practice. Yet this was not always the case. Australian cities, settled following the industrial revolution, made great use of these extractive resources often accessing them in quite densely settled areas. Such land-use often took place in inner-urban locales, and the infancy of planning practice at that time saw these quarries established in an ad hoc manner. The absence of controls with respect to the location and management of quarries culminated in an uncomfortable closeness with nearby residential areas. As quarrying operations moved towards the urban periphery during the early twentieth-century, the absence of comprehensive planning failed to prevent suburban development from encroaching upon extractive industry, and in some cases this led to conflict between residents, government, planning bodies, and industry. This is especially apparent in Melbourne, the world’s largest metropolitan area atop a basaltic plain, from which the stone has been utilised for construction and roadwork since the city’s inception in 1835. Urban planning for quarries was historically absent until the formation of legislation in the 1960s in response to urban and land-use conflict; additionally, the city’s ongoing reliance on rubbish tips led tipping to be a default after-use for such sites, also raising ire. Improvements in this process encompassed the creation of legislation, planning policies, and the formation of activist groups to agitate for change. These developments were prompted by land-use conflicts, demographic change, and increased environmental awareness, all contributing to a perceived need for better planning. The tipping process was recast through a lens of social justice as undesirable undertakings no longer compatible with residential life. This thesis focuses on the use and after-use of sites of extractive industry in Melbourne, and how these sites and their final outcomes were planned—by government and planning bodies—and ‘unplanned’—left to the market or the community to resolve. It demonstrates that comprehensive urban planning for quarries and their after-uses have been historically absent: this was exacerbated by the city’s reliance upon landfill as a mode of refuse disposal, which could also be harnessed to remediate excavated sites. These findings were revealed in undertaking case study analyses of the western suburbs of Newport and Niddrie. Although communities in both areas were fundamentally successful in limiting or preventing the complete transformation of their local quarry sites into tips, the form and success of quarry remediation was still fundamentally subject to the limitations of the state government’s planning directives. This thesis found that local communities and groups were crucial to the achievement of a compensatory and judicious land-use outcome for urban quarry sites. The investigations within this thesis reveal the importance of local community as ‘watchdogs’ of planning processes and procedures in an instance of legislative and regulatory oversight spanning two centuries.
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ItemThe role of social and built environments in supporting older adults´ social interaction( 2018)The social and built environments at the neighbourhood level have been linked to older adults´ neighbourhood social interaction which, in turn, contributes towards ageing-in-place, wellbeing, and quality of life (QoL). Currently, however, there is no clear understanding about the relative strength and nature of these relationships across a diverse range of neighbourhood features. Moreover, previous research has paid relatively little attention to older adults’ social interaction in various types of third places. Additionally, the majority of previous studies in the urban planning context have concentrated on the quantity of social interaction, despite the fact that satisfaction with social interaction may be more important to older adults’ wellbeing. This research has two aims. First, it seeks to better understand the relationship between the social environment and built environment measures (including third places) with older adults´ social interaction. Second, it investigates this relationship through both frequency of social interaction and satisfaction with it. From the CSIRO Survey of Community Wellbeing and Responding to Change (n = 476) older adults´ individual views were obtained in relation to their social interaction and their perceptions of the social and built environments in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) in inner and outer urban areas of Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Older adults were defined as people aged 55 years and above. Participants’ addresses were geo-coded and 14 built environment measures were investigated in their neighbourhoods using various buffer areas (road network distances that ranged from 100m to 1000m). Using mediation analyses, perceived social environment measures were found to be stronger predictors of social interaction frequency and satisfaction than perceived and objective built environment measures; however, some types of perceived third places were significant predictors of social interaction. The analyses showed that belonging to suburb, sense of community, participation in community activities, footpaths, and cafes, bars and restaurants predicted social interaction frequency. Social interaction frequency, belonging to suburb, sense of community and services were significant for predicting social interaction satisfaction. The model findings were then cross-validated with qualitative data. Two focus groups were conducted with LGA policymakers and 25 interviews conducted with older adults from the same LGA areas where the CSIRO survey was conducted. The qualitative study supported the findings from the quantitative analysis, and further identified that follow-up studies should consider older adults´ personal preferences (such as lifestyle) and the quality of the built environment, especially focusing on detailed features of their immediate environment such as quality of footpaths and the micro physical environment. These results indicate that there is an opportunity for government policymakers and planners at all levels, but also for nongovernment organisations and community groups, to actively pay attention to improving social environments, especially community spirit, to improve the sense of belonging in local areas and to maximise older adults’ participation in different community activities to support ageing-in-place and the overall wellbeing and QoL of older adults. Future research directions to contribute further to these outcomes are identified.
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ItemIntegrated planning with social logics in Melbourne and Buenos Aires( 2017)This thesis reveals both the formal structures and the informal strategies that support the application of social logics in integrated planning practices in Melbourne, Australia and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Integrated planning has been promoted in both cities since the early-1990s to overcome the shortfalls of traditional urban policy, including through programs that spatially target inequality and bring together multiple stakeholders for more coordinated policy responses. Through qualitative and comparative methods, this doctoral study examined multiple experiences of integrated planning focused on redressing disadvantage across both metropolitan settings. It employed a conceptual framework for understanding how to reduce disadvantage through planning by marrying the Theory of Social Logics (Fincher and Iveson, 2008) and understandings of practical wisdom (inter alia: Davoudi, 2015; Hillier, 2002; Flyvbjerg, 2001). This thesis reports the research findings, commencing with a localised and grounded understanding of integrated planning and then expounding the conditions necessary for integrated planning with social logics to occur and be sustained over time. In order to better understand the challenges to integrated planning for the reduction disadvantage, it also reports in detail the common barriers faced in formal policy and governance structures. The thesis also describes the informal strategies and tactics of urban planners in pursuing social logics despite the uncertain and at times unfavourable conditions revealed. Finally, it offers recommendations for the design of policy and urban governance structures to pursue integrated planning for reducing disadvantage, as well as a theoretical proposition for a phronetic Theory of Social Logics.
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ItemTell him he's dreaming: the polemical drawing in postwar Melbourne( 2017)Using the theories of Robin Evans and of Marco Frascari, this research identifies and describes a new kind of architects’ drawings, namely polemical drawings, which are characterised by their communication of architects’ ideologies, and skilful use of entourage, with an emphasis on human entourage. This research arose out of the pervasive and persistent appeal of architects’ drawings, especially hand-drawings. By showing the human hand, they have become, in recent decades, subject to fetishisation, and it has been argued that hand-drawings are better tools for design thinking than digital drawings. More importantly, architects’ drawings on the whole present themselves powerfully as artefacts, where they encapsulate not only architecture of a particular place and time, but also cultural, historical, political, and social aspects. Polemical drawings are notable in their articulation of the inherent qualities of architects’ drawings, such as cosmopoiesis (world-making) and storytelling, to convey their polemics to viewers. This research focuses on the context of Melbourne in the decades following World War II’s end, and the polemical drawings by William Hardy Wilson, Robin Boyd, and Edmond and Corrigan, where Hardy Wilson is significant as a proto-polemicist in Australian architecture, and Boyd and Edmond and Corrigan are, respectively, icons of Australia’s Modern and Postmodern movements. Through reading these architects’ polemical drawings, this research considers use of polemical drawings in Australia and Melbourne, where these drawings largely evince twentieth-century architects’ shifting attitudes towards suburbia and its ‘bad’ taste lifestyle, and where these attitudes are underpinned by questions of authenticity and identity in Australian architecture. This research shows the extent to which polemical drawings are engaged with their context, as seen in the reciprocal relationship between polemical drawings and postwar Melbourne, and how postwar Melbourne was demonstrably compelling for the promulgation of polemical drawings. With consideration of the potential of architects’ drawings as artefacts, reading polemical drawings shows itself to be a novel and useful tool towards understanding or revealing more about their context. This research proposes that the reading of polemical drawings would be a strong addition to historians’ analytical repertoires, as approaches similar to this research may be applied to other places and times.
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ItemConstructing publicness: politics and the role of design in Melbourne's grid since the 1990s( 2016)During the 1990s the developmental trajectory of inner Melbourne shifted dramatically and the city became the site of an entrepreneurial strategy of urban development. Within the inner grid, spatial interventions grounded this redirection, and a number of the city's open spaces became of utility in catalysing growth. This thesis explores the role of the design of public open spaces within the development of Melbourne's inner grid since the 1990s and investigates the implications on public life within these spaces. Focusing on City Square and Federation Square, analysis draws Upson ideas from contemporary political philosophy in order to understand the political capacities of these spaces and the forms of citizenship they produce. Influenced by numerous factors, Melbourne's inner grid evolved with a scarcity public open spaces and a strong economic focus. This has continually prevented the securing of such spaces and consistently privileged economic concerns over social utility in the creation of new spaces. This focus on the financial aspects of public spaces was heightened during the entrepreneurial shift of the 1990s and design became of importance in satisfying the emerging imperatives of development. Theories of design dominant in the 1990s, particularity deconstructivist methodologies of design and the urban design approach of Jan Gehl, found expression in spaces created and operated well within the broader entrepreneurial paradigm. Both approaches relied heavily on the use of architectural program to catalyse the animation of urban space, and within the resultant spaces there exists a conflation of civicness with programmed activities and consumptive practices. Within spaces analysed, design has proven instrumental in producing forms of citizenship and transforming notions of publicness in space.
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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.