Their space, my space, our space? Report of the 2009 Redland City Council Youth and Public Space Survey

This report analyses data collected through the Redland City Council’s Young People and Public Space Survey of 2148 high school students aged 12-19. The survey conducted in 2009 explored their sense of safety and experiences in public spaces across the City, and views on what Council could do to improve these. It is apparent they base their assessment of a space as ‘public’ on their ‘use’ of a space alone or with friends, and where strangers may be present, rather than on a type of ownership of a space (public/ private). The findings of the survey are summarised according to the themes of safety, community attitudes towards young people being in public spaces, young people and authorities, young people’s views of what is needed, and understanding different young people’s experiences of public space.

An integrated approach to supporting land-use decisions in site redevelopment for urban renewal in Hong Kong

Urban renewal is a significant issue in developed urban areas, with a particular problem for urban planners being redevelopment of land to meet demand whilst ensuring compatibility with existing land use. This paper presents a geographic information systems (GIS)-based decision support tool (called LUDS) to quantitatively assess land-use suitability for site redevelopment in urban renewal areas. This consists of a model for the suitability analysis and an affiliated land-information database for residential, commercial, industrial, G/I/C (government/institution/community) and open space land uses. Development has occurred with support from interviews with industry experts, focus group meetings and an experimental trial, combined with several advanced techniques and tools, including GIS data processing and spatial analysis, multi-criterion analysis, as well as the AHP method for constructing the model and database. As demonstrated in the trial, LUDS assists planners in making land-use decisions and supports the planning process in assessing urban land-use suitability for site redevelopment. Moreover, it facilitates public consultation (participatory planning) by providing stakeholders with an explicit understanding of planners' views.

The use of CCTV to police public spaces : a case of big brother or big friend?

This paper considers the role of CCTV (closed circuit television) in the surveillance, policing and control of public space in urban and rural locations, specifically in relation to the use of public space by young people. The use of CCTV technology in public spaces is now an established and largely uncontested feature of everyday life in a number of countries and the assertion that they are essentially there for the protection of law abiding and consuming citizens has broadly gone unchallenged. With little or no debate in the U.K. to critique the claims made by the burgeoning security industry that CCTV protects people in the form of a ‘Big Friend’, the state at both central and local levels has endorsed the installation of CCTV apparatus across the nation. Some areas assert in their promotional material that the centre of the shopping and leisure zone is fully surveilled by cameras in order to reassure visitors that their personal safety is a matter of civic concern, with even small towns and villages expending monies on sophisticated and expensive to maintain camera systems. It is within a context of monitoring, recording and control procedures that young people’s use of public space is constructed as a threat to social order, in need of surveillance and exclusion which forms a major and contemporary feature in shaping thinking about urban and rural working class young people in the U.K. As Loader (1996) notes, young people’s claims on public space rarely gain legitimacy if ‘colliding’ with those of local residents, and Davis (1990) describes the increasing ‘militarization and destruction of public space’, while Jacobs (1965) asserts that full participation in the ‘daily life of urban streets’ is essential to the development of young people and beneficial for all who live in an area. This paper challenges the uncritical acceptance of widespread use of CCTV and identifies its oppressive and malevolent potential in forming a ‘surveillance gaze’ over young people (adapting Foucault’s ‘clinical gaze’c. 1973) which can jeopardise mental health and well being in coping with the ‘metropolis’, after Simmel, (1964).

A preconditioned Lanczos method for space-fractional reaction-diffusion equations on two-dimensional unstructured meshes

We consider a two-dimensional space-fractional reaction diffusion equation with a fractional Laplacian operator and homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. The finite volume method is used with the matrix transfer technique of Ilić et al. (2006) to discretise in space, yielding a system of equations that requires the action of a matrix function to solve at each timestep. Rather than form this matrix function explicitly, we use Krylov subspace techniques to approximate the action of this matrix function. Specifically, we apply the Lanczos method, after a suitable transformation of the problem to recover symmetry. To improve the convergence of this method, we utilise a preconditioner that deflates the smallest eigenvalues from the spectrum. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach for a fractional Fisher’s equation on the unit disk.

The Cube : a very large-scale interactive engagement space

“The Cube” is a unique facility that combines 48 large multi-touch screens and very large-scale projection surfaces to form one of the world’s largest interactive learning and engagement spaces. The Cube facility is part of the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) newly established Science and Engineering Centre, designed to showcase QUT’s teaching and research capabilities in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. In this application paper we describe, the Cube, its technical capabilities, design rationale and practical day-to-day operations, supporting up to 70,000 visitors per week. Essential to the Cube’s operation are five interactive applications designed and developed in tandem with the Cube’s technical infrastructure. Each of the Cube’s launch applications was designed and delivered by an independent team, while the overall vision of the Cube was shepherded by a small executive team. The diversity of design, implementation and integration approaches pursued by these five teams provides some insight into the challenges, and opportunities, presented when working with large distributed interaction technologies. We describe each of these applications in order to discuss the different challenges and user needs they address, which types of interactions they support and how they utilise the capabilities of the Cube facility.

Time and space in biogeography : response to Parenti & Ebach (2013)

A recent Guest Editorial by Parenti & Ebach (2013, Journal of Biogeography, 40, 813–820) disagrees with the methods or interpretations in two of our recent papers. In addition, the authors open a debate on biogeographical concepts, and present an alternative philosophy for biogeographical research in the context of their recently described biogeographical subregion called ‘Pandora’. We disagree with their approach and conclusions, and comment on several issues related to our differing conceptual approaches for biogeographical research; namely, our use of molecular phylogenetic analyses, including time estimates; and Parenti & Ebach's reliance on taxon/general area cladograms. Finally, we re-examine their ‘tests’ supporting the existence of ‘Pandora’.

Citizenship, community, public space and the marginalisation of children and young people

Throughout Australia (and in comparable urban contexts around the world) public spaces may be said to be under attack by developers and also attempts by civic authorities to regulate, restrict, rebrand and reframe them. A consequence of the increasingly security driven, privatised and surveilled nature of public space is the exclusion and displacement of those considered flawed and unwelcome in the ‘spectacular’ consumption spaces of many major urban centres. In the name of urban regeneration, processes of securitisation, ‘gentrification’ and creative cities discourses can refashion public space as sites of selective inclusion and exclusion. In this context of monitoring and control procedures, children and young people’s use of space in parks, neighbourhoods, shopping malls and streets is often viewed as a threat to the social order, requiring various forms of punitive and/or remedial action. This paper discusses developments in the surveillance, governance and control of public space used by children and young people in particular and the capacity for their displacement and marginality, diminishing their sense of place and belonging, and right to public space as an expression of their civil, political and social citizenship(s).

Visually impaired drivers who use bioptic telescopes : self-assessed driving skills and agreement with on-road driving evaluation

Purpose. To compare self-assessed driving habits and skills of licensed drivers with central visual loss who use bioptic telescopes to those of age-matched normally sighted drivers, and to examine the association between bioptic drivers' impressions of the quality of their driving and ratings by a “backseat” evaluator. Methods. Participants were licensed bioptic drivers (n = 23) and age-matched normally sighted drivers (n = 23). A questionnaire was administered addressing driving difficulty, space, quality, exposure, and, for bioptic drivers, whether the telescope was helpful in on-road situations. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were assessed. Information on ocular diagnosis, telescope characteristics, and bioptic driving experience was collected from the medical record or in interview. On-road driving performance in regular traffic conditions was rated independently by two evaluators. Results. Like normally sighted drivers, bioptic drivers reported no or little difficulty in many driving situations (e.g., left turns, rush hour), but reported more difficulty under poor visibility conditions and in unfamiliar areas (P < 0.05). Driving exposure was reduced in bioptic drivers (driving 250 miles per week on average vs. 410 miles per week for normally sighted drivers, P = 0.02), but driving space was similar to that of normally sighted drivers (P = 0.29). All but one bioptic driver used the telescope in at least one driving task, and 56% used the telescope in three or more tasks. Bioptic drivers' judgments about the quality of their driving were very similar to backseat evaluators' ratings. Conclusions. Bioptic drivers show insight into the overall quality of their driving and areas in which they experience driving difficulty. They report using the bioptic telescope while driving, contrary to previous claims that it is primarily used to pass the vision screening test at licensure.

Public Space and the Marginalisation of Children and Young People

Throughout much of the world, urban and rural public spaces may be said to be under attack by property developers, commercial interests and also attempts by civic authorities to regulate, restrict, reframe and rebrand these spaces. A consequence of the increasingly security driven, privatised, commercial and surveilled nature of public space is the exclusion and displacement of those considered ‘flawed’ and unwelcome in the ‘spectacular’ consumption spaces of many major urban centres. In the name of urban regeneration, processes of securitisation, ‘gentrification’ and creative cities initiatives can act to refashion public space as sites of selective inclusion and exclusion. The use of surveillance and other control technologies as deployed in and around the UK ‘Riots’ of 2011 may help to promote and encourage a passing sense of personal safety and confidence in using public space. Through systems of social sorting, the same surveillance assemblages can also further the physical, emotional and psychological exclusion of certain groups and individuals, deemed to be both ‘out of time and out of place’ in major zones of urban, conspicuous, consumption. In this harsh environment of monitoring and control procedures, children and young people’s use of public spaces and places in parks, neighbourhoods, shopping malls and streets is often viewed as a threat to social order, requiring various forms of punitive and/or remedial action. Much of this civic action actively excludes some children and young people from participation and as a consequence, their trust in local processes and communities is eroded. This paper discusses worldwide developments in the surveillance, governance and control of the public space environments used by children and young people in particular and the capacity for their displacement and marginality, diminishing their sense of belonging, wellbeing and rights to public space as an expression of their social, political and civil citizenship(s).

Disability, public space performance & spectatorship : Unconscious performers

Why would disabled people want to re-engage, re-enact and re-envisage the everyday encounters in public spaces and places that cast them as ugly, strange, stare-worthy? In Disability, Public Space Performance and Spectatorship: Unconscious Performers, Bree Hadley examines the performance practices of disabled artists in the US, UK, Europe and Australasia who do exactly this. Operating in a live or performance art paradigm, artists like James Cunningham (Australia), Noemi Lakmaier (UK/Austria), Alison Jones (UK), Aaron Williamson (UK), Katherine Araniello (UK), Bill Shannon (US), Back to Back Theatre (Australia), Rita Marcalo (UK), Liz Crow (UK) and Mat Fraser (UK) all use installation and public space performance practices to re-stage their disabled identities in risky, guerilla-style works that remind passersby of their own complicity in the daily social drama of disability. In doing so, they draw spectators' attention to their own role in constructing Western concepts of disability. This book investigates the way each of us can become unconscious performers in a daily social drama that positions disability people as figures of tragedy, stigma or pity, and the aesthetics, politics and ethics of performance practices that intervene very directly in this drama. It constructs a framework for understanding the way spectators are positioned in these practices, and how they contribute to public sphere debates about disability today.

Never-Never Land : affective landscapes, the touristic gaze and heterotopic space in Australia

This article explores how the imaginative use of the landscape in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia (2008) intersects with the fantasy of Australianness that the film constructs. We argue the fictional Never-Never Land through which the film’s characters travel is an, albeit problematic, ‘indigenizing’ space that can be entered imaginatively through cultural texts including poetry, literature and film, or through cultural practices including touristic pilgrimages to landmarks such as Uluru and Kakadu National Park. These actual and virtual journeys to the Never-Never have broader implications in terms of fostering a sense of belonging and legitimating white presence in the land through affect, nostalgia and the invocation of an imagined sense of solidarity and community. The heterotopic concept of the Never-Never functions to create an ahistorical, inclusive space that grounds diverse conceptions of Australianness in a shared sense of belonging and home that is as mythical, contradictory and wondrous as the idea of the Never-Never itself. The representations of this landscape and the story of the characters that traverse it self-consciously construct a relationship to past events and to film history, as well as constructing a comfortable subject position for contemporary Australians to occupy in relation to the land, the colonial past, and the present.

Combining word semantics within complex Hilbert space for information retrieval

Complex numbers are a fundamental aspect of the mathematical formalism of quantum physics. Quantum-like models developed outside physics often overlooked the role of complex numbers. Specifically, previous models in Information Retrieval (IR) ignored complex numbers. We argue that to advance the use of quantum models of IR, one has to lift the constraint of real-valued representations of the information space, and package more information within the representation by means of complex numbers. As a first attempt, we propose a complex-valued representation for IR, which explicitly uses complex valued Hilbert spaces, and thus where terms, documents and queries are represented as complex-valued vectors. The proposal consists of integrating distributional semantics evidence within the real component of a term vector; whereas, ontological information is encoded in the imaginary component. Our proposal has the merit of lifting the role of complex numbers from a computational byproduct of the model to the very mathematical texture that unifies different levels of semantic information. An empirical instantiation of our proposal is tested in the TREC Medical Record task of retrieving cohorts for clinical studies.

Space as a resource in creative design practices

Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in two industrial design departments and two design companies, we explore the role of spatial arrangements for supporting creative design practices within different design studios. From our results, we show that designers explicitly make use of the physical space for: 1) communicating and inspiring design ideas; 2) exploring design solutions, and; 3) managing design projects. We believe that these design practices could bring insightful implications for developing ubiquitous technologies to support the design profession.

Tracking spatio temporal movement of human in terms of space utilization using media access control address data

Using Media-Access-Control (MAC) address for data collection and tracking is a capable and cost effective approach as the traditional ways such as surveys and video surveillance have numerous drawbacks and limitations. Positioning cell-phones by Global System for Mobile communication was considered an attack on people's privacy. MAC addresses just keep a unique log of a WiFi or Bluetooth enabled device for connecting to another device that has not potential privacy infringements. This paper presents the use of MAC address data collection approach for analysis of spatio-temporal dynamics of human in terms of shared space utilization. This paper firstly discuses the critical challenges and key benefits of MAC address data as a tracking technology for monitoring human movement. Here, proximity-based MAC address tracking is postulated as an effective methodology for analysing the complex spatio-temporal dynamics of human movements at shared zones such as lounge and office areas. A case study of university staff lounge area is described in detail and results indicates a significant added value of the methodology for human movement tracking. By analysis of MAC address data in the study area, clear statistics such as staff’s utilisation frequency, utilisation peak periods, and staff time spent is obtained. The analyses also reveal staff’s socialising profiles in terms of group and solo gathering. The paper is concluded with a discussion on why MAC address tracking offers significant advantages for tracking human behaviour in terms of shared space utilisation with respect to other and more prominent technologies, and outlines some of its remaining deficiencies.

Bound to the borders: Representing refugees in the Australian space

This project consists of a novel and an exegesis that explore the use of fiction to counter negative hegemonic representations of refugees in Australia. The possibilities of using Australian spaces, including border spaces, to reveal tensions surrounding refugee belonging and to highlight the reconfiguration of border sites in the Australian imaginary, is a particular focus of this work.