Development In Melbourne Research Articles

Life cycle embodied, operational and mobility-related energy and greenhouse gas emissions analysis of a green development in Melbourne, Australia

At least 40% of total greenhouse gas emissions are related to the built environment, mostly because of energy coming from fossil fuels. In response, developments with an improved energy efficiency (e.g. so-called ‘green’ or ‘net-zero energy’ developments) have been built. Despite reductions in operational energy use in ‘green’ developments, previous studies have identified trade-offs in terms of embodied energy in construction materials and sometimes transport energy associated with the mobility of building users.This research reconsiders the evaluation of green environmental claims through a life cycle approach. A multi-scale life cycle energy assessment software tool is employed to quantify the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of a case study medium-scale green development in Melbourne, Australia over 50 years. Results show that the total life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of the development are 1,492 TJ (2,688 GJ per capita and 107 GJ/m2 of GFA) and 81 ktCO2-e (146 tCO2-e per capita and 6 tCO2-e/m2 of GFA), respectively, compared to 2,220 TJ (4,001 GJ per capita and 159 GJ/m2 of GFA) and 177 ktCO2-e (318 tCO2-e per capita and 13 tCO2-e/m2 of GFA) for a business-as-usual development with the same geometry. In fact, each of the embodied, operational and transport energy requirements represents an important contribution to the life cycle energy: 31%, 35% and 34%, respectively. Therefore, all life cycle stages and scales of the built environment are relevant to the overall energy and greenhouse gas emissions performance of green developments.

Examining spatial variations in minimum residential parking requirements in Melbourne

Minimum off-street residential parking requirements are used in many cities as a way to accommodate parking demand associated with new residential development. In some cases, variations to these requirements are used in the form of reduced (or eliminated) minimums and/or maximum parking requirements to more actively manage parking demand. This paper assesses how such variations affecting new residential apartment development in Melbourne, known locally as parking overlays, compare against residential parking demand. Using household car ownership data as a proxy for off-street residential parking demand, a case-control analysis was undertaken to compare car ownership within and immediately outside areas affected by the parking overlays, while controlling for a range of built environment, public transport, demand management and socio-demographic variables. Key findings indicate that car ownership is generally lower in areas affected by parking overlays, yet this was either roughly the same or well below the actual parking requirement. Through regression modelling, the results highlighted the importance of public transport service quality, car parking requirements and demographics in influencing car ownership within and immediately outside the parking overlay areas. These results were used to develop a parking overlay index to identify other areas that could benefit from more flexible residential parking requirements. Despite parking overlays considered as a form of parking management, the results imply that, in Melbourne, they represent little more than a conventional supply-side approach to parking policy. The results indicate that residential off-street parking requirements could be reduced further in Melbourne, both within and outside of areas affected by parking overlays, to more actively manage parking demand.

THE IMPACT OF URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARIES IN MELBOURNE ON URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The consensus of using the compact city as a model for urban sustainable development has inevitably led to governments restricting outer urban expansion as an urban management tool. Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have become one of the most widely used policy tools to achieve this goal. To evaluate the impact of UGBs on urban sustainable development in Melbourne, Australia, we compare the temporal and spatial changes of population, dwelling density, and growth before and after the implementation of the UGB policy in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The results indicate that, since the implementation of the UGB policy, the urban population, dwelling density, and growth have significantly accelerated; however, nearly half of the new population is located on the urban fringe. Based on the pressure of population growth, the UGB in Melbourne has been adjusted frequently, which has reduced its binding force on urban growth. Herein, we focus on the reasons for amendments to the Melbourne UGB, namely, urban density and the intensity of urban land use and compare the UGB policies of the Melbourne and Portland, Oregon (USA), metropolitan areas. We argue that the state government should restrict urban growth boundaries and increase urban density. At the same time, UGB policy must be coordinated with broader government policy, such as urban land use, urban transportation, and environmental planning, and a mechanism should be established to release land supply in defined areas. In addition, governments should expand public participation in the UGB amendment process and in supporting the implementation of the UGB policy

Henry Handel Richardson and Marie Hansen: Musical Lives in Fact and Fiction

Australia’s most internationally celebrated author of the first half of the twentieth century, Henry Handel Richardson (1870–1946), was at one time an aspiring concert pianist who also had a flair for music composition. Richardson’s accounts of her talents and achievements in music performance during her school days in Melbourne, and then at the Leipzig Conservatorium of Music, have been at best vague and at worst misleading. This article seeks to address the issues relating to Richardson’s musical training, competence, and reasons for abandoning a career of performance, through a comparative analysis with her friend and rival, Marie Hansen. An assessment of their shared and separate musical development in Melbourne and Leipzig calls for a re-evaluation of Richardson’s versions of events and, connectedly, the biographical interpretations that have followed.

Disruption and the matching market for new multifamily housing in Melbourne, Australia

A key area of system impact of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is the radical improvement in the functioning of matching markets. Matching markets are markets in which agents seek to be paired with someone or something with the criteria for matching often highly specific. Traditionally, the cost and difficulty in matching means many of these markets have not functioned well. Uber and Airbnb are examples of new matching market matchmakers that have been ‘turbo-charged’ by new digital technologies, resulting in what Parker et al. describe as a ‘platform revolution’. In this article, we examine the traditional, but poorly functioning, matching market for new multifamily housing development in Melbourne, Australia, and the potential for disruption offered by a new platform, Nightingale Housing Ltd. (NHL). Improved matching has been critical to the model and the Internet has been central to this. The NHL model has the potential for systems impact as outlined by Schwab in his conception of 4IR.

Lucky Boy in the Lucky Country: The Autobiography of Max Corden, Economist, edited by Werner MaxCorden. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 243 pages, ISBN: 978-331965165-1, AU$ 149.00

Lucky Boy in the Lucky Country: The Autobiography of Max Corden, Economist, edited by Werner MaxCorden. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 243 pages, ISBN: 978-331965165-1, AU$ 149.00

A Post-occupancy Evaluation of a Modular Multi-residential Development in Melbourne, Australia

Modular construction has been promoted to minimise the environmental impacts such as construction material use and waste, embodied energy and carbon emissions as well as construction time and cost reduction. Although the main focus has been on the construction technology, waste minimisation, energy and material efficiency and thermal performance of modular construction, limited attention has been paid to the building occupants. This paper aims to evaluate the resident lived experience of a modular multi-residential development in inner Melbourne. The case study building accommodates a total of 199 apartments and commercial spaces, and to date, it is the largest modular construction building in Victoria. A post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was conducted using the Building Use Survey (BUS) methodology. Overall building design, thermal comfort, noise, lighting and personal control over the indoor environment were evaluated on a seven-point Semantic differential scale. Although the building occupant survey showed a high level of satisfaction with overall building design and performance, two main issues, ‘thermal discomfort in summer’ and ‘noise from outside’ were identified. Overheating in summer is not clearly understood in this study, however, it could be interpreted that passive design strategies such as cross ventilation and landscaped shared open space increased noise. A further research on the effects of building design on occupants such as engineered light-weight concrete floor, prefabricated building façade, cross-ventilation, operable openings and the cooling systems of the individual apartments is necessary to resolve the issues and to examine whether the poor thermal performance in summer could be related to modular construction. This case study building was developed as a commercially replicable pilot, providing affordable and sustainable high-density housing in Melbourne's inner suburbs. Thus, it is expected that this POE study could provide an insight into the interaction between the building and its occupants, particularly in the context of modular construction, and further contribute to developing high-performance modular multi-residential buildings.

Evaluating Access and Mobility within a New Model of Supported Housing for People with Neurotrauma: A Pilot Study

Objectives: (1) Evaluate the features of purpose-built apartment living on access, environmental control, and home and community mobility of people living with neurotrauma and (2) Examine tenant perceptions of those features.Research design: Observational case series pilot study.Setting:Three apartments within a residential development in Melbourne, Australia.Participants:Three males (aged 30–55 years) with traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injury living in the three separate apartments.Method and procedures:Measures:Two-published measures of user experience of built and technology environments, coupled with customised interdisciplinary post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods and GPS-enabled mobility tracking.Analysis:Measures completed per manual guidelines and data reported descriptively. Customised measured drawings produced to represent tenants’ physical access and mobility. GPS community mobility data plotted on Google Earth.Results: Built design features which enabled access and mobility included linear paths of travel, well-located furnishings, and joinery design that allowed approach from either side using a wheelchair. Personal home furnishing choices posed barriers to physical access. Home automation technologies positively influenced participants’ sense of control and independence, but posed learning challenges. Close proximity of housing to accessible public transport and services enabled community travel options.Conclusion: Findings from this pilot study indicate the combination of housing location, design and technologies used, together with availability of local community services, provides an acceptable level of environmental control, access, mobility and tenant experience. Further research is required to determine validity of the novel measures used, and deliver rigorous research design to evaluate those features most important in achieving optimal outcomes.

Understanding Infill: Towards New Policy and Practice for Urban Regeneration in the Established Suburbs of Australia's Cities

A major challenge for urban Australia and its fast growing cities in particular is the provision of an adequate supply of appropriately located, affordable and sustainable housing across a range of dwelling types. A related challenge involves attempts by the metropolitan planning agencies in the capital cities to restrict residential sprawl and deliver more compact cities. Residential infill in the established suburbs has emerged as one of the principal urban planning policies designed to address this dual challenge. Infill targets, typically in the 50–70 per cent range, are now integral to all capital city planning strategies. This article examines the current pattern of infill housing development in Melbourne, Australia's second largest and fastest growing capital city. It highlights the existence of two infill segments—brownfields and greyfields—each with distinctive patterns of development that need to be better understood if urban regeneration is to figure significantly in delivering more liveable and sustainable cities. Current urban policies, programmes and practices are lacking an effective response to redevelopment of the greyfields.

Pacific Crossing? From the American Bungalow Court to the Australian Cul-de-sac

A distinctive feature of suburban development in Melbourne, Australia, from the late 1920s was the fully serviced cul-de-sac subdivision in which houses, gardens, streetscape, and infrastructure were conceived as a planned entity. The typology can be linked to the Californian bungalow court concept, transmitted via professional journals, trade magazines, and study tours. While the standard American model evolved toward denser clusters of urban apartment buildings, the Melbourne paradigm remained resolutely suburban. The first planned estates in the 1920s featured detached, middle-class houses fronting handsome public streets. Later developments were less bespoke and connect to the rapid expansion of the cul-de-sac form in postwar suburban housing estates. In mass production, the holistic, collective integrity of the Pasadena prototype proved difficult to discern.

A replicated comparison of breeding‐container suitability for the dengue vector Aedes aegypti in tropical and temperate Australia

AbstractIn Australia, the dengue vector Aedes aegypti is presently restricted to Queensland but was historically more widespread. Future spread may be facilitated by changes in the availability of suitable ovipositing sites (artificial containers) in response to climate change. We undertook a replicated comparison of thermal and hydric conditions in a selection of water containers commonly used by Ae. aegypti under sun and shade conditions in a tropical (Cairns) and temperate (Melbourne) location. We assessed the implications of thermal and hydric regimes for development rates and thermal stress. Container type had no effect on potential development rate in Cairns but mosquitoes in tyres were predicted to have consistently slower development than those in other containers in Melbourne. Our dataset included the hottest day on record for Melbourne (46.4°C) yet few containers exhibited lethal water temperatures in this location. Similarly high water temperatures were reached in Cairns at more benign air temperatures due to high solar radiation loads. The tyres had unique thermal profiles that exhibited a plateau at shaded air temperature even when in full sun. Overall, our results suggest that chronic cold stress would prevent development in Melbourne during spring, drying of containers would be limiting in Melbourne in summer, and heat stress in unshaded small containers would be limiting in Cairns. Tyres could be an important and unappreciated buffered habitat in open areas in the tropics. These results are of value for directing water storage and waste policy to prevent the further spread of Ae. aegypti and dengue fever as well as other mosquitoes. The methodology can be applied to identify priority containers for surveillance in other parts of the world.

Monolingual versus multilingual acquisition of English morphology: what can we expect at age 3?

At least two-thirds of the world's children grow up in environments where more than one language is spoken. Despite the global predominance of multilingualism, much remains unknown regarding the language acquisition of children acquiring multiple languages compared with monolingual children. A greater understanding of multilingualism is crucial for speech-language pathologists given the increasing number of children being raised in linguistically diverse environments. To investigate the expressive morphological abilities of multilingual children acquiring English, compared with monolingual children, at 3 years of age. Participants were 148 children (74 multilingual children; 74 matched monolingual children; mean age of 3 years 4 months) already participating in a larger prospective longitudinal cohort study of language development in Melbourne, Australia. Thirty-one languages in addition to English were represented within the embedded cohort. All participants completed a direct language assessment to measure their expressive abilities across a range of English morphemes. The parents of the multilingual participants completed an interview regarding the children's language backgrounds and experiences. The Multilingual Group typically performed below the Monolingual Group in terms of their accurate use and mastery of English morphemes at 3 years of age, although variable expressive abilities were indicated within each group. The same morphemes were shown to be mastered by relatively higher proportions of each group. Likewise, the same forms were mastered by relatively lower proportions of each group. The results indicated similarities between the children's acquisition of English morphology, regardless of whether they were acquiring English only or in combination with another language(s) at 3 years of age. This study found a range of similarities and differences between multilingual compared with monolingual children's acquisition of English morphology at 3 years of age. The findings have important implications for researchers and clinicians involved in the management of linguistically diverse populations by advancing knowledge of early multilingual English morpheme acquisition and building awareness of acquisition patterns among multilingual and monolingual English-speaking children at 3 years of age.

Impact of past and future residential housing development patterns on energy demand and related emissions

The continued outward growth from a central business district has been the dominant characteristic of most cities in Australia. However, this feature is seen as unsustainable and alternative scenarios to contain the outward growth are being proposed. Melbourne is currently grappling with this issue while simultaneously trying to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Housing size, style and its location are the three principal factors which determine the emissions from the residential sector. This paper describes a methodology to assess the combined impact of these factors on past and possible future forms of residential development in Melbourne. The analysis found that the location of the housing and its size are the dominant factors determining energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Matching alternative water services to industry type: an eco-industrial approach

This paper presents a framework for the matching industry clusters to appropriate alternative water sources using an eco-industrial approach. Alternative water sources are increasingly being considered in new industrial developments to reduce demand on potable supply and improve sustainability performance. The suitability of alternative water sources for industrial development is influenced both by the demand profile of the industrial tenants and the limitations and opportunities presented by the local environment. This paper demonstrates an approach that integrates the principals of industrial ecology for considering the feasibility of alternative water services in a new industrial estate. The application of industrial ecology principles takes a site specific approach that considers the opportunities and limitations offered by the local environment and existing regional industries in moving towards sustainable water services. Industrial ecology facilitates opportunities for planning symbiosis between industries through by-product exchange, water cascading and cooperative infrastructure. The framework was applied to a new industrial development in Melbourne, Australia; with the assessment of alternative water sources part of a larger project that had the purpose of identifying regional by-product synergies based on materials, energy and water exchanges between businesses. The feasibility assessment detailed demonstrates that suitability of alternative water sources varies depending on the industry water demand profile. The paper demonstrates that the application of industrial ecology principles can be used to consider the feasibility of alternative water sources based on the regional context and the demand profile of industries locating to an eco-industrial park.

Is the social agenda driving sustainable property development in Melbourne, Australia?

PurposeSustainable property development has increased in market share over the past two to three years globally and locally. This research aims to analyze the drivers and barriers to sustainable property development in Melbourne using the triple bottom line (TBL) theoretical framework. The TBL posits that sustainability has social, economic and environmental aspects to fulfil.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was sent out to 190 developers in Melbourne who promoted sustainable property development to ascertain their views about the drivers and barriers.FindingsThis research indicates that in the 2007 Melbourne market the drivers were social rather than economic. The data reveal that social reasons are considered more than economic arguments for incorporating sustainability into developments. The business case, or the economic drivers for sustainability alone do not convince developers.Research limitations/implicationsThe questionnaire survey informed us about developers' views but not why they have these views. The sample was limited to Melbourne.Practical implicationsMore developments are required for developers to become convinced of the benefits. The relatively low price of energy undermines the business case for sustainability in property here and needs to be fully costed.Originality/valueThis paper illustrates that whilst the theoretical framework cites three key areas for sustainability, the reality is that developers are currently driven by social and environmental factors primarily and the business case is not accepted by the majority of developers.

Density and Outer Urban Development in Melbourne

The issue of residential density is again an important issue in strategic land use planning in Australia. For decades, Australian planners generally have accepted the conventional position that increasing the density of urban settlement on the urban fringe will achieve negligible land savings because the amount of land required for non-residential purposes remains constant. This position continues to affect government policy and practice. This article analyses the role of residential density in debates about urban form, and shows the potential for land savings from different scenarios of increased residential density and urban design. The article demonstrates the capacity for increased residential densities in new outer suburbs of cities to significantly contain outward urban growth.

Melbourne—Is there Life after Florida?1

In his widely read book, The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida argues that dynamic fast-growing city-regions are those that manage to attract and keep creative workers and entrepreneurs. In this view, the conventional drivers of regional development—efficient economic infrastructure, a large, skill-differentiated, well educated, fed and housed workforce and an existing accumulation of capital assets—are still necessary conditions for rapid growth but they are no longer sufficient to guarantee sustainable growth in today's highly integrated and competitive world. Growth increasingly depends on the collective and cooperative creative capacities of the people who live and work in particular cities or regions. This article outlines Florida's analysis, looks at how it can be applied to Melbourne's development and provides a critical view of how relevant and useful such an analysis is.

Giving Voice to the Search for Meaning: An Interview With Ruth Schmidt Neven

Ruth Schmidt Neven is a child and adult psychotherapist who trained at the Tavistock Institute in England. She worked in the UK for over 20 years in child and family mental health services of the NHS. During this time, she was responsible for setting up Exploring Parenthood, an organisation which focused on parenting issues. Since migrating to Australia in 1989, Ruth has remained committed to promoting knowledge and understanding about child and family development in the broader community through her clinical practice, training courses and writing. She is currently the director of the Centre for Child and Family Development in Melbourne.

Rethinking suburban development in Australia: a Melbourne case study

This article considers suburban development in Australia through the lens of its second largest city, Melbourne. Contemporary urban policies have focussed on the low densities within Australia's capitals and tried to achieve sustainability through urban consolidation policies. The article argues that these policies are often based on a distorted understanding of the relationship between housing markets and labour markets in Australia's large metropolises. The analysis of suburban development in Melbourne shows that suburban development involves complex links between changes in housing and job location and that urban sustainability policy needs to include actions designed to change the distribution of employment as well as the location and density of housing. The article shows that the vast spread of the Melbourne population masks closely linked regional labour and housing markets.

Intranets, Community, and Social Capital: The Case of Williams Bay

Many people in the Western world are distressed about a perceived loss of community and community values, and it has been argued that the key difference between strong and weak community lies in social capital, that is, networks of civic engagement and norms of generalized reciprocity. In the context of social capital, the article introduces a research project that focuses on a community intranet installed in a new housing development in Melbourne, Australia. The prospects for the success of the community intranet in linking residents to one another, increasing participation in local civic organizations, encouraging reciprocity, and thereby fostering social capital are surveyed in both a priori and empirical terms. The article concludes with the questions to be used in the case study to assess whether these prospects are realized in the case at hand.