74 research outputs found
Understanding and addressing community opposition to affordable housing development
No full textThis research investigated the causal roots of local opposition to affordable housing projects in Australia. It shows that planning concerns (traffic and built form) can mask prejudice against low-income residents. However community opposition can be exacerbated by dismissive attitudes by government. Developers and government both have roles to better explain to the public what affordable housing is, target more receptive communities for affordable housing, allay community fears through education, and ensure planning processes are clear and fairly implemented.
Authors: Gethin Davison, Crystal Legacy, Edgar Liu, Hoon Han, Peter Phibbs, Ryan van den Nouwelant, Michael Darcy and Awais Piracha
Changing places: a question of character
No full text© 2010 Dr. Gethin Thomas DavisonUrban intensification is one of the key planning strategies of the early twenty-first century, but proposals for intensification projects in established urban places are frequently resisted by community members on the basis that they would be 'out of character'. Through empirical research in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States, this study sets out to understand the factors underlying this resistance and to look at how the character of a place might be enhanced, rather than damaged, by the process of intensification.
Case studies are undertaken in four places where the existing character was perceived as threatened by community members, or where the design and development of an urban intensification project was shaped by conceptions of that character. In the diverse inner-London district of Dalston, there was fierce resistance to intensification in defence of character. In the low-income Californian neighbourhood of Fruitvale, intensification was shaped by conceptions of 'Latino' character. In the inner-Perth suburb of Subiaco, there was an attempt by planners to reflect a highly-valued existing character, but the resulting intensification project encountered resident resistance nonetheless. In the low-density Vancouver suburb of Collingwood, the design of a high-rise project was shaped by a collaborative vision of desired neighbourhood character.
The meanings of character, the reasons for resistance to change, and the way that processes of urban planning and design were able, or unable, to respond to those meanings and concerns are explored in each place. The approach to empirical research combines semi-structured interviews, discourse analysis, focus-group sessions, morphological mapping, photography and observational analysis.
Resident conceptions of character in the four places are found to be based mostly in social measures and everyday experiences of place, and resistance to change is usually linked to concerns about social change or a loss of place-distinctiveness. In some cases, the existing character of a place was reinforced by intensification, in others new character was created. In all four cases, the question of whether character had been enhanced or damaged as a result of intensification was a subject of considerable debate
The character of the Just City: the regulation of place distinctiveness and its unjust social effects
No full textThe concept of a 'character' has gained considerable currency in city planning and design, with the impacts of proposed property developments on the character of established urban places now a common consideration in planning decision making. Drawing on the methods of critical discourse analysis, this paper problematises this trend through a case study of Melbourne, Australia. Three critiques of current approaches to the regulation of character in Melbourne are identified: An overemphasis on physical form and disregard for the perceptual and experiential dimensions of place, a failure to acknowledge insider perspectives on character, and the effects of character-based regulations in justifying inequitable and exclusionary planning outcomes. The difficulties associated with the use of character as a planning assessment criterion are then discussed. The paper concludes by arguing for approaches to the regulation of place distinctiveness that attend more fully to the social and experiential aspects of place.</p
Regulating Place Distinctiveness
No full textInsideness is a key concept in the analytical repertoire, developed by Edward Relph to understand place and placelessness. This chapter highlights a body of work that evidences the persistence of local attachments in the global era, although its nature may be being transformed. It focuses on the historical and political dimensions of belonging, before concluding that insideness persists as part of the human condition even alongside the growth of cosmopolitan values. Recent research suggests that insideness remains a feature of the human condition in an age of mobilities. Indeed, its importance may well be increasing as individuals are confronted with intensifying and destabilizing material and cultural flows. Place remains an important field for the production of culture and materiality and the construction of discursive boundaries, while forms of territorial attachment remain an important part of the human experience with a wide range of cultural and political implications.</p
Changing Places: The Cost of Actualizing the Imagined
Get PDFThe tension between proposals for urban change and a desire to protect the existing ‘place-identity’ of established neighborhoods is a key issue of contention in many communities, with a broad range of developments resisted on the basis that an existing place-identity would be damaged or destroyed. This paper sets out to explore some of these tensions, and to uncover ways in which urban design and development might contribute to the creation of new identities that do not destroy the existing meanings and experiences of place. Reporting the findings of empirical research undertaken at the highly-awarded ‘Subi Centro’ development in Perth, Australia, the paper discusses how conceptions of place have in this case both shaped and been shaped by urban redevelopment. Subi Centro is found to have helped construct, and to an extent actualize, a place-identity that had previously been based less on contemporary experiences in place, than on an imagined, and largely fictional, lifestyle. A perceived disparity between this lifestyle-based place-identity, and the lifestyles and attitudes of Subi Centro’s residents is now a significant part of the scheme’s narrative of place. Through an investigative approach combining extended interviews, document analysis and detailed mapping of the urban form, the paper sets out to unravel some of the complexities of place. The findings of this work raise questions over the ability of planners and designers to incorporate notions of place in the redevelopment of existing urban areas
The role and potential of government land agencies in facilitating and delivering urban renewal
No full textThe State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conferences have been held biennially since 2003 to support interdisciplinary policy-related urban research.
This paper was presented at SOAC 5held in Melbourne from 29 November – 2 December 2011.
SOAC 5 was hosted by the University of Melbourne, RMIT University, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and Latrobe University as well as the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Grattan Institute, the Victorian State Government and the City of Melbourne.
Three plenary panels brought researchers from across the country to address ‘big issues’: place-based disadvantage, the design and form of Australian cities, and metropolitan governance. Over 175 papers, in 46 themed sessions, cover topics ranging from planning and governance for environmental sustainability, to housing affordability and adequacy in the context of an aging population. Healthy communities, better public transport, high quality open space, participatory planning, and issues affecting the peri-urban fringe are also strong sub-themes within this conference.
All published papers have been subject to a peer reviewing process
An Unlikely Urban Symbiosis: Urban Intensification and Neighbourhood Character in Collingwood, Vancouver
No full textIncluding the majority: Examining the local social interactions of renters in four case study condominiums in Sydney
Get PDFAlthough an ever-increasing number of social interactions are taking place virtually, people’s relationships with their neighbors remain important. Apartment residents make up a growing proportion of the population in cities worldwide, but there is evidence that many find it challenging to form and maintain local social connections, especially those renting their home. This can negatively impact physical and mental health, and have implications for the management of apartment complexes and local area social sustainability. In this paper, we draw on interviews (n = 41) with renters of four large case study condominium complexes in Sydney, Australia, to investigate their local social interactions. The findings reveal that while many renters desire greater local connection, their opportunities and motivations are limited by factors relating to mobility, tenure security, prejudice, and exclusion from building-related governance. The paper concludes by considering the scope for interventions in design, management and governance to enhance opportunities for social connection
Architectural design competitions: the effects of competition format on design processes and outcomes
Get PDFMuch of the extensive literature on design competitions is based on individual case studies and grounded in long-standing beliefs and assertions about the merits of what we term here ‘pure’ competition formats: competitions that are open to all, where entries are anonymous and judging is undertaken by independent design experts. Drawing from a mixed-methods, empirical study of 46 design competitions held in Sydney between 2000 and 2017, this paper focuses, in contrast, on the benefits and drawbacks of ‘impure’ design competitions. It examines the influence on design processes and outcomes of four key competition variables: the number of entrants, designer anonymity, the flexibility of briefs, and the independence of judges. Opportunities are considered for impure competition formats to address the main drawbacks of pure competitions while maintaining their benefits. We conclude that the benefits of competitive design are not contingent on an open field nor flexible briefs, but that a move towards an impure competition format can be problematic where jury independence is diminished and designer anonymity is lost
Cultural Representations in the Built Environment and Their Relationship with Individuals’ Place-Identity
No full text- …
