Pavement cafes as the activity zone in the social life of neighbourhood centres

This paper reports the findings from a research project that examines the relationship between urban design and the physical environment, and aspects of social and communal life in suburbs. Australian suburbs are perceived to be lacking in vitality and sociability. To address this, three suburban commercial streets were selected for investigation. Through documents and maps of the residents’ activities and behaviour, this study aims to identify the popular zones of activity and investigate the physical characteristics that encourage a sociable atmosphere in activity zones. The observation of activities in the three streets has been registered in tables relative to the date and time of occurrence. According to the behavioural mappings, the zones of activity are mostly shaped around pavement cafes and popular everyday food stores. Since more than half the activities have been observed to be initiated from the pavement cafes, this paper will investigate how the physical qualities of commercial streets such as the width of the pavements, personalization, soft edges and greenery have contributed to the pavement café culture in the selected neighbourhood centres.

The social life of commercial streets

The social life of cities is a key concept related to social cohesion, which has been the subject of extensive studies in several disciplines including sociology, psychology and the built environment. Social life studies conducted in the built environment discipline have mostly focused on city centres; while the significance of neighbourhoods as integral elements have been sometimes overlooked. As a result, this research will specifically explore commercial streets in residential suburbs. Suburbs are frequently perceived to be lacking in vitality and street life. The method of inquiry in this research investigates how the physical characteristics of commercial streets can either promote, affect or mitigate the social life of neighbourhoods and generate a sociable environment. Therefore, this study captures the social behaviour of three commercial streets in Geelong, Australia. This paper utilizes a qualitative approach to the study of the social life of commercial streets. The primary methodology used in this research is recording, documenting and mapping users’ activities through behavioural observation. The observations have been conducted in four days (on two weekdays and two weekends). The case study has been divided into eight sections that are similar in length. Short movies of 30 seconds have been recorded from each section, every two hours from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm. Afterwards, the movies have been transmitted into street mappings, documenting the type of activities, placement of activities, gender and approximate age by exploiting suitable pictograms. There are several physical characteristics that are believed to be contributing to the social life of commercial streets. This study utilizes a bottom-up approach to evaluate the complexities of the role that built environment plays in terms of vitality through the three selected characteristics, including typomorphology and street layout, diversity of uses, and soft facades. Better understanding of how neighbourhood environments influence the social life of neighbourhoods can provide academics and professionals in architecture and urban design with sound evidence on which to base future research and design.

The vibrant, dynamic centre : the Jews

For the pre-eminent Yiddish-Australian writer, Pinchas Goldhar, one needed
to look no further than Drummond Street to uncover the history of Jewish
life in Carlton:

Needle and syringe provision and disposal in an Australian regional centre

The aim of this study was to investigate the provision and disposal of needles and syringes in Geelong, Victoria, supplying a comparison of needles provided to needles returned through needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), needles disposed of in 'Sharpsafe' bins and needles discarded. This study combined quantitative data obtained from a number of sources and qualitative data obtained from 60 interviews. An average of 18,337 (SD = 2796) per month were dispensed from NSPs and an average of 5576 needles are returned to NSP sites in Geelong per month. For the current year, 450 needles and syringes per month were placed in publicly located disposal bins. On average there were 19 callouts to discarded needles per month in the Geelong region and these needles constituted 0.38% of the monthly average of needles provided through NSPs. It was concluded that, while discarded needles are of major community concern, the vast majority of needles and syringes provided in this regional centre are not discarded. Findings are discussed in relation to the current laws surrounding the possession of injecting equipment.

Repositioning drama to centre stage: drama, English, text and literacy

A version of this article was first presented at the Drama Australia Conference, Fremantle, July 2002. It draws upon Freebody and Luke's four resources literacy framework, where they describe four kinds of literacy  practices. It shows how this model is used within the literacy community and argues that this model is useful to describe the contribution that drama can make to literacy development. Freebody and Luke's model is used and  promoted throughout Australia and the author argues that it is politically astute for drama teachers to reclaim and promote their links to the English/Literacy curriculum.

Simulation of condensation problems in a roller-skating centre

A commercial roller-skating centre in southern Australia had condensation problems on both the roof and floor. The building is a typical warehouse-type structure with a high level of natural ventilation due to poor construction and permanently open vents. A computer model of the building, using the thermal simulation software TRNSYS, was calibrated from a sensitivity analysis of three key parameters, namely air exchange rate, roof surface heat transfer coefficient and deep ground temperature. The predicted times of condensation on the roof were compared with site observations. The time of year was predicted with acceptable accuracy, although earlier in the morning than had been observed. The effect of installing foil insulation in the roof was simulated. Under normal winter conditions, this modification was enough to stop the condensation. However, in unusually cold and humid conditions, condensation still occurred on both surfaces. This was overcome by heating the floor (15 W/m 2 ) for approximately eight hours. Subsequent modifications have demonstrated the value of the simulations.

Perceptions of local neighbourhood environments and their relationship to childhood overweight and obesity

OBJECTIVES: To examine associations between parent and child perceptions of the local neighbourhood and overweight/obesity among children aged 5–6 and 10–12 y. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SUBJECTS: In total, 291 families of 5–6-y-old and 919 families of 10–12-y-old children. MEASURES: Parent's perceptions of local neighbourhood and perceived child access to eight local destinations within walking distance of home; 10–12-y-old children's perception of local neighbourhood; socio-demographic characteristics (survey). Children's height and weight (measured). RESULTS: No perceptions of the local neighbourhood were associated with weight status among 5–6-y-old children. Among 10–12-y-old children, those whose parents agreed that there was heavy traffic in their local streets were more likely to be overweight or obese (OR=1.4, 95% CI=1.0–1.8), and those whose parents agreed that road safety was a concern were more likely to be obese (OR=3.9, 95% CI=1.0–15.2), compared to those whose parents disagreed with these statements. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that parental perceptions of heavy traffic on local streets and concern about road safety may be indirect influences on overweight and obesity among 10–12-y-old children. Future work should also consider perceptions of the neighbourhood related to food choice.

Removal of directors of public companies takes centre stage in Australia : an exploration of the corporate law and governance issues

Increasing attention is being given to the legal and governance issues relating to the removal of directors in Australian public companies. This has been due mainly to the difficulties experienced by the board of National Australia Bank in attempting to remove one of its fellow directors, and the subsequent development of public companies entering into so-called 'prenuptial agreements' with new directors, requiring that the director 'resign' if the board pass a vote of no-confidence in the director. In this article, the author revisits the area of director removal in Australian public companies for two reasons. The first reason, which covers the majority of the article, is to engage in a detailed analysis of whether the pre-nuptial agreements which some public companies have indicated that they support using to remove directors, are in fact enforceable under Australia's Corporations Act The second reason is to outline a law reform proposal to enable public companies to remove directors without requiring the vote of shareholders at a general meeting. The proposal involves providing Australia' corporate  regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) with the power to grant relief from the statutory removal provisions to public companies, but in a way which balances the competing objectives of commercial efficiency and shareholder participation and, very importantly, encourages good corporate governance practices by companies in relation to the performance assessment  of directors.

It is in the interests of both shareholders and directors to agree on a set of ground rules for the effective supervision of companies that reconciles the rights of the owners to overall control with the much tougher demands on modern directors

Prediction intention to quit in the call centre industry: does the retail model fit?

Purpose – Models of workplace turnover are rarely assessed in contexts other than that in which they were developed. This reduces their generalizability and their usefulness in providing managers with guidance as to what they might do to reduce workers intentions to quit. The purpose of this study is to test a model derived from a study of shop floor retail salespeople in the call centre environment.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire measuring the variables in the model was completed by 126 call centre representatives recruited from 11 call centres in Melbourne, Australia.

Findings – Although the model was supported, the interactions among the variables differed. In particular, stressors played a bigger, albeit indirect, role in the intention to quit.

Practical implications – Call centre managers need to consider carefully the aspects of the work environment that may be stressful. If appropriately addressed, turnover may be reduced, and productivity increased.

Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that the model of turnover derived from shop floor salespeople is generally robust in the call centre setting. It provides management of call centres with some guidance as to the factors associated with turnover and areas that can be addressed to reduce it.

Capturing the intangible: holocaust survivor testimonies held in the Jewish holocaust museum and research centre, Melbourne

This paper provides an analysis of aspects of a significant videotestimony project that raises and discusses challenging issues about the factors influencing the telling of Holocaust testimonies and about the messages conveyed through those testimonies. It sets research questions which specifically look at the nature and role of video testimonies, including comparisons to non-video forms of oral history, and argues for what is 'new, different and significant about video testimonies' of Holocaust survivors. The analysis focuses on the nature, structure, messages and experiences shared (and those silenced) through the testimonies. In particular, it argues for the significance of video testimonies as a new means of capturing intangible cultural heritage.

Development and reliability of a self-report questionnaire to examine children's perceptions of the physical activity environment at home and in the neighbourhood

Background: Environmental factors are increasingly being implicated as key influences on children's physical activity. Few studies have comprehensively examined children's perceptions of their environment, and there is a paucity of literature on acceptable and reliable scales for measuring these. This study aimed to develop and test the acceptability and reliability of a scale which examined a broad range of environmental perceptions among children.
Methods: Based on constructs from ecological models, a survey incorporating items on children's perceptions of the physical and social environment at home and in the neighbourhood was developed. This was administered on two occasions, nine days apart, to a sample of 39 children aged 11 years (54% boys), attending a metropolitan Australian elementary school. The acceptability of the survey was determined by the proportion of missing responses to each item. The test-retest reliability of individual items, scores and scales were determined using Kappa statistics and percent agreement for categorical variables, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for continuous variables.
Results: There were few missing responses to each question, with only 4% of all responses missing. Although some Kappa values were low, all categorical variables showed acceptable reliability when examined for percent agreement between test and retest (range 68%–100% agreement). Continuous variables all showed moderate to good ICC values (range 0.72–0.92).
Conclusion: Findings suggest this questionnaire is reliable and acceptable to children for assessing environmental perceptions relevant to physical activity among 11-year-old children.