Morphological design control for large-scale city development : a new proposal

Whereas many good examples can be found of the study of urban morphology informing the design of new residential areas in Europe, it is much more difficult to find examples relating to other land uses and outside of Europe. This paper addresses a particular issue, the control and coordination of large and complex development schemes within cities, and, in doing so, considers commercial and mixed-use schemes outside of Europe. It is argued that urban morphology has much to offer for both the design of such development and its implementation over time. Firstly, lessons are drawn from the work of Krier and Rossi in Berlin, the form-based guidance developed in Chelmsford, UK, and the redesign and coordination of the Melrose Arch project in Johannesburg, SA. A recent development at Boggo Road in Brisbane, Australia, is then subjected to a more detailed examination. It is argued that the scheme has been unsatisfactory in terms of both design and implementation. An alternative framework based on historical morphological studies is proposed that would overcome these deficiencies. It is proposed that this points the way to a general approach that could be incorporated within the planning process internationally.

Imagining the city : using fiction to explore urban environments

The paper will describe the ongoing project, Imagining the City: Brisbane Short Story Competition. In 2010, as part of a study investigating urban planning and the gentrification of inner city landmarks, QUT researchers developed six personas to help inform the design of city apartments. Rather than view these personas as static, the authors solicited creative responses to promote further development. Submissions of short stories based on one of the persons, and set in Brisbane, were invited from the general public. Successful stories will be published in an online anthology and as an iPhone application. The paper draws on ethnographic fiction theory to answer the question, how can research, specifically persona and use scenario, be transformed into fiction? The authors suggest that such creative responses in the form of fiction may be useful for urban designers.

Engaging the metaphorical city : Brisbane male fiction 1975-2007

Brisbane writers and writing are increasingly represented as important to the city’s identity as a site of urban cool, at least in marketing and public relations paradigms. It is therefore remarkable that recent Brisbane fiction clings strongly to a particular relationship to the climatic and built environment that is often located in the past and which seemingly turns away, or at least elides, the ‘new’ technologically-driven Brisbane. Literary Brisbane is often depicted in the context of nostalgia for the Brisbane that once was—a tropical, timbered, luxuriant city in which sex is associated with heat, and, in particular, sweat. In this writing sweat can produced by adrenaline or heat, but in particular, in Brisbane novels, it is the sweat of sex that characterises the literary city. Given that Brisbane is in fact a subtropical city, it is interesting that metaphors of a tropical climate and vegetation occur so frequently in Brisbane stories (and narratives set in other parts of the state) that writer Thea Astley was prompted at one point to remark that Queensland writing was in danger of developing into a tropical cliché.

Locomotives and stargates : inner‐city studio complexes in Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto

This article examines the place of large studio complexes in plans for the regeneration of inner-city areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto. Recent developments in each city are placed in the context of international audiovisual production dynamics, and are considered in terms of the ways they intersect with a range of policy thinking. They are at once part of particular urban revitalisation agendas, industry development planning, city branding and image-making strategies, and new thinking about film policy at national and sub-national levels. The article views studio complexes through four frames: as particular kinds of studio complex development; as 'locomotives' driving a variety of related industries; as 'stargates' enabling a variety of transformations, including the remediation of contaminated, derelict or outmoded land controlled by public authorities or their agents close to the centre of each city; and as components of the entrepreneurial, internationally oriented city.

Fear of Crime in Expatriate Australians in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

This is an analytical report of a qualitative study of fear of crime in six Australian expatriates living in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Vietnam. Addressing the primary question of what changes, or impacts upon, fear of crime in Australian expatriates in HCMC Vietnam, the research paid particular attention to studying the differences in fear of crime when respondents became expatriates, and the impact of incivilities and access to media. Each of the respondents indicated that they felt safer in Vietnam than in Australia. An analysis of the respondents’ responses indicates that this feeling of safety did not occur on arrival but after a short period of adjustment. The findings of this research support the existing theories on fear of crime and highlight the importance of context in predicting the impact of such factors as media and incivilities. The study has practical applications for both private and public sector organisations seeking to deploy staff to HCMC and adds to the current significant body of fear of crime research by specifically examining the issue of fear of crime amongst expatriates.

A comparative study of the number and mass of fine particles emitted with diesel fuel and marine gas oil (MGO)

The current investigation reports on diesel particulate matter emissions, with special interest in fine particles from the combustion of two base fuels. The base fuels selected were diesel fuel and marine gas oil (MGO). The experiments were conducted with a four-stroke, six-cylinder, direct injection diesel engine. The results showed that the fine particle number emissions measured by both SMPS and ELPI were higher with MGO compared to diesel fuel. It was observed that the fine particle number emissions with the two base fuels were quantitatively different but qualitatively similar. The gravimetric (mass basis) measurement also showed higher total particulate matter (TPM) emissions with the MGO. The smoke emissions, which were part of TPM, were also higher for the MGO. No significant changes in the mass flow rate of fuel and the brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) were observed between the two base fuels.

Strolling through the (post)modern city: Modes of being a flaneur in picture books

The city and the urban condition, popular subjects of art, literature, and film, have been commonly represented as fragmented, isolating, violent, with silent crowds moving through the hustle and bustle of a noisy, polluted cityspace. Included in this diverse artistic field is children’s literature—an area of creative and critical inquiry that continues to play a central role in illuminating and shaping perceptions of the city, of city lifestyles, and of the people who traverse the urban landscape. Fiction’s textual representations of cities, its sites and sights, lifestyles and characters have drawn on traditions of realist, satirical, and fantastic writing to produce the protean urban story—utopian, dystopian, visionary, satirical—with the goal of offering an account or critique of the contemporary city and the urban condition. In writing about cities and urban life, children’s literature variously locates the child in relation to the social (urban) space. This dialogic relation between subject and social space has been at the heart of writings about/of the flâneur: a figure who experiences modes of being in the city as it transforms under the influences of modernism and postmodernism. Within this context of a changing urban ontology brought about by (post)modern styles and practices, this article examines five contemporary picture books: The Cows Are Going to Paris by David Kirby and Allen Woodman; Ooh-la-la (Max in love) by Maira Kalman; Mr Chicken Goes to Paris and Old Tom’s Holiday by Leigh Hobbs; and The Empty City by David Megarrity. I investigate the possibility of these texts reviving the act of flânerie, but in a way that enables different modes of being a flâneur, a neo-flâneur. I suggest that the neo-flâneur retains some of the characteristics of the original flâneur, but incorporates others that take account of the changes wrought by postmodernity and globalization, particularly tourism and consumption. The dual issue at the heart of the discussion is that tourism and consumption as agents of cultural globalization offer a different way of thinking about the phenomenon of flânerie. While the flâneur can be regarded as the precursor to the tourist, the discussion considers how different modes of flânerie, such as the tourist-flâneur, are an inevitable outcome of commodification of the activities that accompany strolling through the (post)modern urban space.

Analysis of marine conflicts

The traffic conflict technique (TCT) is a powerful technique applied in road traffic safety assessment as a surrogate of the traditional accident data analysis. It has subdued the conceptual and implemental weaknesses of the accident statistics. Although this technique has been applied effectively in road traffic, it has not been practised well in marine traffic even though this traffic system has some distinct advantages in terms of having a monitoring system. This monitoring system can provide navigational information as well as other geometric information of the ships for a larger study area over a longer time period. However, for implementing the TCT in the marine traffic system, it should be examined critically to suit the complex nature of the traffic system. This paper examines the suitability of the TCT to be applied to marine traffic and proposes a framework for a follow up comprehensive conflict study.

Sections of the city : architecturalising the tools of urban morphology

The study of urban morphology has become an expanding field of research within the architectural discipline, providing theories to be used as tools in the understanding and design of urban landscapes from the past, the present and into the future. Drawing upon contemporary architectural design theory, this investigation reveals what a sectional analysis of an urban landscape can add to the existing research methods within this field. This paper conducts an enquiry into the use of the section as a tool for urban morphological analysis. Following the methodology of the British school of urban morphology, sections through the urban fabric of the case study city of Brisbane are compared. The results are categorised to depict changes in scale, components and utilisation throughout various timeframes. The key findings illustrate how the section, when read in conjunction with the plan can be used to interpret changes to urban form and the relationship that this has to the quality of the urban environment in the contemporary city.

Tephrochronology of marine sediments around the Island of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles volcanic arc

The recent history of the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, is reconstructed using data obtained from recently drilled submarine cores.Tephra layers in these cores preserve a record of the volcanic history of Montserrat back to ~250 ka on the basis of micropaleontology and stable isotope stratigraphy. Stratigraphic relationships identified in the cores collected in 2002 and 2005 document the fate of both pyroclastic flows entering the ocean to the east of Montserrat and carbonate-rich turbidites sourced from the carbonate platformssurrounding the islands of the Lesser Antilles. Using oxygen isotope stratigraphy, micropalaeontological analysis and Carbon-14 dating, it can be shown that three significant volcanic events, including the on-going eruption, have occurred over the last 12 ka. Preceding this was a time of volcanic quiescence, with three carbonate-rich turbidite events being documented in many of the cores. Our data suggest that these events occurred during Marine Isotope Stage 2, following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and onset of post-glacial sea level rise.