School of Geography - Theses
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ItemStakeholders' perceptions of the management of groundwater contamination in Altona, Melbourne: is there a problem?( 1997)The problem of chemical groundwater contamination in Altona has been well documented since 1962 (State Development Committee, 1962). A basalt hosted, upper most aquifer, approximately ten meters from the surface, has been the focus of investigation by the Altona Chemical Complex since the late 1980s. Currently, a contamination plume, containing known carcinogens and mutagens, extends from the Altona Chemical Complex approximately two kilometers to beneath wetlands and residents' homes (GTA, 1996). The existence of such toxic compounds, potentially in contact with biological receptors, warrants investigation into the adequacy of the current management of groundwater contamination in Altona. Interviews were conducted to analyse the perceptions of twenty eight representatives from Altona residents; the petroleum and chemical companies of Altona; the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria; City West Water (water supply company); the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment; environmental assessment and remediation consultancies; environmental pressure groups; Federal, State and local political representatives; academia; banking; and real estate agent stakeholders. Based upon the perceptions of these stakeholders and with reference to supporting literature, this thesis examines the processes of the current management of groundwater contamination with respect to, management effectiveness, management motives, adherence to the precautionary principle, intergenerational equity and compliance to ecologically sustainable development. Analysis of the interviews determined that the management of the groundwater contamination issue was effectively in the hands of the Altona Chemical Complex, with the EPA, albeit with limited resources, facilitating and reviewing works being carried out. The existence of unregistered domestic bores and a lack hydrogeological knowledge indicated that the risk to public health and the ecological environment had not been adequately defined, despite Altona Chemical Complex claims to the contrary (EVS, 1996). In addition, the current management system was found to favour chemical industry management interests as they are the most influential stakeholder. These uncertainties and conflicting motives render the current management strategy inadequate as the precautionary principle was not utilised, intergenerational equity was not safeguarded and ecologically sustainable development was not being practiced. The ramification of the current management of groundwater contamination in Altona is that while action now may appear to be cost effective, the longer term consequences for the Altona Chemical Complex, public health and the ecological environment may not be affordable. iii
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ItemCommunities of resistance: the closure of schools in Victoria, 1992-1994( 1996)The role of discourse in campaigns of local resistance to the Government has been neglected in most analyses of community protest. This thesis examines the way in which community resistance to the Victorian Government's policy of school closures has been constructed through discourse. In particular, this study demonstrates how discourses were strategically mobilised in the protests over the closures of the Fitzroy, Richmond and Northland Secondary Colleges. It is argued that constructions of community, race and gender were employed to counter the dominant economic discourse of the Liberal Government. This study also illustrates how notions of power and class were evoked to emphasise the unity and sense of purpose of the protest groups.
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ItemLeaf yeasts as indicators of air pollution( 1993)In the early 1970s, Paul Dowding, a botanist at the University of Dublin accidentally discovered that leaf yeasts, especially Sporobolomyces roseus, can be used as indicators of air pollution. Dowding, having forgotten to collect leaves from the country for a 2nd year practical class, took them from his home in the suburbs and from the university grounds in the centre of Dublin. Very few pink yeasts appeared for the students to see in the practical class. Dowding, therefore, conducted a number of citywide surveys over the next few years. These confirmed that numbers of leaf yeasts were consistently lower in the suburbs than in the countryside and reduced even further in the centre of the city. (Dowding, 1980) Based on this chance discovery, a method using leaf yeasts as indicators of air pollution was developed and applied in several European cities. In most cities which monitored air pollution using this technique, maps were drawn indicating areas with high levels of air pollution. (Dowding, 1990) The leaf yeast technique developed by Dowding has the advantage that it is much cheaper than conventional air quality monitoring and facilitates the development of maps of the spatial distribution of pollution. No expensive devices are required and the material necessary for the methodology exists in every basic laboratory. The technique in itself is very simple and according to Dowding (1990) it can even be carried out by schoolchildren. The particular aim of the present study is to test the applicability of the methodology to the Melbourne setting. Air pollution in Melbourne has been monitored using the leaf yeast technique and compared to the results obtained for Melbourne by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). Furthermore, the extension of the methodology to native species has been investigated. The following chapter reviews the literature on the nature of leaf yeasts and their relation to air pollution. The discussion begins by considering some physical aspects of air pollution and then goes on to describe the air quality in Australia and Melbourne. Additionally, the impact of air pollution on plants is outlined. This chapter concludes with a summary of the nature of leaf yeasts and their reactions to airborne pollutants. Chapter 3 describes the methods used to monitor air pollution with leaf yeasts and sets out the advantages and limitations of this technique. Chapter 4 describes preliminary investigations which were carried out to test the applicability of the method in Melbourne and the possibility of using native species as bioindicators. This is followed by a discussion of the sensitivity of leaf yeasts to air pollution. The occurrence of leaf yeast populations in different seasons and in different areas is examined and described in Chapter 5 using the same data for both investigations. Chapter 6 describes an attempt to increase the data coverage in Melbourne with the participation of schools in data collection. This chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this approach which has been widely used in Europe by Dowding (Dowding, 1988,1990) In Chapter 7 an attempt is made to correlate the spatial distribution of air pollution in Melbourne as indicated by the leaf yeast surveys with data collected by the Victorian Environment Protection Authority using conventional air quality monitoring stations. Finally, an overview and summary of this work are presented in Chapter 8 with a discussion of the utility and applicability of this method in Melbourne.
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ItemSecond nature? : the socio-spatial production of disability( 1993)Social inequalities associated with disability are a disturbing feature of contemporary Western societies. The pervasiveness of this structural oppression means that millions of lives are overshadowed by disablement. This study sets out to situate this fact theoretically, historically, and geographically. Broadly speaking, disability is the socially imposed state of exclusion which physically impaired individuals may be forced to endure. Such a view contrasts with popular, or common sense, understandings which see the experience of disablement as `second nature' to impaired people. An important claim of the thesis is that disability is a socio-spatial oppression which social theory must no longer ignore. Further, historical materialism provides the explanatory foundations for a social theory of disability. It is asserted from the outset that the form of historical materialism needed to achieve this task is one which takes the human body and space to be central theoretical considerations. Accordingly, the study uses a spatially-focused historical materialism to analyse the question of disability, and does this through carefully designed empirical case studies of the everyday experience of disablement in different times and places. The study asks the question: How have changes in the socio-spatial organisation of society affected the lived experience of physical impairment? A response is made in the form of a comparative analysis of the lived experience of impairment in feudal England and colonial (nineteenth-century) Melbourne. Five important data sets exist which relate to the experience of impairment in both societies, and these are consulted in the course of the study. The most substantial empirical resource is the set of case records (1850-1900) of the Melbourne Ladies' Benevolent Society, an important philanthropic organisation which operated in colonial Melbourne. The research demonstrates that socio-spatial changes affect the lived experience of impairment by transforming the material structures of everyday life. It is argued that past transformations in the mode of production have had profound social consequences for physically impaired people. In particular, the analysis shows that the socio-spatial organisation of industrial capitalism was an oppressive source of disablement for physically impaired people. The study concludes that a transformation in the present mode of production (capitalism) is a necessary first step towards ending the oppression of disability.
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ItemPlanning in Melbourne 1950-1985: the formation of professional ideologies( 1993)This is a study of Melbourne planners and their professional ideologies. The vehicle for this research is metropolitan strategy planning in Melbourne ranging from 1950 to 1985, performed by a public sector organisation called the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW). The subjects are a group of thirty planners who authored the strategic plans and documents produced during this time period. By linking theoretical and archival material with empirical data this research aims to develop an understanding of what constitutes professional ideologies in planning. Moreover, it examines the interplay between elements of professional ideologies and features of the context of planning, such as the political-economy, political and socio-cultural agendas, and the bureaucratic organisation. This is the first study of its kind in Australia, and it is hoped that it will make a useful contribution to developing a better and more 'grounded' understanding of planners' ideologies, and the relevance and practical usefulness of the various elements which comprise them in the day-to-day world of metropolitan strategy planning. This research has been conducted in an exploratory mode, that is, to understand and account for all the possible influences on professional ideology formation. At the theoretical level, the implications of adopting such an approach are such that both the major sociological traditions which have taken an interest in the professions (Weberian and Marxist), are reviewed. In the first section of this thesis, neo-Weberian perspectives on the professions are evaluated for their possible contribution to understanding the processes through which professional ideologies in planning have been formed and re-formed during the period under study. The central interest of neo-Weberian scholars with respect to the study of the professions, is professionalisation. This denotes the process by which an occupation or an activity establishes, or attempts to establish itself as a profession. The role, methods, and strategies of the Royal Australian Planning Institute in developing and promoting its particular construction of a professional ideology in planning is investigated through the analysis of archival and documentary material. This is followed by a review of neo-Marxist perspectives on the professions, again with the aim of establishing what further contributions they make to our understanding of ideologies in planning. Relationships which are investigated include those between planning and the state, between planning's professional ideologies and the 'dominant' ideology, and between planning and the processes of class formation. One of the most salient propositions of this perspective - that 'functional' relationships exist between planners' ideologies and 'the role of planning', ensconced as it is within the capitalist state - is rendered into an empirical investigation. Explored are possible relationships between planners' ideologies, the strategic plans and policies they developed, and the political and economic context of planning in Melbourne during the period 1950 - 1985. It is argued that although both neo-Weberian and neo-Marxist perspectives have important contributions to make to a study such as this, there is a need to extend the concepts, relationships, and questions they embody at a 'middle level' of theorising. At such a level, it is possible to integrate our understanding of the dominant economic, social, and political processes, with what is known about the individual's (i.e. planner's) experience of these. Planners' ideologies comprise elements such as: planning knowledge, educational socialisation, planners' professional associations, professional values and beliefs, and ethics. Much of the empirical work is directed at examining the role of these elements in the construction of the individual planner's 'world view' about their own planning and about planning in general. An extensive interview and questionnaire process was carried out amongst a group of planners who had worked with the MMBW at various stages during the period 1950 - 1985, and at various levels of the organisational hierarchy. However, importance is also placed on understanding how individual planner's professional ideologies intermesh with or are integrated into other ideological practices and positions. Such relationships can be understood through examining the interplay between the constitutive elements of professional ideologies and the context features of planning. This research describes the political, economic, socio-cultural and organisational circumstances of metropolitan strategy planning in Melbourne 1950-1985. It also describes their role in creating the dissonance which was observed between certain elements of planners' ideologies and the representation of these in their work.
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ItemWhat is a neighbourhood: a study of resident perceptions in South Melbourne( 1981)No abstract available