Public space design of knowledge and innovation spaces: Learnings from Kelvin Grove Urban Village, Brisbane

The era of knowledge-based urban development has led to an unprecedented increase in mobility of people and the subsequent growth in new typologies of agglomerated enclaves of knowledge such as knowledge and innovation spaces. Within this context, a new role has been assigned to contemporary public spaces to attract and retain the mobile knowledge workforce by creating a sense of place. This paper investigates place making in the globalized knowledge economy, which develops a sense of permanence spatio-temporally to knowledge workers displaying a set of particular characteristics and simultaneously is process-dependent getting developed by the internal and external flows and contributing substantially in the development of the broader context it stands in relation with. The paper reviews the literature and highlights observations from Kelvin Grove Urban Village, located in Australia’s new world city Brisbane, to understand the application of urban design as a vehicle to create and sustain place making in knowledge and innovation spaces. This research seeks to analyze the modified permeable typology of public spaces that makes knowledge and innovation spaces more viable and adaptive as per the changing needs of the contemporary globalized knowledge society.

Stakeholder analysis of a retirement village development in Australia : Insights from an interdisciplinary workshop

In Australia, the retirement village is regarded as a viable accommodation option for the fast-growing population of older people. Given that diverse stakeholders are involved in the village development process, a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, especially understanding stakeholders' concerns and expectations, is of critical importance to project success. This paper describes a stakeholder analysis based on a typical retirement village. The main methods utilized in this research were case study and an interdisciplinary workshop comprising intensive work sessions and cross-functional review. The participants of this 2014 Brisbane workshop included four village managers from an Australian retirement village developer and eight academics from diverse disciplines from a large university. Through this workshop, 24 village stakeholders and their specific concerns and expectations were identified. Results suggest that both concerns and expectations of these stakeholders are multidimensional and vary considerably, and the concerns and expectations of different stakeholders have complex relationships. Implications for a retirement village development are also proposed. The findings of the study serve as a valuable reference for developers' understanding of stakeholder concerns and expectations, and for taking corresponding actions in the final stages of the retirement village development.

Ongoing poor management of medicines in the older-aged living independently in a rental retirement village

Background In a low socioeconomic status, small, rental retirement village, we have shown the older-aged managed their medicines poorly [1]. Objective As the number of participants was only 25, and the population in the rental retirement village turns over regularly; our objective was to determine whether the findings were consistent and ongoing. Methods We returned to the rental retirement villages after one and two years, and reassessed the management of medicines, using the same semi-structured interview method. Main outcome measure The main outcome measure was the perception of present and ongoing adherence. Results Although similar numbers (23-25) participated in the studies in 2011-2013, the actual participants changed with only 3 being interviewed on 3 occasions. Nevertheless, the findings over the 3 years were similar: less than 50% of the participants were adherent at the time of the study and unlikely to have problems in the next 6-12 months; only 50% had a good knowledge of their illnesses. Conclusions The management of medicines by the older-aged living in a low socioeconomic, rental retirement village is poor, and this finding is ongoing and consistent. This supports the need for extra assistance and resources for the older-aged, living in rental retirement villages, to manage their medicines.