Architecture - School of Environment

A public health crisis is looming. The recent Australian Bureau of Statistics report 'Australian Health Survey' (October 2012) highlighted increasing overweight/obesity and alarmingly low rates of exercise in the country's population. It is projected that the problem will decimate the nation's future capacity to pay for health-support as the population ages, unless the trend can be turned around. There is now very widely accepted convergent research bridging the public health sector, environmental psychology, town planning, transport planning and urban design that concludes the importance of better urban design of the built environment in facilitating better public health outcomes. Beyond concerns for public health, including climate change impact and reliance on fossil fuels, more and more signals point to the lack of sustainability of our current lifestyles. Many remedies are being explored and central to most of them is the harsh reality that the built environment...

Apartments built on top of existing buildings are a typology that averts demolishing the host building thereby avoiding waste and improving life-cycle performance. It can be built more economically because it does not require excavation and footings. It contributes to urban population ...

Urban design matters to us all-and nowhere more so than in New Zealand, one of the most urbanised nations in the world. Urban design matters because the built environment of our towns and cities is where individual lives connect, and where community and economic life takes place. Urban design matters because it has the potential to help New Zealanders live more sustainably, happily and healthily. But what evidence is there about the value of urban design? What are the potential costs, and who bears them? What kind of advantages does urban design offer New Zealand towns and cities, and who benefits? The leading edge research presented in this report provides some answers to these questions. It evaluates the claims that are made for urban design, and considers whether they are justified. It takes a broad view of urban design value-considering not only economic value, but also social, cultural and environmental value. It considers the extent to which overseas urban design experiences are applicable to New Zealand. The Value of Urban Design will help both the public and private sectors. Public agencies will find it helpful in formulating policy that supports a better urban environment, and in meeting their obligations to deliver well designed public buildings and spaces. It will also assist developers and property investors in their decision-making about where, when and how to invest in a rapidly changing urban environment. Moreover, it will give them the confidence to make the extra investment needed to deliver high quality urban development. In March 2005 the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol was formally released. It sets out a vision for successful New Zealand towns and cities that: ■ are competitive, thriving, creative and innovative ■ are liveable ■ are environmentally responsible ■ offer opportunities for all ■ have distinctive identities ■ pursue their goals on the basis of a shared vision and good governance. The Value of Urban Design demonstrates that-with care and commitment-good urban design has the potential to make this vision a reality. It can help make our towns and cities work better-economically, socially and environmentally-and this will ultimately benefit us all.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand has a new walking class. The rapidly growing inner city residential population has taken to walking the city streets, to and from work as well as for shopping, recreation, social, cultural and entertainment purposes. A high proportion of the new walkers live in burgeoning city apartments in and on top of converted buildings. Many of the walkers are members of the very special 'creative-class' that abounds in Wellington. They are motivated by high creative opportunity having made discretionary life-style choices to live and work in a place of great natural attraction and of strong social and cultural interest. The quality and function of public places and spaces in the centre is variable but city authorities are conscious of the need to improve. Several milestone initiatives are illustrated and discussed in terms of fixed, semi-fixed and un-fixed elements as well as in terms of their symbolism, functioning and contribution to the city&...

For many decades the Gold Coast was largely perceived as a seasonally occupied beachholiday resort strip of linked settlements that started life as dispersed service centres for the hinterland. While this was its origins in the late 19 th Century the Gold Coast is now the sixth largest city in Australia and the most rapidly growing. The city has many layers of complexity related principally to rapidly increased urbanisation. Arguably the overarching 'spirit of place' at the Gold Coast derives from its ocean coastline and secondly from river and canal waterway edges. Other characteristics that make Gold Coast special derive from those qualities that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. As urbanisation intensified with it came growing numbers of small and large businesses to service the new city residents as well as transient visitors. Increased activity and services was the catalyst for visits from hinterland suburbanites and out-of-town trippers seeking to participate in the emerging urbanity as they partake of the natural attractions. At risk is degradation of 'sense of place'. Theoretical constructs relating to 'sense of place' will be explored. Three milestone initiatives are discussed in terms of fixed, semi-fixed and un-fixed elements as well as their functioning and contribution to the city's urban vitality and 'sense of place'. Speculative design interventions are also discussed that could initiate debate about encouraging Gold Coast City to adopt a sustainable healthy balance between urbanisation and sense of place. These respond to the uniqueness of every place.

Having acknowledged the value and importance of heritage, it is not always possible however, to preserve heritage buildings without some form of adaptive reuse. This paper will examine the values attached to heritage buildings, the importance of and the challenges associated with various forms of adaptive reuse. It will argue that adaptive reuse can add value to such buildings and places. This paper will focus on three case studies to illustrate the importance of adaptive reuse.

In this research, the effects of green spaces on the extent of residents' socialization behavior as well as the actual presence of people in neighborhood open spaces where daily markets are held, were investigated. The statistical population of this research included residents in six neighborhoods in Hamadan City where daily markets are held. More specifically, social participation in three neighborhoods where the venue of daily markets enjoys green space was compared with three corresponding neighborhoods, where the venue of daily markets lacked green space. The results of the research indicated that in neighborhoods where periodic markets are held in venues with green space, the extent of visits to the market and social behavior, specifically, acquaintance of neighbors with each other, sense of belonging, and the level of cooperation, were greater than that of neighborhoods with no green space. Moreover, effective indices that influence the quality of green spaces were also obtained. These indices, in order of significance, are 1. The aesthetic allure of urban furniture; 2. Suitable vegetation; 3. Sufficiency of urban furniture and; 4. Suitable flooring.

This paper promotes the concept of 'comparative improvement in ecological performance' in architectural and urban design endeavours. The emerging architectural typology of 'building-top apartments' in Wellington is discussed as a more 'sustainable' solution to urban apartments compared with conventional 'demolished-site' development. Apartments built on top of existing buildings are a typology that averts demolishing the host building thereby avoiding waste and improving life-cycle performance. It can be built more economically because it does not require excavation and footings. It contributes to urban population intensification thereby supporting city social and cultural vitality and economic development. It accommodates many people who walk to work thereby reducing motor vehicle congestion and pollution as well as potentially contributing to public health through better fitness. It supports higher numbers of people in the city as casual observers a...

This paper engages with resilience in urban design by discussing knowledge that can be derived from case studies as being important contributions to innovation and hope, the core of resilience. The purpose of urban design is to sustainably add cultural, environmental and economic value to human settlements. In order to achieve this urban design must cover a broad scope of concerns, it must be comprehensive. Urban design knowledge cannot stultify but must advance through expansion, continual testing and refinement. Resilience in urban design knowledge springs from constant engagement with and adaptation of national and international ideas and examples disseminated through conferences, visits, study and reflection. In an attempt at comprehensiveness, current urban design examples from small scale to whole cities, all relevant to sustainable cities, are discussed under the five headings of - smart containment, smart growth, re-birth, building performance, and ecological urbanism. If a ...

A key question facing planners is how to design new and develop existing urban environments to improve the social health of older adults, and consequently improve their overall health and well-being. Unfortunately research relating to the influence of the environment on the social health of the elderly lacks a clear definition of 'environment'. As a result the differing impacts of environment, however defined, on social health are not fully understood. This is an increasingly important area of research given the world's ageing population. This paper offers a critical review of the environment literature, with a specific focus on the how the physical, social, and policy dimensions of the environment influence the social life of the elderly; social life being an important component of social health. The paper investigates multiple environmental factors at different levels of influence on social life. It also provides a clear classification of environmental features that enable or inhibit social life. Drawing on the literature reviewed, there are manifold associations between physical, social, and policy environmental determinants of social health which need to be understood and prioritised. Developing age-friendly cities, where elderly people are socially active, results from a complex interplay of all of the determinants. This paper identifies the major gaps in current literature in this field and concludes with discussing key policy implications for planners. It offers areas for further research to improve the social health of the elderly through design of the urban environment.

Urban design integrates a wide range of knowledge fields embracing many aspects of human endeavour and it is applied at all scales of development in the built environment. There is an expectation that urban design is contemporaneously relevant and adds value that is measurable and accountable in the public domain. But is urban design delivering? Do we know enough about the field? This paper engages with questions about what is urban design's heritage, who are urban designers in Australia and New Zealand, what is their culture and are urban designers equipped to design future sustainable places? Over the past half century urban design epistemology has developed considerably, much of it borrowed and adapted from other built-environment disciplines. Its destiny is to forever be a 'work-in-progress', responding to evolving circumstances and anticipating change in cities. A snap-shot of urban design culture in Australia and New Zealand suggests that while there is a high leve...

Population ageing is a complex subject with implications for public policy and urban and regional planning. A key community responsibility of population ageing is to ensure the health and wellbeing of this cohort. In this respect, planning for socially healthy ageing is a critical area requiring urgent and substantial research. This paper discusses the impacts of physical neighbourhood environments on the social life — a component of social health — of older people. The research is focused on where, in the neighbourhood, the social life of older people takes place. It investigates the role of soft edges [transition zones between the private area inside the home and the public domain of the city], third places [social place that is not home or workplace] and walkable environments in the formation of different types of ties or relationships: strong, weak, and absent, among older people. Conclusions are based on data collected through observation and semi-structured interviews with 54 ...

The notion upon which this discussion about urban design awards at the Gold Coast starts, parallels Neville Quarry's thoughts about architecture awards. Quarry saw awards as a body of work accepted by the establishment as representing best practice (a canon) and that they are based upon published criteria. Certainly there are published criteria for the Gold Coast Urban Design Awards. Also present are leading respected figures of the professions and community (the establishment) who exercise judgement when selecting awards that are deemed to represent best practice, the canon. But an analysis of the awards since their inception in 1998 suggests that there are several further layers to the discourse beyond canon and criteria. Closer scrutiny presents questions about the politics of urban design, about urban design theory and practice and broadly about the maturity of the discipline. Gold Coast Urban Design Award projects and the Australia Award for Urban Design projects appear to ...

This paper provides an overview and reflection on the theoretical underpinnings and methods of the 'Village Studies Project' at the University of Technology in Lae, Papua New Guinea from its inception in 1971 to 1975, referred to as the 'early work' or 'early village studies'. It also discusses the early work regarding knowledge and purpose of the researchers. Village studies is contextualised as an important aspect in founding the then new professional program in architecture in PNG. The project was motivated by a commitment of the founding head of architecture, Professor Neville Quarry, to ground education and research in the nation's building and settlement traditions and its diverse cultures. Quarry was well aware that European anthropologists had extensively studied people and culture in PNG over the previous fifty or so years but he knew that such work had only tangentially engaged with buildings. His intention was to document an architectural vocab...

Wellington’s city centre residential population has increased nearly threefold in the past twelve years to over seven thousand people. About two-thirds of city dwellers live in new apartments on the top of or within converted buildings. Apartments on top of buildings may be considered as a form of palimpsest in the conceptual sense of introducing a new layer. The new city residents make a significant contribution to the increased social vitality and economic activity of the centre. Restaurants, convenience stores and retail business have opened to service the population and give new life at the pedestrian level of buildings. By comparison with demolishing existing buildings to make way for new construction, ‘residential palimpsest’ literally builds on and uses the existing infrastructure. It generates relatively low-cost residential densification with little disruption. Architectural heritage and sense of urban place is largely sustained with this typology, though theoretical questi...

This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

South East Queensland (SEQ) is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its growing population and coastal location. Human settlements, infrastructure, unique ecosystems, and primary industries all face threats from more extreme weather events, increased temperatures and altered rainfall patterns as a result of increased greenhouse gas emissions. Despite these risks and challenges, climate change may also bring some economic and social opportunities. ... SEQ CARI aims to provide research knowledge to enable the region to ...

Heatwaves kill more people than any other natural hazard in Australia. Current literature on managing health risks of heatwaves highlights the importance of implementing urban planning measures, and engaging with vulnerable groups on a local level to better understand perceptions of risk and tailor health protection measures. This paper reviews arrangements to reduce heatwave health risks in South East Queensland in response to these themes. A literature search and document analysis, stakeholder interviews, and multistakeholder cross-sectoral workshops revealed that although heatwave management is not always considered by local government and disaster management stakeholders, many urban planning measures to minimise urban heat have been pursued. However, greater information from vulnerable groups is still needed to better inform heatwave management measures.