Mobility of the creative class and city attractiveness : a case study of Chinese animation workers

Abstract: The paper investigates the geographical mobility of creative workers in China,focusing on the authors’ survey of workers in the animation industry. More specifically,the authors use the Reilly-Converse model and GIS tools to probe the locational choices of Chinese animation workers in Beijing and Shanghai by analyzing such factors of spatial attractiveness as home town, place of residence, and university from which the worker graduated. The paper compares the creative milieus in Beijing and Shanghai, and demonstrates that the “personal trajectory” of human capital is a key determinant of occupational location. The results of the authors’ survey highlight the limitations of Richard Florida’s 3T theory in the Chinese context.

Analysis of traffic injury severity in a mega city of a developing country

Despite a considerable amount of research on traffic injury severities, relatively little is known about the factors influencing traffic injury severity in developing countries, and in particular in Bangladesh. Road traffic crashes are a common headline in daily newspapers of Bangladesh. It has also recorded one of the highest road fatality rates in the world. This research identifies significant factors contributing to traffic injury severity in Dhaka – a mega city and capital of Bangladesh. Road traffic crash data of 5 years from 2007 to 2011 were collected from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), which included about 2714 traffic crashes. The severity level of these crashes was documented in a 4-point ordinal scale: no injury (property damage), minor injury, severe injury, and death. An ordered Probit regression model has been estimated to identify factors contributing to injury severities. Results show that night time influence is associated with a higher level injury severity as is for individuals involved in single vehicle crashes. Crashes on highway sections within the city are found to be more injurious than crashes along the arterial and feeder roads. There is a lower likelihood of injury severity, however, if the road sections are monitored and enforced by the traffic police. The likelihood of injuries is lower on two-way traffic arrangements than one-way, and at four-legged intersections and roundabouts compare to road segments. The findings are compared with those from developed countries and the implications of this research are discussed in terms of policy settings for developing countries.

Smoking rates among hospital nurses in Longkou city, China

This study was undertaken as one of the first investigations of nurses' smoking habits in Longkou city, Shandong Province, China. An anonymous cross-sectional survey was administered as part of a larger investigation of healthcare professionals at a university teaching hospital during 2008. A total of 88 nurses responded to the survey, from whom tobacco-related data were provided by 83 of them (94%). Their overall smoking rate was very low (1%), with no male nurses reporting themselves to be current tobacco users. Overall, the current study suggests that smoking rates are very low among Chinese nurses in Longkou city, Shandong Province. These results are also consistent with studies of nurses' tobacco use conducted in other regions of China.

A basis for inquiry into policy considerations for increasing the application of biophilic urbanism

Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to improve design outcomes is gaining significant interest, particularly as there is growing evidence of links between human health and wellbeing, and contact with nature. The use of such natural features can provide many significant benefits, such as reduced urban heat island effects, reduced peak energy demand for building cooling, enhanced stormwater attenuation and management, and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The principle of harnessing natural features as functional design elements, particularly in buildings, is becoming known as ‘biophilic urbanism’. Given the potential for global application and benefits for cities from biophilic urbanism, and the growing number of successful examples of this, it is timely to develop enabling policies that help overcome current barriers to implementation. This paper describes a basis for inquiry into policy considerations related to increasing the application of biophilic urbanism. The paper draws on research undertaken as part of the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) In Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Green Roofs Australasia, and Townsville City Council (CitySolar Program). The paper discusses the emergence of a qualitative, mixed-method approach that combines an extensive literature review, stakeholder workshops and interviews, and a detailed study of leading case studies. It highlights the importance of experiential and contextual learnings to inform biophilic urbanism and provides a structure to distil such learnings to benefit other applications.

Trends in cycling patterns and interactions with pedestrians in the city centre

All levels of government continue to advocate increasing the number of people cycling for recreation and transport. However, governments and the general public still have concerns about the implications for the safety of cyclists and other road users. While there is concern about injury for bicycle-pedestrian collisions, for 2008-09 in Australia only 40 pedestrians were hospitalised as a result of a collision with a cyclist (and 33 cyclists from collisions with pedestrians). There is little research that observes changes over time in actual cyclist behaviours and interactions with other road users. This paper presents the results of an observational study of cycling in the Brisbane Central Business District based on data collected using the same methodology in October 2010 and 2012.

Personal preferences for end-of-life care among Taiwanese community city dwellers : an inductive approach for qualitative data

Background: As an increasing number of Taiwanese people live out the final stages of their lives with chronic and complex conditions. Care decisions at the end of life can also be complex, overwhelming and stressful for an individual, family and health professionals. Understanding individuals’ wishes for end-of-life care and factors which influence individuals' decisions is important so that the provision of quality end-of-life care for all can be promoted and ensured.

Numerical studies of load bearing LSF walls under realistic design fire conditions

Fire safety of light gauge steel frame (LSF) stud walls is important in the design of buildings. Currently LSF walls are increasingly used in the building industry, and are usually made of cold-formed and thin-walled steel studs that are fire-protected by two layers of plasterboard on both sides. Many experimental and numerical studies have been undertaken to investigate the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls under standard fire conditions. However, the standard time-temperature curve does not represent the fire load present in typical residential and commercial buildings that include considerable amount of thermoplastic materials. Real building fires are unlikely to follow a standard time-temperature curve. However, only limited research has been undertaken to investigate the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls under realistic design fire conditions. Therefore in this research, finite element thermal models of the traditional LSF wall panels without cavity insulation and the new LSF composite wall panels were developed to simulate their fire performance under recently developed realistic design fire curves. Suitable thermal properties were proposed for plasterboards and insulations based on laboratory tests and literature review. The developed models were then validated by comparing their thermal performance results with available results from realistic design fire tests, and were later used in parametric studies. This paper presents the details of the developed finite element thermal models of load bearing LSF wall panels under realistic design fire time-temperature curves and the re-sults. It shows that finite element thermal models can be used to predict the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls with varying configurations of insulations and plasterboards under realistic design fires. Failure times of load bearing LSF walls were also predicted based on the results from finite element thermal analyses.

Street Computing : Urban Informatics and City Interfaces

This book develops tools and techniques that will help urban residents gain access to urban computing. Metaphorically speaking, it is taking computing to the street by giving the general public – rather than just researchers and professionals – the power to leverage available city infrastructure and create solutions tailored to their individual needs. It brings together five chapters that are based on presentations given at the Street Computing Workshop held on 24 November 2009 in Melbourne in conjunction with the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OZCHI 2009). This book focuses on applying urban informatics, urban and community sensing and open application programming interfaces (APIs) to the public space through the delivery of online services, on demand and in real time. It then offers a case study of how the city of Singapore has harnessed the potential of an online infrastructure so that residents and visitors can access services electronically. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology, 19(2), 2012.

Redland city council fleet safety initiative : the road to recovery

Due to the propensity of fleet incidents, poor organisational survey results and a lack of fleet safety systems, it was evident that Redland City Council were underperforming, experiencing a variety of work related road safety issues and possessed a low fleet safety culture. As a result of an audit process, and the identification of gaps in organisational process within the fleet safety area Redland City Council embarked upon the enormous task of strategically implementing initiatives and improving fleet safety across the organisation. The strategies utilised within the Redland City Council Fleet Safety Initiative were implemented utilising a systematic process and adopted a multi-disciplinary approach to improve overall fleet safety. Organisational initiatives targeting fleet safety aspects have benefited the Council by the development of an improved organisational culture, including safer driver attitudes and behaviour. This paper outlines the road to recovery for Redland City Council in relation to its fleet safety initiatives.

Brisbane : creative city, cinema city?

Brisbane stands at the cross roads of many major economic, social and cultural opportunities as it positions itself as a cosmopolitan, globally networked metropolis of the twenty-first century. In order to link and leverage the existing screen industries infrastructure into Brisbane’s creative city’s plans, the paper argues for a re-think of the existing policy frameworks that support Australian screen culture and the national screen industries. Instead of remaining premised on a separation of these two activities the paper argues for a greater recognition of the overlaps occurring in both production and consumption of screen content. By acknowledging the impact new media technologies and social behaviours and the way they are re-shaping media consumption and media production practices, film and media policy could be better positioned to complement the emerging creative city policy frameworks that are being fostered in a city like Brisbane. The paper argues that reconsideration of the culture/industry separation that characterizes contemporary policy settings underpinning Australian media and screen production assistance would not only assist in identifying crucial synergies within a creative city policy it would also invigorate policy settings for the screen industries and enable them to connect more efficiently to a shifting film and media production and consumption landscape.

Triple Helix: Film Noir, Neo Noir and Los Angeles – imagining history and remembering the future in the most contemporary city

Modern and Postmodern Los Angeles is examined through the lens of film noir and neo noir. The unique relationship between the city of Los Angeles and cinema is discussed in terms of a historiography emphasizing the role played by these defining film styles and genres. The research draws and extends on the work conducted by Edward Dimendberg, Paula Rabinowitz and Mike Davis, and urban theory approaches associated with the Los Angeles School of Urbanism.

Pieces of a city : the art of making speculative cities, bodies, & texts

This practice-led doctorate involved the development of a collection – a bricolage – of interwoven fragments of literary texts and visual imagery explor-ing questions of speculative fiction, urban space and embodiment. As a sup-plement to the creative work, I also developed an exegesis, using a combina-tion of theoretical and contextual analysis combined with critical reflections on my creative process and outputs. An emphasis on issues of creative practice and a sustained investigation into an aesthetics of fragmentation and assem-blage is organised around the concept and methodology of bricolage, the eve-ryday art of ‘making do’. The exegesis also addresses my interest in the city and urban forms of subjectivity and embodiment through the use of a range of theorists, including Michel de Certeau and Elizabeth Grosz.