'When everything old is new again' : class, consumerism and masculinity in Alasdair Duncan's Metro

Alasdair Duncan’s narrative Metro, set in Brisbane in the early twenty-first century, focuses on Liam, an unapologetically self-styled ‘white, upper middle-class brat’ whose sense of place and identity is firmly mapped by spatial and economic co-ordinates. This article considers the linkages between spatiality and identity in Duncan’s narrative, as well as the ways in which traditional, hegemonic (heterosexual) forms of masculinity are re-invigorated in the enactment of an upper-middle-class script of success, privilege and consumerism. It argues that the safeguarding of these hegemonic forms of masculine identity involves strategies of spatial and bodily expression underpinned by conspicuous consumption, relegating other forms of sexual identity to an exploitable periphery

Passenger flow and station facilities modelling for metro station layout design

This paper presents the simulation model development of passenger flow in a metro station. The model allows studies of passenger flow in stations with different layouts and facilities, thus providing valuable information, such as passenger flow and density of passenger at critical locations and passenger-handling facilities within a station, to the operators. The adoption of the concept of Petri nets in the simulation model is discussed. Examples are provided to demonstrate its application to passenger flow analysis, train scheduling and the testing of alternative station layouts.

Regulation of train service by coasting control in metro railway system

To maximise the capacity of the rail lineand provide a reliable service for pas-sengers throughout the day, regulation of train service to maintain steady service headway is es-sential. In most current metro systems, train usually starts coasting at a fixed distance from the departed station to achieve service regulation. However, this approach is only effective with re-spect to a nominal operational condition of train schedule but not necessarily the current service demand. Moreover, it is not simply to identify the necessary starting point for coasting under the run time constraints of current service conditions since train movement is attributed by a large number of factors, most of which are non-linear and inter-dependent. This paper presents an ap-plication of classical measures to search for the appropriate coasting point to meet a specified inter-station run time and they can be integrated in the on-board Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system and have the potential for on-line implementation in making a set of coasting command decisions.

Responding to climate change as a transformative stressor through metro-regional planning

This paper characterises climate change as a “transformative stressor”. It argues that institutional change will become increasingly necessary as institutions seek to reorientate governance frameworks to better manage the transformative stresses created by climate change in urban environments. Urban and metropolitan planning regimes are identified as central institutions in addressing this challenge. The operationalisation of climate adaptation is identified as a central tenet of a comprehensive urban response to the transformative stresses that climate change is predicted to create. Operationalisation refers to climate adaptation becoming incorporated, codified and implemented as a central tenet of urban planning governance. This paper has three purposes. First, it examines conceptual perspectives on the role of transformative stressors in compelling institutional change. Second, it establishes a conceptual approach that characterises climate change as a transformative stressor requiring institutional change within planning frameworks. Third, it reports emergent results and analysis from an empirical inquiry which examines how the metro-regional planning regime of Southeast Queensland has responded to climate change as a transformative stressor via institutional change and the operationalisation of climate adaptation.

The location patterns of artistic clusters : a metro- and neighborhood-level analysis

Analysing census and industry data at the metro and neighbourhood levels, this paper seeks to identify the location characteristics associated with artistic clusters and determine how these characteristics vary across different places. We find that the arts cannot be taken overall as an urban panacea, but rather that their impact is place-specific and policy ought to reflect these nuances. However, our work also finds that, paradoxically, the arts’ role in developing metro economies is as highly underestimated as it is overgeneralised. While arts clusters exhibit unique industry, scale and place-specific attributes, we also find evidence that they cluster in ‘innovation districts’, suggesting they can play a larger role in economic development. To this end, our results raise important questions and point toward new approaches for arts-based urban development policy that look beyond a focus on the arts as amenities to consider the localised dynamics between the arts and other industries.

An incident database for improving metro safety: The case of shanghai

Large cities depend heavily on their metro systems to reduce traffic congestion, which is particularly the case with Shanghai, the largest and most developed city in China. For the purposes of enhancing the possibility in quantitative risk assessment and promoting the safety management level in Shanghai metro, an adaptable metro operation incident database (MOID) is therefore presented for containing details of all incidents that have occurred in metro operation. Taking compatibility and simplicity into consideration, Microsoft Access 2010 software is used for the comprehensive and thorough design of the MOID. Based on MOID, statistical characteristics of incident, such as types, causes, time, and severity, are discovered and 24 accident precursors are identified in Shanghai metro. The processes are demonstrated to show how the MOID can be used to identify trends in the incidents that have occurred and to anticipate and prevent future accidents. In order to promote the application of MOID, an organizational structure is proposed from the four aspects of supervision, research, implementation, and manufacturer. This research would be conducive to safety risk analysis in identifying relevant precursors in safety management and assessing safety level as a qualitative tool.