Railway stations : public realm gateways to sustainable futures of our cities

Train stations are places of connection in our cities and are the gateways of urban space. They represent one of the most exciting places to experience. Some stations make great destinations offering shops, restaurants, museums and exhibition spaces to commuters. While new architecture at railway stations acknowledges heritage, the urban spaces around them provide excellent public areas and rationalise functional needs. Grand spaces with monumental structures, including constant movement of people and trains makes for an exhilarating experience. Modern or historic, great train stations add another level of excitement in the regeneration of our cities. Adding into the mix of the sustainability paradigm, place making of railway stations transforms into sustainable urban centres and signature architecture, but how does it support an environmentally sustainable future? This paper reflects the journey of exploring the challenging situations of balancing the requirements between historic, operational, functional, economic and innovative sustainable design solutions during the Flinders Street Station Design Competition in Melbourne. The author highlights how the unique spatial, social and cultural circumstance of this world-renowned city railway station possesses specific resilient and sustainable design answers to a public realm and city space that challenges established thinking.

Merely the man in the street: community consultation in the planning of 1920s Melbourne

It is an accepted tenet of planning history that Australia's planning practice in the first half of the 20th century was dominated by experts delivering a package of international planning ideas. Is this story made more    complicated, however by the attitudes of the lay Australian to urban planning at this time? What role have the approaches of planners and planning  bodies played in advising the public of the best routes to take  towards comprehensive and appropriate planning? This paper discusses these  issues with use of examples of the general public's letters to  Melboume's Metropolitan Town Planning Commission (MTPC)( 1923-30) about planning issues in Melbourne; the MTPC's responses; and responsive propaganda generated by prominent Melbourne planner Saxil Tuxen (1885-1975).

The Bishop of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait pearlers' strike of 1936

The exploitation of Islander pearl divers in Torres Strait and the Queensland Government's control of divers' wages was the major cause of a strike by 400 divers in 1936. The strike was also fuelled by overall discontent with the Queensland Government's rule and a desire to be free of the Queensland Protectors. An address in 1935 by Stephen Davies, Bishop of Carpentaria, urging the Commonwealth of Australia to strip Queensland and other states of management of Island and Aboriginal affairs provided the catalyst. Davies's Torres Strait Island clergy played a pivotal role in the resistance to state control. One lasting effect of the strike lay in the introduction of elected Islander councils in 1937, but what happened subsequently allowed the perpetuation of Queensland control through the new Department of Native Affairs. The results of the strike fell short of the complete transfer to the Commonwealth that the Torres Strait pearl divers and clergy had envisaged.

Cecil street studio: improvised community and sustainable practices

It is a little after 7.00pm on a Sunday evening and people are still arriving, slightly hurried as they kick off their shoes before entering the studio. They pay $7.00 and find a seat facing the bare studio floor; white floor against the pink walls. The room seems crowded, although the numbers are not large, and people talk comfortably sitting on the few benches and chairs or on the floor. One of the performers emerges from her conversation amongst the audience to front the group and the babble drops away. “How many of you are new to Conundrum?’ she asks. A few people raise their hands, but many do not. The question is a litmus test for the state of the audience and as a way to bring the novice into the game. “Everything performed here tonight will be completely improvised” she continues. “And tonight on Conundrum we have…” and she rattles off a list of the names of the groups or solo performers who will be performing that evening. Some of the names or groups are different from the last Conundrum one month previously. But two of the groups, State of Flux and 5 Square Metres, have been performing at Conundrum, on the last Sunday of every month, for the last eight years.

The impact of a police crackdown on a street drug scene : evidence from the street

This article documents the impact of a police crackdown on a street heroin market in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, as perceived by individuals involved in the market. While our data suggest that ‘Operation Clean Heart’ achieved its objective of reducing the visible aspects of this street drug scene, they also imply that the drug market rapidly adapted to its new conditions and that the impact of the operation was essentially superficial and temporary. In addition, we contend that the operation had numerous (unintended) negative consequences, some of which are potentially harmful to public health. Negative outcomes implied by our data included the partial displacement of the drug scene to nearby metropolitan areas; the discouragement of safe injecting practice and safe needle and syringe disposal; and more frequent occurrences of violence and fraud. These outcomes may outweigh the perceived positive impacts, which were achieved at significant public expense. We conclude that police crackdowns are inappropriate responses to illicit drug problems; instead, in line with longstanding Australian policy, approaches which incorporate and balance demand reduction, supply reduction and harm reduction principles should be followed.

Flora Fit street : a qualitative evaluation

This report summaries a qualitative evauation of the Flora Fit Street community based health living initiative.

Evaluation of Flora Fit street : a community-based living initiative. Final report

This report is an evaluation of Flora Fit Street (FFS) based in Clapham Park London. FFS was launched in June 2004 as a 12 month public private partnership between Flora and Clapham Park New Deal for Communities (NDC). Its purpose was to improve the local community’s heart health by
providing a whole range of activities, information and events that focused on increasing physical activity, improving nutrition and smoking cessation.

Romanticism and street shrewdness

Criticism of "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" by Milos Forman, 1975.

The cost of granting executive stock options with strike prices adjusted by the cost of capital

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate the cost of granting executive stocks with strike prices adjusted by the cost of capital.

Design/methodology/approach – In the paper a Monte Carlo simulation approach developed in Longstaff and Schwartz is used in conjunction with the subjective valuation model developed in Ingersoll to value these executive stock options that are subject to performance hurdles.

Findings – The paper finds that standard European Black-Scholes-Merton option values overstate the true cost to the firm of granting these executive stock options. The option values also decrease with a higher dividend yield, a higher performance hurdle, a longer vesting period, and a shorter maturity.

Research limitations/implications – While the study in the paper is limited to the valuation of executive options, the methodology can be used to study incentive effects of executive stock options that have a performance hurdle.

Practical implications – The approach used in this paper to estimate the cost of granting executive stock options is a clear improvement over standard European option pricing approaches that often result in biased estimates.

Originality/value – This paper presents a first attempt to integrate the Ingersoll utility-theoretic model and the Longstaff and Schwartz least squares Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate the subjective value and the objective cost of executive stock options with a performance hurdle. This valuation approach will be useful in the study of other types of executive compensation.