Choosing your niche : the social ecology of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in Australia.

The International Baccalaureate’s branding and reputation targets academic high achievers aiming for university entrance. This is an empirical examination of the growing popularity of this transnational secondary credential amongst local populations in Australia, focusing on its uptake across the community, and the discourses underpinning its spread and popularity. This paper reports on online surveys of 179 parents and 231 students in schools offering the IB as an alternative to Australian state curricula. It sets out to understand the social ecology of who chooses the IB and who it chooses. Statistically significant differences between IB and non-IB choosers were found in terms of family income, parent education, student aspirations, transnational lifestyles, and neoconservative, neoliberal and cosmopolitan beliefs. The analysis demonstrates how the reproduction of advantage is accomplished through choice behaviours in stratified educational markets.

Measuring neighbourhood sustainability : a comparative analysis of residential types in Malaysia

The expansion of city-regions, the increase in the standard of living and changing lifestyles have collectively led to an increase in housing demand. New residential areas are encroaching onto the city fringes including suburban and green field areas. Large and small developers are actively building houses ranging from a few blocks to master-planned style projects. These residential developments, particularly in major urban areas, represent a large portion of urban land use in Malaysia, and, thus, have become a major contributor to overall urban sustainability. There are three main types that comprise the mainstream, and form integral parts to contemporary urban residential developments, namely, subdivision developments, piecemeal developments, and master-planned developments. Many new master-planned developments market themselves as environmentally friendly, and provide layouts that encompass sustainable design and development. To date, however, there have been limited studies conducted to examine such claims or to ascertain which of these three residential development layouts is more sustainable. To fill this gap, this research was undertaken to develop a framework for assessing the level of sustainability of residential developments, focusing on their layouts at the neighbourhood level. The development of this framework adopted a mixed method research strategy and embedded research design to achieve the study aim and objectives. Data were collected from two main sources, where quantitative data were gathered from a three-round Delphi survey and spatial data from a layout plan. Sample respondents for surveys were selected from among experts in the field of the built environment, both from Malaysia and internationally. As for spatial data, three case studies – master-planned, piecemeal and subdivision developments representing different types of neighbourhood developments in Malaysia have been selected. Prior to application on the case studies, the appropriate framework was subjected to validation to ascertain its robustness for application in Malaysia. Following the application of the framework on the three case studies the results revealed that master-planned development scored a better level of sustainability compared to piecemeal and subdivision developments. The results generated from this framework are expected to provide evidence to the policy makers and development agencies as well as provide an awareness of the level of sustainability and the necessary collective efforts required for developing sustainable neighbourhoods. Continuous assessment can facilitate a comparison of sustainability over time for neighbourhoods as a means to monitor changes in the level of sustainability. In addition, the framework is able to identify any particular indicator (issue) that causes a significant impact on sustainability.

Ecological footprinting : its potential as a tool for change in preservice teacher education

Environmental and sustainability issues pose challenges for society. Although education is seen as being a contributor to addressing sustainability, teacher education has been slow to act in preparing future teachers to teach sustainability. Recent Australian curriculum documents nominate sustainability as one of three cross-curriculum priorities. In one Australian university course, an Ecological Footprint Calculator tool has been employed to challenge preservice early childhood teachers to consider the sustainability of their lifestyles as a means for engaging them in learning and teaching for sustainability. Students enrolled in an integrated arts and humanities subject voluntarily engaged with the online calculator and shared their findings on an electronic discussion forum. These postings then became the basis of qualitative analysis and discussion. Data categories included reactions and reflections on reasons for the ‘heaviness’ of their footprints , student reactions leading to actions to reduce their footprints, reflections on the implications of the footprint results for future teaching, reactions that considered the need for societal change, and reflections on the integration of sustainability with the visual arts. The power of the tool’s application to stimulate interest in sustainability and education for sustainability more broadly in teacher education is explored.

A critical regionalist approach to housing design in Vietnam : socio-environmental organisation of living spaces in pre- and post-reform houses

Vietnam has a unique culture which is revealed in the way that people have built and designed their traditional housing. Vietnamese dwellings reflect occupants’ activities in their everyday lives, while adapting to tropical climatic conditions impacted by seasoning monsoons. It is said that these characteristics of Vietnamese dwellings have remained unchanged until the economic reform in 1986, when Vietnam experienced an accelerated development based on the market-oriented economy. New housing types, including modern shop-houses, detached houses, and apartments, have been designed in many places, especially satisfying dwellers’ new lifestyles in Vietnamese cities. The contemporary housing, which has been mostly designed by architects, has reflected rules of spatial organisation so that occupants’ social activities are carried out. However, contemporary housing spaces seem unsustainable in relation to socio-cultural values because they has been influenced by globalism that advocates the use of homogeneous spatial patterns, modern technologies, materials and construction methods. This study investigates the rules of spaces in Vietnamese houses that were built before and after the reform to define the socio-cultural implications in Vietnamese housing design. Firstly, it describes occupants’ views of their current dwellings in terms of indoor comfort conditions and social activities in spaces. Then, it examines the use of spaces in pre-reform Vietnamese housing through occupants’ activities and material applications. Finally, it discusses the organisation of spaces in both pre- and post-reform housing to understand how Vietnamese housing has been designed for occupants to live, act, work, and conduct traditional activities. Understanding spatial organisation is a way to identify characteristics of the lived spaces of the occupants created from the conceived space, which is designed by designers. The characteristics of the housing spaces will inform the designers the way to design future Vietnamese housing in response to cultural contexts. The study applied an abductive approach for the investigation of housing spaces. It used a conceptual framework in relation to Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) theory to understand space as the main factor constituting the language of design, and the principles of semiotics to examine spatial structure in housing as a language used in the everyday life. The study involved a door-knocking survey to 350 households in four regional cities of Vietnam for interpretation of occupancy conditions and levels of occupants’ comfort. A statistical analysis was applied to interpret the survey data. The study also required a process of data selection and collection of fourteen cases of housing in three main climatic regions of the country for analysing spatial organisation and housing characteristics. The study found that there has been a shift in the relationship of spaces from the pre- to post-reform Vietnamese housing. It also indentified that the space for guest welcoming and family activity has been the central space of the Vietnamese housing. Based on the relationships of the central space with the others, theoretical models were proposed for three types of contemporary Vietnamese housing. The models will be significant in adapting to Vietnamese conditions to achieve socioenvironmental characteristics for housing design because it was developed from the occupants’ requirements for their social activities. Another contribution of the study is the use of methodological concepts to understand the language of living spaces. Further work will be needed to test future Vietnamese housing designs from the applications of the models.

Elaborated intrusion theory : a cognitive-emotional theory of food craving

A clear understanding of the cognitive-emotional processes underpinning desires to overconsume foods and adopt sedentary lifestyles can inform the development of more effective interventions to promote healthy eating and physical activity. The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desires offers a framework that can help in this endeavor through its emphases on the roles of intrusive thoughts and elaboration of multisensory imagery. There is now substantial evidence that tasks that compete for limited working memory resources with food-related imagery can reduce desires to eat that food, and that positive imagery can promote functional behavior. Meditation mindfulness can also short-circuit elaboration of dysfunctional cognition. Functional Decision Making is an approach that applies laboratory-based research on desire, to provide a motivational intervention to establish and entrench behavior changes, so healthy eating and physical activity become everyday habits.

Children, young people and their social and spatial citizenship rights

The use of public space by children and young people is a contentious issue in a number of developed and developing countries and a range of measures are frequently deployed to control the public space which usually deny the rights of children and young people to claim the space for their use. Child and youth curfews, oppressive camera surveillance and the unwarranted attentions of police and private security personnel as control measures in public space undermine attempts to secure greater participation by children and young people in constructing positive strategies to address concerns that impact on them and others in a local area. Evidence from research in Scotland undertaken by Article 12 (2000) suggests that young people felt strongly that they did not count in local community matters and decision making and the imposition on them of a curfew by the adult world of the local area created resentment both at the harshness of the measure and disappointment at an opportunity lost to be consulted and involved in dealing with perceived problems of the locality. This is an important cluster of linked issues as Brown (1998:116) argues that young people are ‘selectively constructed as “problem” and “other” with their concerns marginalised, their lifestyles problematised and their voices subdued’, and this flows into their use of public space as their claims to its use as an aspect of social citizenship are usually cast as inferior or rejected as they ‘stand outside the formal polity’ as ‘non persons’. This has major implications for the ways in which young people view their position in a community as many report a feeling of not being wanted, valued or tolerated. The ‘youth question’ according to Davis (1990) acts as a form of ‘screen’ on which observers and analysts project hopes and fears about the state of society, while in the view of Loader (1996:89) the ‘question of young people’ sits within a discourse comprising two elements, the one being youth, particularly young males, as the ‘harbinger of often unwelcome social change and threat’ and the other element ‘constructs young people as vulnerable’. This discourse of threat is further exemplified in the separation of children from teenagers as Valentine (1996) suggests, the treatment of younger children using public space is often dramatically different to that of older children and the most feared stage of all, 'youth'

Are we missing opportunities? Understanding health behaviours associated with overweight in pregnancy

While maternal obesity, excess pregnancy weight gain and lifestyle behaviours are associated with future overweight for both mothers and babies, there is limited research on how best to intervene. An evidence base that identifies behavioural influences is crucial to the development of effective interventions. This thesis aims to gain an understanding of maternal behavioural outcomes of healthy eating, physical activity and gestational weight gain (GWG), the psychosocial influences on these and to examine differences according to pre-pregnancy weight status. The New Beginnings Healthy Mothers and Babies Study was a prospective observational study using the PRECEDE-PROCEED model of health promotion planning as a framework. A consecutive sample of 715 women was recruited. Height and weight were measured and women completed questionnaires at approximately 16 and 36 weeks gestation. This thesis presents three chapters of original research across four study domains. While healthy eating was widely regarded as important during pregnancy and had become more so, there was more variability in attitudes towards physical activity. Ninety-two percent of participants achieved the maximum knowledge score relating to the influence of nutrition on pregnancy. However, 8% and 36% respectively knew how many serves of fruit and vegetables should be consumed daily. Six percent of participants met the recommendations for fruit consumption, 4% achieved the recommended vegetable intake and 44% achieved sufficient physical activity. There were few differences between healthy and overweight women for measures of physical activity and healthy eating. Many predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors with a positive influence on health behaviours were lower in women commencing pregnancy overweight and those factors with a negative influence on health behaviours were higher when compared to healthy weight women. Some of these antecedents to health behaviours that were different according to prepregnancy weight status were associated with diet quality and physical activity. While self efficacy was consistently associated with diet quality and physical activity for both weight groups, other associations between specific predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors differed with behaviour and weight status group. These results highlight the complexity of supporting behaviour change in a one-size-fits-all approach. Sixty-four percent of participants gained weight outside of recommendations. Compared to healthy weight women, those women who were already overweight at the beginning of pregnancy were more likely to gain too much weight (30% vs 56%, p<0.001). Only 35% of participants reported their correct recommended weight gain. Excess GWG was associated with few predisposing factors, however, these were not consistent between prepregnancy weight status groups. Less than 50% of women reported sometimes/usually/always receiving advice from health professionals relating to healthy eating, physical activity or GWG. These results indicate that there are opportunities to improve the advice and support provided by health care professionals in the antenatal period. Evidence from this PhD research suggests that there is a need for effective prevention and management of excess weight in pregnancy. Effective management of this problem is likely to require a multidisciplinary approach with multi-level strategies. Importantly, the strategies may need to be tailored according to pre-pregnancy weight status. Collectively, the evidence derived from this thesis suggests that opportunities to support healthy lifestyles and prevent future overweight are being missed during pregnancy.

Imagining neighbourhood-based community : an autoethnography

This research is an autoethnographic investigation of consumption experiences, public and quasi-public spaces, and their relationship to community within an inner city neighbourhood. The research specifically focuses on the gentrifying inner city, where class-based processes of change can have implications for people’s abilities to remain within, or feel connected to place. However, the thesis draws on broader theories of the throwntogetherness of the contemporary city (e.g., Amin and Thrift, 2002; Massey 2005) to argue that the city is a space where place-based meanings cannot be seen to be fixed, and are instead better understood as events of place – based on ever shifting interrelations between the trajectories of people and things. This perspective argues the experience of belonging to community is not just born of a social encounter, but also draws on the physical and symbolic elements of the context in which it is situated. The thesis particularly explores the ways people construct identifications within this shifting urban environment. As such, consumption practices and spaces offer one important lens through which to explore the interplay of the physical, social and symbolic. Consumer research tells us that consumption practices can facilitate experiences in which identity-defining meaning can be generated and shared. Consumption spaces can also support different kinds of collective identification – as anchoring realms for specific cultural groups or exposure realms that enable individuals to share in the identification practices of others with limited risk (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999). Furthermore, the consumption-based lifestyles that gentrifying inner city neighbourhoods both support and encourage can also mean that consumption practices may be a key reason that people are moving through public space. That is, consumption practices and spaces may provide a purpose for which – and spatial frame against which – our everyday interactions and connections with people and objects are undertaken within such neighbourhoods. The purpose of this investigation then was to delve into the subjectivities at the heart of identifying with places, using the lens of our consumption-based experiences within them. The enquiry describes individual and collective identifications and emotional connections, and explores how these arise within and through our experiences within public and quasi-public spaces. It then theorises these ‘imaginings’ as representative of an experience of community. To do so, it draws on theories of imagination and its relation to community. Theories of imagined community remind us that both the values and identities of community are held together by projections that create relational links out of objects and shared practices (e.g., Benedict Anderson, 2006; Urry, 2000). Drawing on broader theories of the processes of the imagination, this thesis suggests that an interplay between reflexivity and fantasy – which are products of the critical and the fascinated consciousness – plays a role in this imagining of community (e.g., Brann, 1991; Ricoeur, 1994). This thesis therefore seeks to explore how these processes of imagining are implicated within the construction of an experience of belonging to neighbourhood-based community through consumption practices and the public and quasi-public spaces that frame them. The key question of this thesis is how do an individual’s consumption practices work to construct an imagined presence of neighbourhood-based community? Given the focus on public and quasi-public spaces and our experiences within them, the research also asked how do experiences in the public and quasi-public spaces that frame these practices contribute to the construction of this imagined presence? This investigation of imagining community through consumption practices is based on my own experiences of moving to, and attempting to construct community connections within, an inner city neighbourhood in Melbourne, Australia. To do so, I adopted autoethnographic methodology. This is because autoethnography provides the methodological tools through which one can explore and make visible the subjectivities inherent within the lived experiences of interest to the thesis (Ellis, 2004). I describe imagining community through consumption as an extension of a placebased self. This self is manifest through personal identification in consumption spaces that operate as anchoring realms for specific cultural groups, as well as through a broader imagining of spaces, people, and practices as connected through experiences within realms of exposure. However, this is a process that oscillates through cycles of identification; these anchor one within place personally, but also disrupt those attachments. This instability can force one to question the orientation and motives of these imaginings, and reframe them according to different spaces and reference groups in ways that can also work to construct a more anonymous and, conversely, more achievable collective identification. All the while, the ‘I’ at the heart of this identification is in an ongoing process of negotiation, and similarly, the imagined community is never complete. That is, imagining community is a negotiation, with people and spaces – but mostly with the different identifications of the self. This thesis has been undertaken by publication, and thus the process of imagining community is explored and described through four papers. Of these, the first two focus on specific types of consumption spaces – a bar and a shopping centre – and consider the ways that anchoring and exposure within these spaces support the process of imagining community. The third paper examines the ways that the public and quasi-public spaces that make up the broader neighbourhood context are themselves throwntogether as a realm of exposure, and considers the ways this shapes my imaginings of this neighbourhood as community. The final paper develops a theory of imagined community, as a process of comparison and contrast with imagined others, to provide a summative conceptualisation of the first three papers. The first paper, chapter five, explores this process of comparison and contrast in relation to authenticity, which in itself is a subjective assessment of identity. This chapter was written as a direct response to the recent work of Zukin (2010), and draws on theories of authenticity as applied to personal and collective identification practices by consumer researchers Arnould and Price (2000). In this chapter, I describe how my assessments of the authenticity of my anchoring experiences within one specific consumption space, a neighbourhood bar, are evaluated in comparison to my observations of and affective reactions to the social practices of another group of residents in a different consumption space, the local shopping centre. Chapter five also provides an overview of the key sites and experiences that are considered in more detail in the following two chapters. In chapter six, I again draw on my experiences within the bar introduced in chapter five, this time to explore the process of developing a regular identity within a specific consumption space. Addressing the popular theory of the cafe or bar as third place (Oldenburg, 1999), this paper considers the purpose of developing anchored relationships with people within specific consumption spaces, and explores the different ways this may be achieved in an urban context where the mobilities and lifestyle practices of residents complicate the idea of a consumption space as an anchoring or third place. In doing so, this chapter also considers the manner in which this type of regular identification may be seen to be the beginning of the process of imagining community. In chapter seven, I consider the ways the broader public spaces of the neighbourhood work cumulatively to expose different aspects of its identity by following my everyday movements through the neighbourhood’s shopping centre and main street. Drawing on the theories of Urry (2000), Massey (2005), and Amin (2007, 2008), this chapter describes how these spaces operate as exposure realms, enabling the expression of different senses of the neighbourhood’s spaces, times, cultures, and identities through their physical, social, and symbolic elements. Yet they also enable them to be united: through habitual pathways, group practices of appropriation of space, and memory traces that construct connections between objects and experiences. This chapter describes this as a process of exposure to these different elements. Our imagination begins to expand the scope of the frames onto which it projects an imagined presence; it searches for patterns within the physical, social, and symbolic environment and draws connections between people and practices across spaces. As the final paper, chapter eight, deduces, it is in making these connections that one constructs the objects and shared practices of imagined community. This chapter describes this as an imagining of neighbourhood as a place-based extension of the self, and then explores the ways in which I drew on physical, social, and symbolic elements in an attempt to construct a fit between the neighbourhood’s offerings and my desires for place-based identity definition. This was as a cumulative but fragmented process, in which positive and negative experiences of interaction and identification with people and things were searched for their potential to operate as the objects and shared practices of imagined community. This chapter describes these connections as constructed through interplay between reflexivity and fantasy, as the imagination seeks balance between desires for experiences of belonging, and the complexities of constructing them within the throwntogether context of the contemporary city. The conclusion of the thesis describes the process of imagining community as a reflexive fantasy, that is, as a product of both the critical and fascinated consciousness (Ricoeur, 1994). It suggests that the fascinated consciousness imbues experiences with hope and desire, which the reflexive imagining can turn to disappointment and shame as it critically reflects on the reality of those fascinated projections. At the same time, the reflexive imagination also searches the practices of others for affirmation of those projections, effectively seeking to prove the reality of the fantasy of the imagined community.

Factors influencing sustainability outcomes of housing in subtropical Australia

Purpose: The challenges of providing housing that sustains its inhabitants socially, economically and environmentally, and is inherently sustainable for the planet as a whole, requires a holistic systems approach that considers the product, the supply chain and the market, as well as the inter-dependencies within and between each of these process points. The purpose of the research is to identify factors that impact the sustainability performance outcomes of residential dwellings and the diffusion of sustainable housing into the mainstream housing market. Design/methodology/approach: This research represents a snapshot in time: a recording of the experiences of seven Australian families who are “early adopters” of leading edge sustainable homes within a specific sustainable urban development in subtropical Queensland. The research adopts a qualitative approach to compare the goals and expectations of these families with the actual sustainability aspects incorporated into their homes and lifestyles. Findings: The results show that the “product” – a sustainable house – is difficult to define; that sustainability outcomes were strongly influenced by individual concerns and the contextual urban environment; and that economic comparisons with “standard” housing are challenging. Research limitations/implications: This qualitative study is based on seven families (13 individuals) in an Ecovillage in southeast Queensland. Although the findings make a significant contribution to knowledge, they may not be generalisable to the wider population. Originality/value: The experiences of these early adopter families suggest that the housing market and regulators play critical roles, through actions and language, in limiting or enhancing the diffusion of sustainable housing into the market.

Using technology to change adult sedentary behaviour, physical activity levels and total wellness

This thesis studied technology’s role in promoting and supporting active lifestyles through behavioural strategies to reduce sedentary time and increase physical activity. The five studies included (1) development of a self-report instrument quantifying daily sedentary behaviour and light-intensity physical activity; (2) establishment of instrument validity and reliability; (3) use of an online personal activity monitor to successfully reduce sedentary time and increase physical activity; (4) identification of positive differences in total wellness as related to high/low levels of sitting time combined with insufficient/sufficient physical activity; and (5) improvement of total wellness through positive changes in sedentary behaviour and physical activity.

The obesity epidemic : both energy intake and physical activity contribute

Recent data from Australia, the United States and Europe show increased self-reported energy intake associated with obesity, in contrast to earlier suggestions that the obesity epidemic has occurred despite minimal or no increase in per capita energy intake from food. The effect of increased energy intake is compounded by sedentary lifestyles. Both physical activity and nutrition must be addressed to reduce the prevalence of obesity and improve the health of Australians.

Mainstream monsters : the otherness of humans in Twilight, the Vampire Diaries and True Blood

The representation of vampires in horror movies and television programmes has changed considerably over the last two decades. No longer is the vampire portrayed simply as a monster or representation of death. Now, the vampire on our screen such as True Blood’s Bill Compton, or Twilight’s Edward Cullen, passes as human, chooses to make morally sound decisions, becomes an upstanding assimilated citizen, works in the community, and aspires to be a husband to mortal women. The success of recent series such as The Twilight Saga (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), The Vampire Diaries (2009 - ) and True Blood (2008 - ) has popularised the idea of vampires who cling to remnants of their humanity (or memories of what it means to be human) and attempt to live as human, which builds upon similar – albeit embryonic – themes which emerged from the vampire sub-genre in the 1990s. Within these narratives, representations of the other have shifted from the traditional idea of the monster, to alternative and surprising loci. As this chapter argues, humans themselves, and the concept of the human body, now represent, in many instances, both abject and other. The chapter begins by considering the nature of the abject and otherness in relation to representations of classical vampires and how they have traditionally embodied the other. This provides a backdrop against which to examine the characteristics of the contemporary mainstreaming vampire ‘monster’. An examination of the broad thematic and representational shifts from other to mainstream vampire demonstrates how mainstream monsters are increasingly assimilating into mortal lifestyles with trappings that many viewers may find appealing. The same shifts in theme and representation also reveal that humans are frequently cast as mundane and unappealing in contemporary vampire narratives.

WATER - a series of photographs by Louise Grayson

This body of photographic work has been created to firstly, explore a new approach to practice-led research that uses an “action genre” approach to reflective practice (Lemke) and secondly, to visually explore human interaction with the fundamental item in life - water. The first of these is based on the contention that to understand the meanings inherent in photographs we cannot look merely at the end result. It is essential to keep looking at the actions of practitioners, and the influences upon them, to determine how external influences affect the meaning potential of editorial photographs (Grayson, 2012). WATER therefore, provides an ideal platform to reflect upon the actions and influences involved in creating work within the photographic genre of photojournalism. It enables this practitioner to reflect on each stage of production to gain a better understanding of how external influences impact the narrative potential within images created. There are multi-faceted influences experienced by photographers who are creating images that, in turn, are part of constructing and presenting the narrative potential of editorial photographs. There is an important relationship between professional photographers and the technical, cultural, economic and institutional forces that impinge upon all stages of production and publication. What results is a greater understanding of technical, cultural, economic and institutional forces that impinge upon all stages of production and publication. Therefore, to understand the meanings inherent in photographs within WATER, I do not look merely at the end result. It provides a case study looking at my actions in the filed, and the influences upon me, to determine how external influences affect the meaning potential of these photographs (Grayson, 2012). As a result, this project adds to the body of scholarship around the definition of Photojournalism, how it has adapted to the current media environment and provides scope for further research into emerging new genres within editorial photography, such as citizen photojournalism. Concurrently, the photographs themselves were created to visually explore how there remains a humanistic desire to interact with the natural form of water even while living a modern cosmopolitan life around it. Taking a photojournalistic approach to exploring this phenomenon, the images were created by “capturing moments as they happened” with no posing or setting up of images. This serendipitous approach to the photographic medium provides the practitioner with at least an attempt to direct the subjectivity contained explicitly in photographs. What results is a series of images that extend the visual dialogue around the role of water within modern humanistic lifestyles and how it remains an integral part of our society’s behaviors. It captures important moments that document this relationship at this time of modern development. The resulting works were exhibited and published as part of the Head On Photo Festival, Australia's largest photo festival and the world's second largest festival in Sydney 20-24 May 2013. The WATER series of images were curated by three Magnum members; Ian Berry, Eli Reed and Chris Steele-Perkins. Magnum is a highly regarded international photographic co-operative with editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. There was a projection of the works as part of the official festival programme, presented to both members of the public and Sydney’s photography professionals. In addition, a sample of images from the WATER series was chosen for inclusion in the Magnum-published hardcover book. References Grayson, Louise. 2012. “Editorial photographs and patterns of practice.” Journalism Practice. Accessed: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2012.726836#.UbZN-L--1RQ Lemke, Jay. 1995. Textual Politics: Discourse and Social Dynamics. London: Taylor & Francis.

Environmental factors associated with active living in retirement village residents : findings from an exploratory qualitative enquiry

This exploratory enquiry employs qualitative methods to advance knowledge and understanding of physical environmental attributes related to active living among residents of Australian retirement villages. Six focus groups (n = 51 residents) were held and participants described how their current, and subsequently ideal, retirement village and neighborhood supported active lifestyles. Thematic analysis revealed three key environmental factors associated with active living: a positive social environment within the village; services and facilities provided in the village and wider neighborhood; and the presence of suitable pedestrian infrastructure. The unique discovery that environmental factors of both the retirement village and the surrounding neighborhood were associated with residents’ active living raises many questions for study. Findings informed the development of a survey instrument, and further understanding in this area has the potential to contribute to the design and siting practices of senior housing complexes within neighborhoods.