Analysis of ten years historical weather data in Australia

Typical reference year (TRY) weather data is often used to represent the long term weather pattern for building simulation and design. Through the analysis of ten year historical hourly weather data for seven Australian major capital cities using the frequencies procedure of descriptive statistics analysis (by SPSS software), this paper investigates: • the closeness of the typical reference year (TRY) weather data in representing the long term weather pattern; • the variations and common features that may exist between relatively hot and cold years. It is found that for the given set of input data, in comparison with the other weather elements, the discrepancy between TRY and multiple years is much smaller for the dry bulb temperature, relative humidity and global solar irradiance. The overall distribution patterns of key weather elements are also generally similar between the hot and cold years, but with some shift and/or small distortion. There is little common tendency of change between the hot and the cold years for different weather variables at different study locations.

Bouncing back : resilient design for Brisbane

"Bouncing Back: Resilient Design for Brisbane" was an opportunity for QUT students to communicate their inspiring design responses to adversity, to the larger Brisbane community. The exhibition demonstrates new and innovative ways of thinking about our cities, and how they are built to be resilient and to suit extreme environmental conditions. The challenge for architecture students is to address the state of architecture as a reflection of today's world and to consider how design fits into the 21st century. Students have explored notions of 'Urban Resilience' from multiple perspectives, including emergency design while facing flooding, flood proof housing and urban designs.

Creative writing, literary studies, and global thinkers

There has been growing interest in how to make tertiary education more global and international not only in context but, also, in approach and methodology. One area of the education sector that has come under specific focus is the higher education sector curriculum and its design. This paper addresses the process of ‘internationalising’ the curriculum through the specific example of designing a new literary unit for undergraduate students, mainly literary studies and creative writing students. The literary unit entitled: Imagining the Americas: Contemporary American Literature and Culture, has the added complexity of being a unit about national fiction. This paper explores the practical problems and obstacles encountered in setting up this unit while using a framework of internationalisation. The case study examines the practicalities in implementing strategies that reflect the overall objective of creating global thinkers within a tertiary environment.

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.

Creative suburbia : cultural research and suburban geographies

Suburbanisation today is not necessarily what it used to be: rather than suburbs being outer urban commuter zones for people who work in the central business district, people living in new suburbs are increasingly likely to work in those suburbs, or to commute to other outer suburbs as their places of work. At one level, such trends affirm the analyses of the ‘Los Angeles School’ of urban geographers about the shift from the classical modernist city, with radial zones spreading out from a city centre where core businesses were located, to a more decentralised, ‘postmodern’ city. But they increasingly move beyond this postmodern perspective, in that the many suburbs are themselves centres of work and industry, and not simply centres of lifestyle and consumption. This article critically reflects upon the contemporary dynamics of the suburbs, and the public discourses that surround their development, in the context of the rise of the creative industries.

Making connections : creative industries networks in outer-suburban locations

The role of networks and their contribution to sustaining and developing creative industries is well documented (Wittel 2001; Kong 2005; Pratt 2007). This article argues that although networks operate across geographical boundaries, particularly through the use of communication technologies, the majority of studies have focussed on the ways in which networks operate in a) specific inner-urban metropolitan regions or b) specific industries. Such studies are informed by the geographical mindset of creative city proponents such as Florida (2002) and Landry (2000) in which inner-urban precincts are seen as the prime location for creative industries activity, business development and opportunity. But what of those creative industries situated beyond the inner city? Evidence in Australia suggests there is increasing creative industries activity beyond the inner city, in outer-suburban and ex-urban areas (Gibson & Brennan-Horley 2006). This article identifies characteristics of creative industries networks in outer-suburban locations in Melbourne and Brisbane. It argues that supporting and sustaining creative industries networks in these locations may require different strategies than those applied to inner-city networks. The article thus contributes to the growing understanding of the cultural economic geography of creative industries.

Creativity and the Australian suburbs : the appeal of suburban localities for the creative industries workforce

The locus of creative inspiration and production is commonly associated with either the dynamism of the inner city or with the natural landscape, with its Arcadian transformative associations. This article considers the spatiality of creative work in an in-between site: the outer suburbs in Australia. The outer suburbs occupy a conflicted status in the national imaginary: frequently regarded as the locus of consumption and materialism, they are localities which few associate with creativity or creative industries. Creative city discourse further instils the idea that all things creative occur only in the inner city. Yet Australia is a highly suburbanised country: the middle and outer suburbs are where most Australians live and work. This article challenges the perception that creativity is spatially clustered in the inner city. It is based on empirical and qualitative research that maps and investigates the experience of creative industries workers in outer-suburban localities of Brisbane and Melbourne. One of the key findings is the significance of the relationship between work and place for creative workers located in outer-suburban localities, rupturing assumptions about suburbia and “creative” inner-city enclaves.

Living with strangers: Urban space and the ethics of civility

Urban regeneration is occuring in cities across the world, as cities increase in scale and complexity. This chapter argues that in planning public spaces, greater consideration should be paid to sociability through consideration of the affective dimension of urban life.

Risky business : managing creative practice postgraduates through HDR programs

In Australia, as elsewhere, universities are being encouraged to grow their postgraduate research candidature base while at the same time there is increasing pressure on resources with which to manage the burgeoning groups. In this environment HDR supervision strategies are seen as increasingly important as research managers seek the best possible ‘fit’ for an applicant: the candidate who will provide a sound return on investment and demonstrate endurance in the pursuit of a timely completion. As research managers know, the admissions process can be a risky business. The process may be tested further in the context of the new models of doctoral cohort supervision that are being discussed in the higher degree research management sector. The focus of this paper is an examination of the results of investigations of two models of postgraduate cohort supervision in the creative arts Master of Arts research program at QUT with a view to identifying attributes that may be useful for the formation of cohort models of supervision in the doctoral area.

Making connections : creative industries networks in outer urban locations

The role of networks and their contribution to sustaining and developing creative industries is well documented (Wittel 2001, Kong 2005, Pratt, 2007). This article argues that although networks operate across geographical boundaries, particularly through the use of communication technologies, the majority of studies have focussed on the ways in which networks operate among creative industry workers located in a) specific inner-urban metropolitan regions or b) specific industries. Such studies are informed by the geographical mindset of creative city proponents such as Florida (2002) and Landry (2000) in which inner-urban precincts are seen as the prime location or ‘hub’ for creative industries activity, business development and opportunity. But what of those creative industries situated beyond the inner city? Evidence in Australia suggests that there is increasing creative industries activity beyond the inner city, in outer-suburban and ex-urban areas (Gibson and Brennan-Horley 2006). This article identifies features of networks operating two outer-suburban locations.

Renegades on the frontier of innovation: The shanzhai grassroots communities of Shenzhen in China's creative economy

Two Australian researchers specializing in China's creative industries examine recent developments in southern China commonly associated with the shanzhai phenomenon (e.g., production and sale of cheap local facsimiles of globally branded goods). While shanzhai is often condemned as the embodiment of China's "knock-off" industries, the authors argue that it might be more appropriately viewed as an instance of China's emerging creative economy and an example of rapid prototyping. The paper traces the evolution of shanzhai mobile phones and the materialization of the shanzhai ethos in popular culture. In arguing that shanzhai provides inputs into creative industries, the paper describes the fuzzy boundary between formal and informal culture and notes the interaction between three spheres of activity: official culture, the market, and grassroots culture.

Creating creative classrooms

My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status. (Robinson, 2006) This bold assertion from Sir Ken Robinson, a leading expert and speaker on creativity, is perhaps even truer now than it was six years ago. Literacy (and numeracy) have always been, and should remain, fundamental to education. However, creativity is not a rival to literacy or numeracy education; it is not an addition to these (or any other) areas of the curriculum. Creativity should be a core, integrated element of teaching and learning throughout the curriculum and the school environment. In the new national curriculum, “critical and creative thinking” are highlighted as general capabilities “that can be developed and applied across the curriculum” (ACARA, 2011, p. 15). Moreover, an aim of education noted by the 2008 Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians is “to support all young Australians to become ... confident and creative individuals” (MCEETYA, 2008, p. 8). These are confirmation that creativity should have high “status” in Australian education.

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.

Development issues for the creative economy in Malaysia

Cultural tourism and creative industries have intersecting policy agendas and economic interdependencies. Most studies of the creative industries have focused on western countries. Cultural tourism is rarely included. However the arrival of the creative economy and its movement through developing countries has changed the relationship. Supporters of the creative economy now see fit to include tourism. This thesis addresses the development of the creative economy in Malaysia. The thesis conducted case studies on animation and museum sectors in Malaysia. These two case studies provide information on the development of creative economy in Malaysia. The study found that a top-down cultural management approach is being practised but that Malaysia is now influenced by new ideas concerning innovation and technical creativity. The study examined whether or not technical innovation by itself is enough. The reference points here are the Multimedia Super Corridor in Cyberjaya and other similar projects in the region. The museum case study was situated in Malacca. It showed that museums needed to adapt new media and new experiences to remain relevant in today’s world. In applying a case study approach, the thesis made use of interviews with key stakeholders, as well consulting numerous policy documents and web sites. Both case studies imitated similar products and services in the market but added local characteristics. This research project contributes significantly to the existing body of knowledge in the field of creative economy within the context of developing countries. Finally the thesis makes recommendations for Malaysia to better position itself in the regional economy while retaining its distinctive cultural identity.