It came to pass

Peter Booth`s apocalyptic Burning City and Head stemmed from wartime experiences in Britain. Employing Friedrich`s Wanderer in the Sea of Fog as a portent of Germany`s imperialism, my painting collapses vision into nightmare, drawing in German artists Beuys and Rauch, caught up in a horrendous and inescapable legacy.

Turning off the tap : sustainability imperatives, historic watering regimes, and historic landscape futures

This paper surveys the dilemma faced by the heritage-registered Adelaide Park Lands in terms of changing watering regimes, Agenda 21 sustainability policy objectives, climate change realities, tree senescence, biodiversity health, and raises some topical questions as to how to care for a significant cultural landscape when water, climate change and tree senescence will become key dilemmas.

Learning from sustainable landscapes of death in Bali : landscape planning and Tri Hita Karana

Landscape planning in many countries is predicated upon on fulfilling the functions for human living objectives. Many land use practices have been plotted for living, busines~, trading, industrial, farming as well as providing places for dead people primarily through cemeteries. Research in Palm Beach County, FL, has demonstrated the need to plan for 30 years of demand of land use functions to service death (Coutts, Basmaj ian et al. 20 I I). Coutts et al assert that planners are required and responsible for the planning of funeral necessities. Therefore, the protection of landscapes of death is an important consideration in the planning of landscapes. Bali is popular with its beautiful landscape, hospitality, and traditional architecture as demonstrating the integrity between human, environment and God, as expressed in the Balinese Tri Hita Karana concept. Balinese commemorate life from birth to death through their traditional ceremonies which informs their traditional cultural landscape. One of the most important landscapes, which cannot be separated fi·om Balinese life are graveyards which are used for deceased ceremonies. This landscape is an integral part of traditional village patterns across Bali. Culturally, Balinese people have their own traditional cremation ceremony which is call the Ngaben Ceremony. The Ceremony takes place in graveyards and thereupon ashes are placed in the sea waters surrounding Bali. An interesting point of planning in Bali is how to enable eco-friendly interment extensions to villages. This is occurring because of the increasing number of corpses that require cremation thus necessitating no accretions in land provision of graveyards. This research investigates the landscape of death in Bali expressed in its traditional values in the area of planning which implicate sustainable environments and land conservation topics. Other functions of graveyards, as noted by Strangstad ( 1988), include ceremonial and their role as educational tools for history lessons, art, sociology, geology, English lessons, as well as for scavenger hunts.

Landscape changes in Denpasar City

Denpasar City is one of cities in Bali Province which faces the problem of landscape change. Most land use is for rice fields, dry lands, crops, housing, grave yards, fish ponds, forests and other functions. Based on Agriculture Office, in 2010 Denpasar City has 20% rice fields of the city’s total area, compared to 41% rice fields of the city’s area in 1992. This shows that Denpasar landscape has changed from agriculture field to commerce, housing, industry etc. and that changing landscape also happened in several green belt areas. This fact is supported by the Agriculture Office report that Denpasar City lose rice field about 25 hectares every year. In contrast, Denpasar City must provide at least 30% of land for open spaces. Furthermore, Denpasar City should keep city based on traditional philosophy such as Tri Hita Karana concept, Rwa Bhineda concept, etc. This paper examines the causes of landscape changes due to growing of population, tourism facilities, economic, and lack of government policy. There are the negative impacts of landscape changes which are associated with social economics and environmental issues. This study seeks to offer guidance for the legitimate use of landscape planning for sustainability development in Denpasar City. Some recommendations could be applied such as prevention of population growth, tourism development base, strict building regulation and increase tax property, and provide the policy and institutional options in land use planning.

Breaking Boundaries : recasting the “local” newspaper as “geo-social” news in a digital landscape

This paper reconceptualises the role of the small “local” newspaper in a new media environment and argues that definitions and concepts currently used to describe and define such publications are becoming increasingly problematic as newspapers shift into both print and online formats. The paper highlights the continued importance of geography for such newspapers at a time when there is wide academic debate on the relevance of territory and boundaries and the impact of time–space compression in a new media world. It argues, however, that a focus on a newspaper’s geographic connection must also acknowledge the increasing boundlessness and openness of the social space in which a newspaper operates. Ultimately this paper suggests the concept of “geo-social” news may be a more appropriate framework for scholars to consider such publications. I draw on the work of geography scholars, and discussions around “space” and “place” to construct the notion of “geo-social” news, highlighting some exemplars of small commercial newsroom practices in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada and discussions with newspaper editors in Australia to demonstrate the relevance of the “geo-social” concept.

I remember

Oil painting in 15 panels that was part of an exhibition at Metro Gallery, Malvern. The exhibition consisted of 10 Australian artists contributing to the theme of Climate change.

Little evidence that condition, stress indicators, sex ratio, or homozygosity are related to landscape or habitat attributes in declining woodland birds

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are drivers of major declines in biodiversity and species extinctions. The actual causes of species population declines following habitat change are more difficult to discern and there is typically high covariation among the measures used to infer the causes of decline. The causes of decline may act directly on individual fitness and survival, or through disruption of population processes. We examined the relationships among configuration, extent and status of native vegetation and three commonly used indicators of individual body condition and chronic stress (haemoglobin level, haematocrit, residual body mass condition index) in 13 species of woodland-dependent birds in south-eastern Australia. We also examined two measures of changes to population processes (sex ratio and individual homozygosity) in ten species and alleic richness in five species. We found little support for relationships between site or landscape characteristics and individual or population response variables, notwithstanding that our simulations showed we had sufficient power to detect relatively small effects. We discuss possible causes of the absence of detectable habitat effects in this system and the implications for the usefulness of individual body condition and easily measured haematological indices as indicators of the response of avian populations to habitat change. © 2012 The Authors.

Managing expectations : a changing landscape

Expectations of, and by, students and staff in the classroom have been well researched. Yet, still there is a gap between the expectations of students and what they experience in their studies. The classroom itself is changing with the introduction of Web 2.0 technologies into the mix. Further changes are being driven by the changing profile of a tertiary student in the twenty first century. Education will not fulfill its goal if the gap in expectations is not addressed. The discrepancy in expectations is explored from the perspective of students and staff and strategies for bridging the gap and enhancing eLearning in the Web 2.0 environment are offered. The chapter begins with a scenario that demonstrates the issues and concludes with suggestions to avoid them in the future. In doing so, the key drivers of change in the learning landscape in Australia are identified and the impact these may have on staff and student expectations is explored.

Landscape and consciousness

Most conceptions of landscape tend to differentiate the term from mere land or territory by way of introducing an  intervening subject. In this respect, landscapes, whether “real” or depicted may be said to involve an encounter between subjectivity and an external space. What is largely absent from landscape literature however is an appreciation of this encounter or interaction in light of a 21st century conversation around consciousness.This paper asks: what is the relationship between consciousness and landscape and how can consciousness studies extend our interpretive and conceptual tools for both theorizing and creating landscapes? To explore this relationship, I draw on a familiar supposition of folk psychology: that experiences with landscape can enable states of heightened consciousness. I do this not to come to any firm conclusions on the matter but rather to address this broader question of relationships in a systematic way. The notion that an experience with a landscape quantitatively alters consciousness also prompts the counterintuitive possibility: that landscape diminishes rather than augments consciousness. In particular I draw on a hypothesis of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC’s) developed by neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield. Greenfield proposes a quantitative model of subjective experience in which the subject’s sense of self exists not merely in on/off states but rather expands or diminishes from moment to moment and develops throughout one’s lifetime. The paper concludes that landscape may be regarded equally as a means by which consciousness is heightened or diminished. More broadly, the paper argues that both landscape and consciousness function as similar kinds of integrating/unifying/ defragmenting machines. They construct and preserve unity but do not necessarily put the subject “in touch” with reality.

The importance and significance of heritage conservation of ex-tin mining landscape in Perak, the Abode of Grace

The thematic history of tin mining in Perak reveals the evolution of tin production, technology, infrastructure, transportation, social and the state economic development. The mining expansion that spread from Larut district to Kinta at the end of nineteenth century has distinctively impact on it's landscape. The surviving evidences that spread over Kinta demonstrates the importance and significance of conservation of ex-tin mining places. These surviving evidences are testimony of the past history and legacy for the present and future generations.

The sky from earth : landscape as awareness

For thousands of years mankind has looked at the sky above to engage with the surrounding environment. The observation of solar, lunar and other celestial events guided settlements as well as human movements and activities, just as the cycle of the seasons influenced agricultural crops or dwelling. Archaeoastronomy includes many examples of fabrications in the landscape, constructed solely to observe the sky. The awareness of the sky can be particularly important in the contemporary landscape where the design of a sustainable environment has taken on a sense of urgency. This paper features a survey of several international and Australian archaeoastronomical examples and presents a vocabulary of contemporary interventions in the landscape designed to bring awareness of the sky from observation of celestial events. Some of the contemporary interventions are realized while others are deign proposals, in all examples the viewer is engaged in time-based perceptions of different landscapes aided by minimal constructions, which facilitate the observation of the daily sun path, lunar phases and star trails. A symbiosis between the land, the sky and the observer is established, bringing awareness of how the sky above engages the life on earth. This paper offers a fresh insight, drawing upon Indigenous wisdom as well as contemporary debates and literature, to appreciate the social and cultural significance of these places. By reading and appreciating these examples, and the cultures they are party to, new insights and avenues can be offered as to better design and manage our human environments.

Indigenous landscape change and climate change : the historical transformation of the Port Phillip bay from an indigenous and landscape architectural perspective

Currently there is a dearth of research into Australian Indigenous knowledge and their understanding of climate change especially in regard to how it fits into an Indigenous world view. Recent discussions by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) have highlighted this deficiency and also the need to source projects that address this perspective, and enable the incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge into the planning of climate change adaption strategies. Within this context, this paper examines the use and understanding of landscape, both urban and regional, surrounding Port Phillip Bay and the risks and opportunities climate change adaptation brings to the local Indigenous communities. This paper comprises a literature review and proposes further research with the Wurundjeri (Yarra Valley), Wathaurong (Geelong-Bellarine Peninsula) & Boon Wurrung (Mornington Peninsula - Westerport - southern Melbourne) which aim to elicit a contemporary and local response to issues raised by NCCARF but importantly to articulate a possible Indigenous position about the formation, change and direction that Port Phillip Bay and its environs should take from their perspectives. The research looks to draw on how these communities have adapted to climate change physically, mentally and spiritually over their long habitation of the region and their perceptions of climate change this century. The project looks to uncover a longitudinal perspective of adaptation focused upon Indigenous views of 'country' and custodial obligations to 'country' including accumulated cultural and environmental histories, and how this can inform the contemporary practice of landscape architecture and the design of resilient and sustainable human environments.