Towards sustainable urban futures : evaluating urban sustainability performance of the Gold coast, Australia

Creating sustainable urban environments is one of the challenging issues that need a clear vision and implementation strategies involving changes in governmental values and decision making process for local governments. Particularly, internalisation of environmental externalities of daily urban activities (e.g. manufacturing, transportation and so on) has immense importance for which local policies are formulated to provide better living conditions for the people inhabiting urban areas. Even if environmental problems are defined succinctly by various stakeholders, complicated nature of sustainability issues demand a structured evaluation strategy and well-defined sustainability parameters for efficient and effective policy making. Following this reasoning, this study involves assessment of sustainability performance of urban settings mainly focusing on environmental problems caused by rapid urban expansion and transformation. By taking into account land-use and transportation interaction, it tries to reveal how future urban developments would alter daily urban travel behaviour of people and affect the urban and natural environments. The paper introduces a grid-based indexing method developed for this research and trailed as a GIS-based decision support tool to analyse and model selected spatial and aspatial indicators of sustainability in the Gold Coast. This process reveals parameters of site specific relationship among selected indicators that are used to evaluate index-based performance characteristics of the area. The evaluation is made through an embedded decision support module by assigning relative weights to indicators. Resolution of selected grid-based unit of analysis provides insights about service level of projected urban development proposals at a disaggregate level, such as accessibility to transportation and urban services, and pollution. The paper concludes by discussing the findings including the capacity of the decision support system to assist decision-makers in determining problematic areas and developing intervention policies for sustainable outcomes of future developments.

The importance of a triple bottom line approach for safeguarding urban water quality

Water environments are greatly valued in urban areas as ecological and aesthetic assets. However, it is the water environment that is most adversely affected by urbanisation. Urban land use coupled with anthropogenic activities alters the stream flow regime and degrade water quality with urban stormwater being a significant source of pollutants. Unfortunately, urban water pollution is difficult to evaluate in terms of conventional monetary measures. True costs extend beyond immediate human or the physical boundaries of the urban area and affect the function of surrounding ecosystems. Current approaches for handling stormwater pollution and water quality issues in urban landscapes are limited as these are primarily focused on ‘end-of-pipe’ solutions. The approaches are commonly based either on, insufficient design knowledge, faulty value judgements or inadequate consideration of full life cycle costs. It is in this context that the adoption of a triple bottom line approach is advocated to safeguard urban water quality. The problem of degradation of urban water environments can only be remedied through innovative planning, water sensitive engineering design and the foresight to implement sustainable practices. Sustainable urban landscapes must be designed to match the triple bottom line needs of the community, starting with ecosystem services first such as the water cycle, then addressing the social and immediate ecosystem health needs, and finally the economic performance of the catchment. This calls for a cultural change towards urban water resources rather than the current piecemeal and single issue focus approach. This paper discusses the challenges in safeguarding urban water environments and the limitations of current approaches. It then explores the opportunities offered by integrating innovative planning practices with water engineering concepts into a single cohesive framework to protect valuable urban ecosystem assets. Finally, a series of recommendations are proposed for protecting urban water resources within the context of a triple bottom line approach.

Delaying mismatched field multiplications in pairing computations

Miller’s algorithm for computing pairings involves perform- ing multiplications between elements that belong to different finite fields. Namely, elements in the full extension field Fpk are multiplied by elements contained in proper subfields F pk/d , and by elements in the base field Fp . We show that significant speedups in pairing computations can be achieved by delaying these “mismatched” multiplications for an optimal number of iterations. Importantly, we show that our technique can be easily integrated into traditional pairing algorithms; implementers can exploit the computational savings herein by applying only minor changes to existing pairing code.

The intention to notice : the collection, the tour and ordinary landscapes

The Intention to Notice: the collection, the tour and ordinary landscapes is concerned with how ordinary landscapes and places are enabled and conserved through making itineraries that are framed around the ephemera encountered by chance, and the practices that make possible the endurance of these material traces. Through observing and then examining the material and temporal aspects of a variety of sites/places, the museum and the expanded garden are identified as spaces where the expression of contemporary political, ecological and social attitudes to cultural landscapes can be realised through a curatorial approach to design, to effect minimal intervention. Three notions are proposed to encourage investigation into contemporary cultural landscapes: To traverse slowly to allow space for speculations framed by the topographies and artefacts encountered; to [re]make/[re]write cultural landscapes as discursive landscapes that provoke the intention to notice; and to reveal and conserve the fabric of everyday places. A series of walking, recording and making projects undertaken across a variety of cultural landscapes in remote South Australia, Melbourne, Sydney, London, Los Angeles, Chandigarh, Padova and Istanbul, investigate how communities of practice are facilitated through the invitation to notice and intervene in ordinary landscapes, informed by the theory and practice of postproduction and the reticent auteur. This community of practice approach draws upon chance encounters and it seeks to encourage creative investigation into places. The Intention to Notice is a practice of facilitating that also leads to recording traces and events; large and small, material and immaterial, that encourages both conjecture and archive. Most importantly, there is an open-ended invitation to commit and exchange through design interaction.

Strategising knowledge-based urban development : knowledge city transformations of Brisbane, Australia

In the global knowledge economy, knowledge-intensive industries and knowledge workers are extensively seen as the primary factors to improve the welfare and competitiveness of cities. To attract and retain such industries and workers, cities produce knowledge-based urban development strategies, and therefore such strategising has become an important development mechanism for cities and their economies. The paper discusses the critical connections between knowledge city foundations and integrated knowledge-based urban development mechanisms in both the local and regional level. In particular, the paper investigates Brisbane’s knowledge-based urban development strategies that support gentrification, attraction, and retention of investment and talent. Furthermore, the paper develops a knowledge-based urban development assessment framework to provide a clearer understanding of the local and regional policy frameworks, and relevant applications of Brisbane’s knowledge-based urban development experience, in becoming a prosperous knowledge city. The paper, with its knowledge-based urban development assessment framework, scrutinises Brisbane’s four development domains in detail: economy; society; institutional; built and natural environments. As part of the discussion of the case study findings, the paper describes the global orientation of Brisbane within the frame of regional and local level knowledge-based urban development strategies performing well. Although several good practices from Brisbane have already been internationally acknowledged, the research reveals that Brisbane is still in the early stages of its knowledge-based urban development implementation. Consequently, the development of a monitoring system for all knowledge-based urban development at all levels is highly crucial in accurately measuring the success and failure of specific knowledge-based urban development policies, and Brisbane’s progress towards a knowledge city transformation.

The urban littoral frontier : land reclamation in the history of human settlements

The urban waterfront may be regarded as the littoral frontier of human settlement. Typically, over the years, it advances, sometimes retreats, where terrestrial and aquatic processes interact and frequently contest this margin of occupation. Because most towns and cities are sited beside water bodies, many of these urban centers on or close to the sea, their physical expansion is constrained by the existence of aquatic areas in one or more directions from the core. It is usually much easier for new urban development to occur along or inland from the waterfront. Where other physical constraints, such as rugged hills or mountains, make expansion difficult or expensive, building at greater densities or construction on steep slopes is a common response. This kind of development, though technically feasible, is usually more expensive than construction on level or gently sloping land, however. Moreover, there are many reasons for developing along the shore or riverfront in preference to using sites further inland. The high cost of developing existing dry land that presents serious construction difficulties is one reason for creating new land from adjacent areas that are permanently or periodically under water. Another reason is the relatively high value of artificially created land close to the urban centre when compared with the value of existing developable space at a greater distance inland. The creation of space for development is not the only motivation for urban expansion into aquatic areas. Commonly, urban places on the margins of the sea, estuaries, rivers or great lakes are, or were once, ports where shipping played an important role in the economy. The demand for deep waterfronts to allow ships to berth and for adjacent space to accommodate various port facilities has encouraged the advance of the urban land area across marginal shallows in ports around the world. The space and locational demands of port related industry and commerce, too, have contributed to this process. Often closely related to these developments is the generation of waste, including domestic refuse, unwanted industrial by-products, site formation and demolition debris and harbor dredgings. From ancient times, the foreshore has been used as a disposal area for waste from nearby settlements, a practice that continues on a huge scale today. Land formed in this way has long been used for urban development, despite problems that can arise from the nature of the dumped material and the way in which it is deposited. Disposal of waste material is a major factor in the creation of new urban land. Pollution of the foreshore and other water margin wetlands in this way encouraged the idea that the reclamation of these areas may be desirable on public health grounds. With reference to examples from various parts of the world, the historical development of the urban littoral frontier and its effects on the morphology and character of towns and cities are illustrated and discussed. The threat of rising sea levels and the heritage value of many waterfront areas are other considerations that are addressed.

Can proteoglycan change in articular cartilage be detected by ultrasound evaluation?

This paper assesses the capacity of high-frequency ultrasonic waves for detecting changes in the proteoglycan (PG) content of articular cartilage. 50 cartilage-on-bone samples were exposed to ultrasonic waves via an ultrasound transducer at a frequency of 20MHz. Histology and ImageJ processing were conducted to determine the PG content of the specimen. The ratios of the reflected signals from both the surface and the osteochondral junction (OCJ) were determined from the experimental data. The initial results show an inconsistency in the capacity of ultrasound to distinguish samples with severe proteoglycan loss (i.e. >90% PG loss) from the normal intact sample. This lack of clear distinction was also demonstrated at for samples with less than 60% depletion, while there is a clear differentiation between the normal intact sample and those with 55-70% PG loss.

Near infrared for non-destructive testing of articular cartilage

The concept of non-destructive testing (NDT) of materials and structures is of immense importance in engineering and medicine. Several NDT methods including electromagnetic (EM)-based e.g. X-ray and Infrared; ultrasound; and S-waves have been proposed for medical applications. This paper evaluates the viability of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, an EM method for rapid non-destructive evaluation of articular cartilage. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that there is a correlation between the NIR spectrum and the physical and mechanical characteristics of articular cartilage such as thickness, stress and stiffness. Intact, visually normal cartilage-on-bone plugs from 2-3yr old bovine patellae were exposed to NIR light from a diffuse reflectance fibre-optic probe and tested mechanically to obtain their thickness, stress, and stiffness. Multivariate statistical analysis-based predictive models relating articular cartilage NIR spectra to these characterising parameters were developed. Our results show that there is a varying degree of correlation between the different parameters and the NIR spectra of the samples with R2 varying between 65 and 93%. We therefore conclude that NIR can be used to determine, nondestructively, the physical and functional characteristics of articular cartilage.

International regional planning educational experience : learnings from Malaysia, Korea and Turkey study trips

In an era of rapidly changing economic, social and environmental conditions, urban and regional planning education must be resilient, innovative and able to deal with the complex political and socio-economic fabric of post-modern cities. As a consequence, urban and regional planning education plays a fundamental role in educating and forming planning practitioners that will be able to tackle such complexity. However, not many tertiary education institutions provide a trans-cultural engagement opportunity for students, where the need to internationalise planning education has been widely recognised worldwide. The aim of this paper is to communicate the findings of three overseas study trips (Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, Daejeon-Korea, Istanbul and Gallipoli-Turkey) that students of Queensland University of Technology are taken to where these study trips trailed the provision of an innovative tertiary education experience of teaching regional planning in an international context. The findings of the pedagogic analyses of the study reveal that the exposure of students to different planning processes and practices give them a new outlook on what they knew from their own country and provide them with useful insights on international planning issues and cultural differences and barriers.

Decolonising curricula in an Australian university : re-imagining curriculum through critical race theory

The recognition of Indigenous knowledge in western academic institutions challenges colonial discourses which have informed and shaped knowledge about Indigenous peoples, cultures and histories. Deeper analysis is required of the ways in which Indigenous knowledge and perspectives are perceived, and the processes through which university curricula can accommodate Indigenous knowledge in teaching and learning. To achieve this deeper analysis, and to invigorate the continuing decolonisation of Australian university curricula, this paper critically interrogates the methodology and conceptualisation of Indigenous knowledge in embedding Indigenous perspectives (EIP) projects in the university curriculum by drawing from tenets of critical race theory and the cultural interface (Nakata, 2007). Accordingly, we conduct this analysis from the standpoint that Indigenous knowledge in university curricula should not subscribe to the luxury of independence of scholarship from politics and activism. The learning objective is to create a space to legitimise politics in the intellectual / academic realm (Dei, 2008, p. 10). We conclude by arguing that critical race theory’s emancipatory, future and action-oriented goals for curricula (Dei, 2008) would enhance effective and sustainable embedding initiatives, and ultimately, preventing such initiatives from returning to the status quo (McLaughlin & Whatman, 2008).

Machine recognition of hand-drawn circuit diagrams

An application of image processing techniques to recognition of hand-drawn circuit diagrams is presented. The scanned image of a diagram is pre-processed to remove noise and converted to bilevel. Morphological operations are applied to obtain a clean, connected representation using thinned lines. The diagram comprises of nodes, connections and components. Nodes and components are segmented using appropriate thresholds on a spatially varying object pixel density. Connection paths are traced using a pixel-stack. Nodes are classified using syntactic analysis. Components are classified using a combination of invariant moments, scalar pixel-distribution features, and vector relationships between straight lines in polygonal representations. A node recognition accuracy of 82% and a component recognition accuracy of 86% was achieved on a database comprising 107 nodes and 449 components. This recogniser can be used for layout “beautification” or to generate input code for circuit analysis and simulation packages

The use of temporal speech and lip information for multi-modal speaker identification via multi-stream HMMs

Investigates the use of temporal lip information, in conjunction with speech information, for robust, text-dependent speaker identification. We propose that significant speaker-dependent information can be obtained from moving lips, enabling speaker recognition systems to be highly robust in the presence of noise. The fusion structure for the audio and visual information is based around the use of multi-stream hidden Markov models (MSHMM), with audio and visual features forming two independent data streams. Recent work with multi-modal MSHMMs has been performed successfully for the task of speech recognition. The use of temporal lip information for speaker identification has been performed previously (T.J. Wark et al., 1998), however this has been restricted to output fusion via single-stream HMMs. We present an extension to this previous work, and show that a MSHMM is a valid structure for multi-modal speaker identification

Suzumushi : a silent future

This paper introduces the creative work Suzumushi: the silent swarm, produced by Kuuki. The paper provides an outline of the work and draws together the ideas that influenced the works form, the conceptual material and interaction design, including acoustic ecology and emergence.

Knowledge-based urban development processes of an emerging knowledge city : Brisbane, Australia

In the global knowledge economy, to attract and retain knowledge-intensive industries and workers, cities produce various development strategies. Such strategising is an important development mechanism for cities to complete their transformation into knowledge cities. This paper discusses the critical connections between knowledge city foundations and integrated knowledge-based urban development strategies, and scrutinises Brisbane’s strategies in attracting and retaining investment and talent. The paper introduces a knowledge-based urban development assessment framework and uses this framework to provide a clearer understanding of Brisbane’s knowledge-based development processes and knowledge city transformation experience. The assessment framework particularly focuses on examining Brisbane’s four development processes, institutional, economic, socio-cultural and urban development, in detail. The findings reveal that although Brisbane is still in early stages of its transformation into a fully-fledged knowledge city, global orientation and achievements of Brisbane in strategising knowledge-based urban development are noteworthy.

Visualising invisible networks as collaborative arts practice

This paper examines approaches to the visualisation of ‘invisible’ communications networks. It situates network visualisation as a critical design exercise, and explores how community artists might use such a practice to develop telematic art projects – works that use communications networks as their medium. The paper’s hypotheses are grounded in the Australian community media arts field, but could be applied to other collaborative contexts.