Resisting assimilation : the mild aesthetics and wild perceptions of the migrant house

The physical adaptation, remaking and maintenance, or building of the house plays a significant role in immigrants’ sense of belonging to a community, especially in contexts of first generation elderly immigrants with minimal English language skills. Psychoanalytic theories propose that objects are integral to a subject’s identity, but that the path of effect between the subject and object is not causal or direct, rather it goes via the unconscious. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between immigrants and their houses through these theories adapting them to an analysis of the houses. It draws its data from field research of three elderly immigrant households. The iconography of the house has always been perceived as central to the analysis of dreams, here the thesis is that the house is the most significant object of the immigrant because it mediates the many worlds inherent to the migrant’s imaginary landscapes. The analysis will seek to understand this role of the house.

Secondly, while many houses in which migrants live can barely be differentiated in clear physical ways from the typology of houses built in Australia, the perception that they are different is a strong myth. At the least it has resulted in very little, if any, study of this vernacular of new Australian houses. It would be easy to argue that to build a house in Australia is the most important mode of assimilation because a way of life is intrinsically set by this suburban paradigm. But for the reason of this perception of difference I will explore an idea about ethnic aesthetics as a mode of resisting assimilation. In writing on taste in his seminal book, Distinction, the sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, has argued that taste is a way of classifying people into classes, race, culture, but it is also a way for dominant and ruling classes to resist challenges from other parties, and maintain a particular hierarchy of society. In this case those other parties are ethnic communities in Australia whose tastes are not always the same as that of the dominant Anglo-Celtic community.

Human residential status and habitat quality affect the likelihood but not the success of lapwing breeding in an urban matrix

Wildlife living in the suburbs faces the challenge of dealing with human presence and yard management (including the occurrence of pets) which vary at the scale of the house block. This study examined the influence of ecological factors (e.g. extent of grass and food availability) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. human activity and garden usage) on breeding site choice and reproductive success of the ground-nesting masked lapwing Vanellus miles on Phillip Island, Australia. Lapwings nested less frequently in residential properties (high levels of human usage) compared with vacant blocks and holiday houses. They were also more likely to breed on properties with high food availability and larger areas of grass. None of these variables influenced clutch size or the probability of eggs hatching, although larger clutches and higher hatching rates tended to be associated with more food. This study shows that, for an urban exploiting species, habitat quality is not homogenous at the scale of the house block, and that human activity is avoided by a species generally considered highly tolerant of people.

Futures in education

Futures education (FE) in a rapidly changing world is critical if young people are to be empowered to be proactive rather than reactive about the future. Research into young people's images and ideas of the future lead to the disturbing conclusion that, for many, the future is a depressing and fearful place where they feel hopeless and disempowered. On the other hand, as Richard Slaughter writes, 'young people are passionately interested in their own futures, and that of the society in which they live. They universally 'jump at the chance to study something with such intrinsic interest that also intersects with their own life interests in so many ways'. FE explicitly attempts to build on this interest and counter these fears by offering a profound and empowering set of learning strategies and ideas that can help people think and act critically and creatively about the future, without necessarily trying to predict it. Futures educators have, over the past decades, developed useful tools, ideas and a language for use with students of all ages to enable them to develop foresight literacy. Most of us tend to view the future as somehow beyond the present and rarely consider how decisions and choices made today profoundly affect not just one fixed future but any number of futures. The underlying goal of FE is to move from the idea of a single, pre-determined future to that of many possible futures, so that students begin to see that they can determine the future, that they need not be reactive and that they are not powerless. How does one do that? Ideas include, but are not limited to: timelines and Y-diagrams, futures wheels and mind maps, and 'Preferable, possible and probable' futures - a.k.a. the 3Ps. Current Australian curricula present education about the future in various implicit or explicit guises. A plethora of statements and curriculum outcomes mention the future, but essentially take 'it' for granted, and are uninformed by FE literature, language, ideas or tools. Science, the humanities and technology tend to be the main areas where such an implicit futures focus can be found. It also appears in documents about vocational education, civics and lifelong learning. Explicit FE is, as Beare and Slaughter put it, still the missing dimension in education. Explicit FE attempts to develop futures literacy, and draws widely upon futures studies literature for processes and content. FE provides such a wide range of ideas and tools that it can be incorporated into education in any number of ways. Programs in two very different schools, one primary and one secondary, are described in this article to provide examples of some of these ways. The first school, Kimberley Park State Primary School in Brisbane, operates with multi-age classrooms based on a 'thinking curriculum' developed around four organisers: change, perspectives, interconnectedness and sustainability. The second school, St John's Grammar School in Adelaide, is an independent school where FE operates as an integrated approach in Year Seven, as a separate one-semester subject in Year Nine and in separate subjects at other levels. Teachers both at Kimberley Park and St John's are very positive about FE. They say it promotes valuable and authentic learning, assists students to realise they have choices that matter and helps them see that the future need not be all doom and gloom. Because students are interested in the Big Questions, as one teacher put it, FE provides a perfect opportunity to address them, and to consider values that are fundamental for them and the future of the planet. Like any innovation, the long-term success of FE in schools depends on an embedding process so that the innovation does not depend on the enthusiasm and energy of a few individuals, only to disappear when they move on. It requires strong leadership, teacher knowledge, support and enthusiasm, and the support and understanding of the wider school community.

What is wrong with a big house?

ln Australia in the 1950s, the average house size was approximately 100 mz. By 2008, the average size of a new house had risen to approximately 238 mz i.e. an increase of nearly 140%. Over the same period, occupancy levels have fallen by nearly one third from 3.7 to 2.5 persons per household. The aim of this paper is to contrast the total and per capita resource demand (direct and embodied energy, water and materials) for two houses typical of their respective era and draw some conclusions from the results. Using the software Autodesk Revit Architecture and drawings for typical 1950 and 2009 houses, the material quantities for these dwellings have been determined. Using known coefficients, the embodied energy and water in the materials have been calculated. Operating energy requirements have been calculated using NatHERS estimates. Water requirements have been calculated using historical and current water data. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with the resource use have also been calculated using established coefficients. Results are compared on a per capita basis. The research found that although the energy to operate the modern house and annual water use had fallen, the embodied energy and associated greenhouse gas emissions from material use had risen significantly. This was driven by the size of the house and the change in construction practices.

The cost of housing : more than just dollars

Australians were recently awarded the dubious honour of building the largest homes in the world. Our new homes are now seven percent larger than those in the United States and nearly three times larger than those in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the price of an average residential property is now five times what it was 20 years ago. Although incomes have risen over the same period, they have not kept pace with rising house prices. In terms of disposable income, the cost of housing has almost doubled. While traditional housing affordability is measured in terms of house prices and incomes, a broader and more encompassing perspective also indicates that we can no longer ‘afford’ to build houses as we have done in the past. The environmental impact of modern Australian housing is significant. Australians have resisted the need for increased urban density as their capital city populations grow and new houses have been built on the outskirts of the existing cities, encroaching on the greenwedge and agricultural lands, destroying and degrading existing fauna and flora. The houses built have increased carbon emissions because of their size, embodied energy and reliance on the motor car. This paper discusses the environmental ‘affordability’ of current Australian housing and argues that this must be considered alongside traditional affordability criteria so that a more holistic approach to the issues is adopted.

Comparison of defects in houses constructed by owners and registered builders in Victoria 1988-1996

The lack of attention to quality control by house builders in the Australian State of Victoria has been a contentious issue for more than two decades. Ina an attempt to improve the quality of housing, various mechanisms such as voluntary and compulsory registration schemes have been adopted and discarded by industry-based organisations and government. While builders are encouraged to improve construction quality, little is known and published about the quality of housing produced by owner builders specifically during the seven year warranty period after construction is completed. With this in mind, this thesis presents research findings that compare the latent defects in houses built by owner builders with those of registered builders. Using inspection reports provided by Archicentre a sample of 1772 houses, of which 1002 were owner builders and 770 were registered builders

The outward gaze and the inward gaze : houses of Italian and Chinese migrants in Melbourne

Not much has been said on the role of the architectural form of housing in the process of migrants’ settlement in the literature. This paper looks at this question through an exploration of the ‘outward gaze’ against the ‘inward gaze’. The outward gaze allows the investigation of exteriors of houses - assumed to be of Italian migrants - by looking at them only from the street, while the ‘inward gaze’ allows the investigation of the interiors of the house as well. In addition to housing exteriors explored in the streets of Melbourne, one Chinese migrant house was examined first through the outward gaze, as seen from the outside of the house by passer-bys, and then by the inward gaze, as seen only by household members and their guests. It is argued that ethnic representations described in the literature are only the visible side of the story, and that there is a lot more that is hidden from the public eye that can be exposed only by the inward gaze. Nevertheless, these unseen representations are vital to the settlement process and are often crucial to its success.

Every day you learn something : learning for life? Neighbourhood houses, adult learning and transitions to higher education

This book comes from a research project titled ‘Lifelong Learning? Neighbourhood Houses, Adult Learning and Transitions to Higher Education’ (T Ollis, Starr, Ryan, Angwin, & Harrison, 2016). This research has examined adult learning in the context of Neighbourhood Houses in the regions of Geelong and South Western Victoria.The research was conducted in 2015 and 2016 and sought to examine the learning experiences of adult learners who participate in the education programs of Neighbourhood Houses. The focus was on second chance learners and their transition pathways to higher education such as TAFE and University. A second group of learners were identified during the research process – later life learners. These learners were engaging with Neighbourhood Houses for personal interest learning and social and community connection. This small book provides a snapshot of the stories of learners who were involved in this research. It tells the lived stories of the participants, which is important as learning and education are connected with the ongoing development of ourselves as human beings. Learning is essential to our personhood and impacts on adults in terms of their welfare, health and prosperity over a lifetime. Many of the learners’ stories outlined in this book reveal checkered histories of education. Some have experienced learning difficulties, others have experienced family trauma that prevented them from finishing secondary schooling. Some of the stories describe issues related to reskilling or retraining in later life, responding to industry changes and work in the Greater Geelong and South West regions. Others were pursuing recreation and social connection and came to the Neighbourhood Houses to learn crafts, writing, photography and computer literacy skills. In almost all accounts of learning in this book, individuals had experienced less social isolation by being connected to others in the unique social environment of Neighbourhood houses.