Providing innovative planning education experience : teaching regional planning in an international context

Rapidly changing economic, social, and environmental conditions have created a need for urban and regional planning practitioners who are resilient, innovative, and able to cope with the increasingly complex and cosmopolitan nature of major metropolitan areas. This need should be reflected in planning education that allows students to experience a diverse range of approaches to problems and challenges, and that exposes students to the diverse array of perspectives on planning issues. This paper investigates the outcomes of a collaborative regional planning exercise organised jointly by planning academics from both Queensland University of Technology and the International Islamic University of Malaysia, and involving planning students from both universities. The regional planning exercise consisted of a regional appraisal and report topics of the area under investigation, Klang Valley – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It culminated with the presentation of regional development strategies for the area, with a field trip to Malaysia being the cornerstone of the project. The collaborative exercise involved a series of workshops and seminars organised locally, in which both Australian and Malaysian planning students participated, as well as meetings with local and federal planning officials, and also a forum for Young Planners of Australian and Malaysian Planning Institutes. The experience attempted to bridge the teaching of theoretical concepts of regional planning and development and the regional, more professional knowledge of planning practice, as it relates to specific political, institutional and cultural contexts. A survey of participating students, from both Queensland University of Technology and the International Islamic University of Malaysia, highlights the benefits of such project in terms of leaning experience and exposure to different cultural contexts.

Planning for knowledge-based urban development : global perspectives

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate the engineering of creative urban regions through knowledge-based urban development. In recent years city administrators realised the importance of engineering and orchestrating knowledge city formation through visioning and planning for economic, socio-cultural and physical development. For that purpose a new development paradigm of ‘‘knowledge-based urban development’’ is formed, and quickly finds implementation ground in many parts of the globe.----- Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the literature and examines global best practice experiences in order to determine how cities are engineering their creative urban regions so as to establish a base for knowledge city formation.----- Findings: The paper sheds light on the different development approaches for creative urban regions, and concludes with recommendations for urban administrations planning for knowledge-based development of creative urban regions.----- Originality/value: The paper provides invaluable insights and discussion on the vital role of planning for knowledge-based urban development of creative urban regions.

Internationalising the curriculum : attending to cultural diversity in teaching and learning across three faculties at QUT

This was a two-year project focusing on internationalising the curriculum within the context of the QUT Graduate Capabilities and teaching and learning issues within three Faculties. It was based on the assumption that there is an increased need for social and cultural responsiveness in curriculum that intersects local, national and global contexts and priorities. The Internationalising the Curriculum Project sought to challenge and support staff (academic and general) and students to engage with complex concepts of identity, values, awareness and sensitivity as they relate to internationalising the curriculum. The project took a case study approach to planning, implementation and evaluation in a way that complements and enhances platforms developed and emerging from the Indigenous Perspectives and cultural diversity projects already underway in Education, Creative Industries and QUT, Carseldine.

Comprehension and content : planning literacy curriculum in low socioeconomic and culturally diverse schools

This article reframes comprehension as a social and intellectual practice. It reviews literature on current approaches to reading instruction for linguistically and culturally diverse and low socioeconomic students, noting the current policy emphasis on the teaching of comprehension as autonomous skills and ‘strategies’. The Four Resources model (Freebody & Luke, 1990) is used to situate comprehension instruction with an emphasis on student cultural and community knowledge, and substantive intellectual and sociocultural content in elementary and middle school curricula. Illustrations are drawn from research underway on the teaching of literacy in low socioeconomic schools.

Proactive communication management beats hostile media exposure : training for multi-cultural community leaders in living with mass media

Proactive communication management instead of mortification in the glare of hostile media attention became the theme of a four-day training program for multi-cultural community leaders, the object of this research. The program in Brisbane from December 2009 through to February this year was conducted under auspices of a Community Media Link grant program shared by Griffith University and the Queensland Ethnic Communities Council, together with Journalism academics from the Queensland University of Technology. Twenty-eight participants from 23 organisations took part, with a team of nine facilitators from the host organisations, and guest presenters from the news media. This paper reviews the process, taking into account: its objectives, to empower participants by showing how Australian media operate and introducing participants to journalists; pedagogical thrust, where overview talks, with role play seminars with guest presenters from the media, were combined with practice in interviews and writing for media; and outcomes, assessed on the basis of participants’ responses. The research methodology is qualitative, in that the study is based on discussions to review the planning and experience of sessions, and anonymous, informal feed-back questionnaires distributed to the participants. Background literature on multiculturalism and community media was referred to in the study. The findings indicate positive outcomes for participants from this approach to protection of persons unversed in living in the Australian “mediatised” environment. Most affirmed that the “production side” perspective of the exercise had informed and motivated them effectively, such that henceforth they would venture far more into media management, in their community leadership roles.

Cultural and creative industries

This chapter evaluates the rise of creative industries from four standpoints: the growing interest in creativity in the early 21st century; the 'culturalisation' of economic life with the rise of service industries; clustering and uneven development in the cultural economic geography of the creative industries; and the future of arts and cultural policy.

Whole life cycle costing for Malaysia residential property development : the cultural environment

As knowledge of the residential development costing impact on resource and budgeting use increase, developers are moving towards more sustainable solution by implementing whole life cycle costing. Property management requires an understanding of infrastructure management, service life planning and quality management. Today, people are beginning to realize that effective property management in high-rise residential property can sustain the property value and maintain high returns on their investment. The continuous growth of high-rise residential properties indicates that there is a need for an effective property management system to provide a sustainable high-rise residential property development. For such reasons, this paper attempts to study the culture that have been applied due the residential property development in Malaysia as to improve to the best and sustainable practice in providing the best cost effectiveness management system in residential property development.

International regional planning educational experience : learnings from Malaysia, Korea and Turkey study trips

In an era of rapidly changing economic, social and environmental conditions, urban and regional planning education must be resilient, innovative and able to deal with the complex political and socio-economic fabric of post-modern cities. As a consequence, urban and regional planning education plays a fundamental role in educating and forming planning practitioners that will be able to tackle such complexity. However, not many tertiary education institutions provide a trans-cultural engagement opportunity for students, where the need to internationalise planning education has been widely recognised worldwide. The aim of this paper is to communicate the findings of three overseas study trips (Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, Daejeon-Korea, Istanbul and Gallipoli-Turkey) that students of Queensland University of Technology are taken to where these study trips trailed the provision of an innovative tertiary education experience of teaching regional planning in an international context. The findings of the pedagogic analyses of the study reveal that the exposure of students to different planning processes and practices give them a new outlook on what they knew from their own country and provide them with useful insights on international planning issues and cultural differences and barriers.

The cultural and creative industries

A critical and Historical account of the cultural and creative industries as a policy discourse. It argues that the emergence of a cultural policy discourse was part of a progressive democratic politics from the 1960s onwards, taking cognizance of the emergence of new kinds of commercial popular culture. It suggests that this period saw the merging of aesthetics and culture in particular ways. The creative industries come from a different source which combined innovation theory, embedded economics and entrepreneurialism in ways that resulted in a much less progressive politics. The chapter ends by suggesting the the idea of the creative industries is now at an end.

Knowledge based urban development in classrooms : planning Taipei's knowledge based development

Rapid urbanisation of the global population over the last two centuries has inevitably brought with it a number of challenges and opportunities for economic, environmental and social sustainability of regions. This is arguably a result of rapid globalisation and subsequent growth in knowledge and service based economic markets. This paper reviews the introduction of a specialised teaching structure where the concepts of Knowledge Based Urban Development and Knowledge Cities were taught to various students of the discipline of Urban and Regional Planning at the Queensland University of Technology, through their study tour to the city of Taipei, Taiwan. The concepts were conveyed under the name ‘Taipei Metropolis Knowledge Based Regional Planning Studio’ and its methodology reviewed a series of tasks that was considered to provide a stronger level of understanding of how Knowledge Cities and Knowledge Based Urban Development had been formed in some areas of Taiwan. Findings from this international collaborative planning studio indicate that students have gained a greater level of understanding and insight into planning systems and processes in a trans-cultural context. The students have also been exposed to ideas and knowledge that have challenged conventional perspectives and encouraged global awareness.

Community planning : integrating social and physical environments

This key planning textbook on designing healthy and sustainable communities informs planners about community life and the processes of planning and equips them with the essential knowledge and skills they need to organise change and improve the quality of urban living. The author examines the impacts of social and economic change on community life and organization and explores ways in which these changes can be planned and managed. Community planning is presented as a means to balance and integrate beneficial change with the maintenance of valued cultural traditions and life styles. This involves bringing together fields of study and practice including urban and regional planning, design, communication, housing, community organization, employment, transport, and governance. Links drawn between personal values, human activities, physical spaces and societal governance assist this process of synthesis. Establishing a common vocabulary to discuss planning - for urban and regional planners, including health planners; and open space planners - enables both students and practitioners to work with each other and with those for whom they provide services to create stronger, healthier and more sustainable communities. The aims and roles of community planning are explored and the key planning operations are explained, including the phases and applications of community planning method; the planning and location of community facilities; the roles of design in shaping responsive community spaces; and the capacity of different types of community governance to improve the relations between citizens and societies. The book is organized into two main parts: after the first three chapters have established the interests and scope of community planning, the next six each moves from an account of issues and theoretical concerns, through a review of case studies, to summaries of leading practice. This positive approach is intended to encourage readers to develop their own capacities for effective participation and action. The concluding chapter draws together the contributions of preceding ones to demonstrate the integrity of the community planning process

Creative suburbia : rethinking urban cultural policy – the Australian case

This article considers the question of whether creative workers demonstrate a preference for inner cities or suburbs, drawing upon research findings from the ‘Creative Suburbia’ project undertaken by a team of Australian researchers over 2008–2010 in selected suburban areas of Brisbane and Melbourne. Locating this question in wider debates about the relationship of the suburbs to the city, as well as the development of new suburban forms such as master-planned communities, the article finds that the number of creative industries workers located in the suburbs is significant, and those creative workforce members living and working in suburban areas are generally happy with this experience, locating in the suburbs out of personal choice rather than economic necessity. This runs counter to the received wisdom on creative cities, which emphasize cultural amenity in inner city areas as a primary driver of location decisions for the ‘creative class’. The article draws out some implications of the findings for urban cultural policy, arguing that the focus on developing inner urban cultural amenity has been overplayed, and that more attention should be given to how to better enable distributed knowledge systems through high-speed broadband infrastructure.

Property, planning and purpose : legal concerns facing broadband rollout in Australia

The Australian government, and opposition, are committed to facilitating high-speed broadband provision. In April 2009 the (then) Labor government announced a proposal to facilitate provision by mandating “…the use of fibre optic infrastructure … in greenfield estates ….” Separately, the installation of (usually overhead) cables commenced in select brownfield areas throughout Australia. In the lead up to the 2010 federal election, the broadband policy focus of the (then) federal opposition was to enabling private investment rather than direct investment by government itself. High-speed broadband is essential for Australia’s economic future. Whether implementation is undertaken by government, government owned corporations or private investors, will impact on the processes to be followed. Who does what, also will determine the rights available to land owners. The next stage, of necessity, will involve the establishment of procedures to require the retrofitting of existing urban environments. This clearly will have major property, property rights and valuation impacts. As Horan (2000) observed “…preserving... unique characteristics … of…regions requires a compromise between economic ambitions and social, cultural, and environmental values”. The uncertainty following the federal election, and the influence of independants with individual agendas; presents unique challenges for broadband implementation. This paper seeks to identify the processes to be followed by various potential broadband investors as they work to establish a ubiquitous network. It overviews current legislative regimes and examines concerns raised by stakeholders in various government reviews. It concludes by plotting a clear way forward to the future, with particular regard to property rights and usage.

Planning for literacy learning

Effective planning is an important part of meeting the learning needs of students in middle years classrooms. Yet this is a task with inherent complexity. Teachers who subscribe to a contemporary philosophy of middle years education often come together to cooperatively plan and teach a major project. These teachers often represent a range of teaching areas and between them they work with groups of students. Working in this way requires teachers to juggle the demands of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, while considering short and long term goals and objectives, the diverse needs of students, and relevant contextual factors. Because all teachers, regardless of their specialist teaching area, are teachers of literacy, expertise in planning for content learning as well as literacy learning is essential.