Building and construction industries supply chain project (domestic) : report for Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources

The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources is identifying best practice case study examples of supply chain management within the building and construction industry to illustrate the concepts, innovations and initiatives that are at work. The projects provide individual enterprises with examples of how to improve their performance, and the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.

Potential retrofitting of existing campus buildings to green buildings

Green building is building that the focus is to maximize the energy efficiency and resources used. While, retrofitting is the process of renovate or refurnish the existing building. Therefore by retrofit existing buildings that comply with green building requirement, it improves the environmental attributes of the buildings. In Malaysia, existing buildings and its communities contribute over 40% of green house gases to the environment. This paper describes a study that explores the potential to retrofit existing campus buildings that response to sustainable green building standard. A validation survey was carried out and the data collected was analysed using SPSS in order to confirm the significance of retrofitting Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) buildings toward green building initiative. The results show that all the twenty eight identified green elements recorded average index of higher than 3.5 which means that there is significant needs to retrofit the existing buildings to green buildings. This study concludes that it is urgently need for the campus to response to green building requirements in order to achieve higher energy effeciency and this can be done through effective etrofitting of existing buildings.

R&D investment in green building initiatives in Western Australia

This paper reports on a current case study of green building initiatives implemented by the Western Australian government in the past decade. The intent is to provide a qualitative understanding of past R&D investments in the Australian built environment. The case method was selected to illustrate three sector-based investments, one of which is reported on here. The conceptual framework underpinning interview design and data analysis uses dynamic capability, absorptive capacity and open innovation theories to better understand the organisational environment in which these initiatives were implemented. Data has been thematically coded to criteria identified from the literature to illustrate organisational characteristics which may have contributed to dissemination and impact. The results will be combined with two further case studies (construction safety and digital modelling), to inform this research. This industry supported project will conclude by developing policy guidelines for future R&D investment in the built environment.

Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building

With the rising popularity of anime amongst animation students, audiences and scholars around the world, it has become increasingly important to critically analyse anime as being more than a ‘limited’ form of animation, and thematically as encompassing more than super robots and pocket monsters. Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building charts the development of Japanese animation from its indigenous roots within a native culture, through Japan’s experience of modernity and the impact of the Second World War. This text is the result of a rigorous study that recognises the heterogeneous and polymorphous background of anime. As such, Tze-Yue has adopted an ‘interdisciplinary and transnational’ (p. 7) approach to her enquiry, drawing upon face-to-face interviews, on-site visits and biographical writings of animators. Tze-Yue delineates anime from other forms of animation by linking its visual style to pre-modern Japanese art forms and demonstrating the connection it shares with an indigenous folk system of beliefs. Via the identification of traditional Japanese art forms and their visual connectedness to Japanese animation, Tze-Yue shows that the Japanese were already heavily engaged in what was destined to become anime once technology had enabled its production. Tze-Yue’s efforts to connect traditional Japanese art forms, and their artistic elements, to contemporary anime reveals that the Japanese already had a rich culture of visual storytelling that pre-dates modern animation. She identifies the Japanese form of the magic lantern at the turn of the 19th century, utsushi-e, as the pre-modern ancestor of Japanese animation, describing it as ‘Edo anime’ (p. 43). Along with utsushi-e, the Edo period also saw the woodblock print, ukiyo-e, being produced for the rising middle class (p. 32). Highlighting the ‘resurfacing’ of ‘realist’ approaches to Japanese art in ukiyo-e, Tze-Yue demonstrates the visual connection of ukiyo-e and anime in the …

Building prosperous knowledge cities : policies, plans and metrics

This unique book reveals the procedural aspects of knowledge-based urban planning, development and assessment. Concentrating on major knowledge city building processes, and providing state-of-the-art experiences and perspectives, this important compendium explores innovative models, approaches and lessons learnt from a number of key case studies across the world. Many cities worldwide, in order to brand themselves as knowledge cities, have undergone major transformations in the 21st century. This book provides a thorough understanding of these transformations and the key issues in building prosperous knowledge cities by focusing particularly on the policy-making, planning process and performance assessment aspects. The contributors reveal theoretical and conceptual foundations of knowledge cities and their development approach of knowledge-based urban development. They present best-practice examples from a number of key case studies across the globe. This important book provides readers with a thorough understanding of the key issues in planning and developing prosperous knowledge cities of the knowledge economy era, which will prove invaluable to national, state/regional and city governments’ planning and development departments. Academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of regional and urban studies will also find this path-breaking book an intriguing read.

Territorial strategies and regions

The notion of territorial strategy emerged in the 1990s and has become more and more popular since. It refers to that combination of factors purposely assembled by governments, private and public companies, universities, and industrial associations to exploit a specific geographic competitive advantage in order to boost economic growth through the development of entrepreneurial activity and innovation. Three factors are generally considered to be the building blocks of a territorial strategy: natural resources, human capital, and industrial capabilities. Natural resources derive from environ­ mental conditions and represent raw materials or land available in a region. The presence of natural resources characterizes the typology of an industry (related to tourism, oil, wood, fish, and so forth) that exists or could exist in a certain area. Human capital refers to the stock of competences available in a certain region resulting from education and work experience. Industrial capabilities relate to complex constructs of specialized expertise, the confidence to apply knowledge and skills in various contexts and under changing conditions, and an ability repeatedly to improve methods and processes in a specific industry.