Presenter Abstracts
2007 - Archive
Daniel O'Hare and Bhishna Bajracharya
Integrating Subtropical Design in Transit Oriented Developments of South
East Queensland Transit oriented development (TOD) has been promoted as
one of the strategies to manage rapid growth of South East Queensland (SEQ)
under the SEQ Regional Plan 2005-2026. The plan advocates the need for
new developments to reflect SEQ’s subtropical climate, reinforce local
character and achieve design excellence.
The objective of the paper is to stimulate the dialogue on
subtropical design of transit oriented development in SEQ through
conversations with six leading urban designers and planners in
Queensland. The paper summarises the discussions with key informants on
four key aspects; (1) key elements of subtropical TODs; ( 2) good
examples of subtropical design in Brisbane and SEQ; (3) challenges to
developing subtropical TOD; and (4) ideas/strategies for developing
subtropical TODs. Through a critical analysis of the emerging literature
on subtropical design and continual dialogue with a cross section of
planning and design professionals as well as the development industry
and larger community, there is a strong potential to create subtropical
TODs in SEQ that are climatically responsive, locally distinctive, high
quality public realms.
Mr Ian Bentley
BEYOND THE IMAGE: URBAN DESIGN AFTER HUMANISM
Reviewing a long career in Urban Design with the benefit of hindsight, I
see that the discipline has gone rather creakily through a series of
shifts in its focus, in response to continual changes in its political,
economic, social and ecological contexts. Back in the 1970s we developed
a Humanist position; seeing built form essentially as a political system
affecting all aspects of everyday life. We wanted to make it open up
choices for as many people as possible: this was the focus which
generated the classic Responsive Environments position. During the 1980s
we saw the idea of Choice - though not necessarily its actual
achievement - elevated to such a powerful social value that it began to
erode all sense of stable foundations in many people's lives; and this
triggered a widespread search for roots through various forms of
fundamentalism: Urban Design too sought refuge in "Eternal Truths".
Globalisation, with the rise of multicultural societies, led to a
sometimes violent social clash between competing eternal truths from the
1990s onwards; and this drove a third-millenium search for ways of
promoting a positive capacity for cultural co-dwelling. Most recently, a
looming sense of ecological crisis has triggered the most radical shift
of all: an expansion of the concept of co-dwelling beyond the boundaries
of human life itself, as we seek ways of co-dwelling with the wider
ecosphere we once called "Nature". After a very brief sketch of the
story of these shifts, which have all left valuable legacies, Ian's
presentation explores the practical implications of this posthumanist
shift for today's and tomorrow's urban design.
Mr Gerald Blunt
A Capital City - 'Creative Wellington
Inovation Capital' This paper presents a holisitc project with the
overarching objective to celebrate Wellington as the capital city of
New Zealand.
This urban design project with a difference build’s on New Zealand’s
Urban Design Protocol’s seven essential design qualities: • Context •
Character • Choice • Connections • Creativity • Custodianship •
Collaboration The project has been reviewing what it is about New
Zealand’s identity. It has reviewed the difference and similarities
between other capital cities such as Canberra and Ottawa. Questions that
have been tested include: • What is it about the capital function of a
city? • How should Wellington host this function? • How do you
communicate/brand this message? • How do you tell the stories? • What
are the physical manifestations? How do the public spaces operate? How
do government buildings present themselves to the public realm in an
environmentally sustainable manner? How should public institutions make
themselves more publicly accessible?
Wellington City Council has been proactively managing this project to
provide a vision for Central Government as to how the status of a
capital city should be manifested.
Mr Gerald Blunt
A State of Crisis: The provision of
sustainable/secure affordable housing Neoliberal market forces and modes
of government are largely responsible for the current lack of affordable
housing. In tourist destination places, such as the Gold Coast, the
production of place privileges global images and economic (financial,
temporal and spatial) practices. Local placemaking techniques and
practices are marginalised and often subverted to support, maintain and
secure neoliberal agendas. Consequently, landscapes become inscribed
with inequity and polarisation as many local residents, in particular
those that work in the hospitality and tourism industries, are forced to
reside on the margins with little or no housing choice. This is
frequently compounded by lack of public transport and local amenities.
In this paper I will analyse relations between tourism, affordable
housing and the production of place to suggest strategies for the
planning and provision of secure and equitable housing outcomes. One way
to achieve this is through well designed and appropriate infill
development; residential development that adopts the principles of minor
architecture, small localised, everyday architecture that acknowledges
difference and diversity. Such an architecture has the potential to
heighten images of localness in a global tourist landscape and thus
broaden the tourist profile. In this way the neoliberal—economic and
global— agendas are secured and at the same time local residents retain
a presence and a part of the re-production of place.
A/Prof Michael Buxton Peak Oil & City Layout Ms Julie-Anne Carroll
Key design aspects to connect people, place and health in an inner-city
residential development There is an emergent call in both urban design
and health-related literature for strengthening connections between
these fields, with the aim of meshing social aspects of urban design
with current efforts to generate healthier lifestyles and behavioural
patterns among urban populations (Gleeson, 2004). As Jackson (2003)
states, ‘while causal chains are generally complex and not always
completely understood, sufficient evidence exists to reveal urban design
as a powerful tool for improving human condition’ (p. 191). The Kelvin
Grove Urban Village (KGUV) will be discussed in this paper as a
case-study for responding to this call. The underlying design principles
of KGUV, including its basis in new urbanism, social diversity, and the
availability of path / bikeways and green spaces identifies it as an
ideal location for addressing some long- standing questions in the
research about which social and physical design features are most
salient for increasing people’s propensity to engage in recommended
levels of physical activity. The findings from this interdisciplinary
study using an online data collection mechanism illustrate the ways in
which different urban demographics engage with their neighbourhood
environments for health, social and recreational pursuits. Implications
rising out of these findings are two-fold: firstly, for urban designers
to heed the research findings in examining ‘area effects’ on health, and
secondly, for health researchers to consider aspects of urban design
likely to inform the creation of campaigns and interventions that will
resonate effectively within the contexts in which they are delivered and
received. Dr Phil Crane "Young People & Public Spaces" The importance of
public spaces to most people cannot be overestimated. Yet in a range of
countries where neo-liberal values dominate young people have often been
portrayed as a problematic user group of public and community accessed
spaces, and left on the margins of the ‘community’ in the orientation of
such spaces.
The challenges for practitioners in how such spaces should be
configured and managed are substantial and complex. This paper
critically examines a range of strategies which have been suggested as
useful in the development of more inclusive public spaces for young
people, and suggests a multi-lens framework to assist in this project.
Ms Anne D'Arcy
Refining our Draft Seniors' Accommodation
Planning Code Gold Coast City Council has revised its Aged Accommodation
Code to address the challenges of population growth, ageing profile and
increasing densities. Approximately one third of the City’s population
will be aged over 55 by 2021 (2001 Census data). Ensuring sufficient
suitable accommodation for our ageing population means additional
smaller houses that are responsive to changing needs. The market is
responding by replacing the traditional low-rise expansive facilities
on the outskirts of centres with high density, high rise housing
options within activity centres. Council engaged various stakeholders to
guide the revision of its existing code to reflect lifestyle needs and
support adoption of ageing in place principles. In particular it looked
to address proximity to services and community infrastructure, equitable
access, social interaction, connectivity with surrounding communities,
residential mix, cultural diversity and safety. The revised draft code
reflects stakeholder advice and innovative aged accommodation
developments. This workshop provides a rare opportunity to capture
international and national expertise in the review of that draft. Will
it achieve its objective of moulding emerging forms of accommodation to
deliver better outcomes for our seniors into the future? What can you
suggest to develop a more effective code with application beyond our
city boundary? Mr Dale Dickson Good Urban Design Meets Good Governance
Public concerns and issues are not contained by boundaries. Arbitrary
lines on a map will not order or confine the challenges of the future.
Nor will one person, group, organisation or even sovereign country have
the necessary power and authority to meet these challenges. We do not
exist in isolation. And yet good governance demands that we consider
both individual freedom and the collective good. It focuses on
progressing ideas and views that advance the welfare of people, both
individually and collectively, while ensuring that self-interest does
not dominate. Good governance is, by nature, global, national, regional,
local and organisational in context.
We can look to good urban design for parallels. Like governance, good
urban design is focused on the welfare of people as a primary concern.
Both seek to develop a sense of place and identity, engender social
inclusion, encourage design quality, and achieve sustainability. Cities,
like communities, require a finely-balanced symbiosis of ‘private and
public’ benefit to succeed. Our cities’ designers and administrators
must draw from the same bank of knowledge and creativity if our urban
landscapes are to deliver a quality of life that is acceptable and
sustainable. Dr Mark Diesendorf "Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable
Energy" Given the political will, Australia could halve its greenhouse
gas emissions by 2040 by means of a mix of efficient energy use,
natural gas, renewable sources of energy, electric vehicles and improved
urban public transport. The principal barriers are neither technological
nor economic, but rather result from the political power of the big
greenhouse gas emitting industries. Policies required from Federal and
State governments to facilitate the transition to a sustainable energy
future include: - a ban on new conventional coal-fired power stations; -
an emissions trading system with a tight cap on emissions and permit
allocations by auction; - expanded Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets; -
mandatory energy efficiency standards for all buildings, appliances,
equipment and industrial processes; - a much greater share of federal
and state transport funds allocated to urban public transport and
intercity rail.
Ms Ruth Durack
The Non-Profit Way The role of the non-profit
sector in urban development and revitalization in Australia is virtually
non- existent, compared to countries like the United States where the
"third sector" is a significant player in urban regeneration and
maintenance and is commanding a growing share of the design and
implementation challenge. The U.S. experience suggests that there are
some powerful characteristics of not-for-profit organizations that
Australia would do well to exploit in its struggle to achieve more
exciting and liveable cities. This presentation reviews the nature of
non-profit practice, identifies the types of organizations that have
been most successful in generating innovation, and highlights some of
the dysfunctions in Australian processes that could be ameliorated − the
non-profit way.
Prof George Earl Research & Capacity Building for Sustainable
Building Forms Mr Philip Follent Urban Design Capacity Building Via
Local Government Ms Sarah Foster Twitching curtains in suburbia: Does
surveillance limit disorder ? Ten years ago, the Liveable Neighbourhoods
design guidelines were introduced in Western Australia. Based on the
principles of new urbanism, the guidelines aim to enhance personal and
perceived safety, and limit the potential for crime, vandalism and fear
through neighbourhood design that encourages surveillance and activity.
This paper explores the premise that suburban design can restrict
expressions of neighbourhood disorder. Homebuyers moving to new suburban
estates commonly cite safety from crime as an important factor affecting
their neighbourhood selection. However, once they have relocated, the
presentation and maintenance of the neighbourhood will provide important
visual cues that can affect residents’ feelings of safety.
Trained raters audited street segments (n=600) in 52 housing estates
in the Perth Metropolitan area during April and May 2007. Estates had
previously been classified as liveable, conventional or hybrid
neighbourhoods by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI).
Streets were audited for various neighbourhood features that might deter
crime, or influence the perception of crime among residents. Themes
included neighbourhood design, surveillance from housing, demonstrations
of territoriality, aesthetics and incivilities. The results presented
will explore whether liveable and conventional neighbourhoods differ in
terms of the potential for surveillance. Furthermore, the research will
examine whether estates with superior surveillance have less visible
indicators of disorder.
This research is funded by the Australian Research Council, with DPI
as Industry partner. The study is part of the larger Healthway funded
RESIDential Environments Project (RESIDE), a longitudinal study of
people building homes in new housing estates designed to examine the
impact of urban design on health.
Graham Freer and Leon Yates
Transport energy audits- creating
tools for carbon free cities Whilst the role of raising building
standards as a means of improving the energy efficiency of buildings is
widely accepted by policy makers, there is relatively little
understanding of the role built form can play in reducing car dependency
and hence the CO2 emissions deriving from transport.
By building dense, mixed use, well connected urban neighbourhoods
public transport can be much better supported and local shops and
facilities become more viable. Higher density development creates cities
where work, home, shops, restaurants and schools are all located within
walking distance or easily accessible by public transport, reducing car
dependency.
Transport energy audits are proposed as mechanism of delivering
carbon free cities, setting out measurable and mandatory standards by
which all new development must accord to minimise CO2 emissions from
motorised vehicles. This would include indicators relating to housing
density, the connectivity of developments, the mixture of uses, car
parking standards, access to public transport and accessibility by
walking and cycling.
Taken together it would then be possible to determine whether a new
development is sustainable in terms of minimising climate change gases
emanating from transport. The concept is, if we can have energy audits
of new buildings why not an audit of new developments as a whole? This
approach of course raises many questions. Not least how do we change the
attitudes of the public to high density urban living and how do we
retrofit high density living to our existing cities.
Prof Elaine Gallagher
Age-Friendly Cities and Remote and Rural
Communities Seniors constitute the fastest growing population group in
Canada. In 2001, 13% of Canada’s population was aged 65 or older. By
2041 – the projected peak of the aging population – this percentage is
expected to rise to nearly 25%. It has been estimated that by 2015,
seniors will outnumber children in Canada. Comparisons will be drawn
with other cities around the world. While the majority of Canadians live
in urban settings, there also remain a large proportion of seniors that
live in rural or remote areas.
Current research on what makes for age-friendly cities and remote and
rural communities is scarce. This talk will discuss the concept of
age-friendliness, and will present results from a 26 country WHO
Age-friendly Cities project and a related Canadian Study of Age-Friendly
Rural and Remote Communities. The objectives of these studies was: • to
increase awareness of what seniors need to maintain active, healthy and
productive lives within their communities by identifying indicators of
age-friendly in urban and rural/remote communities; and, • to produce
practical guides that urban and rural/remote communities can use to
identify common barriers, and foster dialogue and action that supports
the development of age-friendly communities. Data for the two studies
was collected by holding eight focus groups in each of the three
Canadian cities (Halifax, NS, Portage la Prairie, MB, Saanich, BC). Two
focus groups were conducted in each of 10 rural and remote communities –
one with seniors and caregivers and another with a combined group of
merchants, care providers and volunteers. The focus group questions were
designed to illicit information on eight domains of daily life.
Qualitative data was then coded and analyzed according to a pre-selected
framework. The project will culminate October 1 when WHO will release an
index that cities can use to judge their age-friendliness. Prof Jan Gehl
Public Spaces for the 21st Century For centuries we have taken public
life for granted. People would –for good reasons- be all over the
place. This is certainly not more the case. Lively or lifeless public
spaces are by now very much depending on the quality provided and the
overall invitation which have been extended to the likely users, to
walk, stay, sit or otherwise enjoy the spaces. Surveys from existing
city areas as well as new city districts and new towns have shown
striking differences concerning life and lifelessness. Some are lively
and friendly, others are completely deserted. Everything points to the
quality issues being of crucial importance. And the evidence likewise
points to the need for a more systematic and careful treatment of the
public realm in order to secure a good quality and good invitations.
Access to other people, to possibilities for experience and recreation
among others are in high demand, and these opportunities have important
roles for upholding or strengthening the overall policies for friendly,
humane, open, democratic and safe societies.
Prof Brendan Gleeson
Future Sustainability of Urban Form Mr
Peter Ham "Securing Urban Waterfuture" The Gold Coast City Council is
the second largest local government in Australia, with a population
predicted to grow to more than 800,000 people by the year 2026. To
cater to this population growth, Gold Coast City Council, through Gold
Coast Water, has established planning frameworks to ensure the
viability of water resources for this booming population. Integral to
securing water supplies is increasing the use of alternative water
sources; this includes the use of recycled water in a residential and
industrial context.
Council’s $5.8 billion Waterfuture Strategy program is designed to
secure water supplies until 2056 by ultimately providing 466ML of water
per day. A key element of this strategy is reducing reliance on climate
dependant water sources.
The Pimpama Coomera Waterfuture Master Plan (the Master Plan) is an
integral component of the Waterfuture Strategy and is Australia’s
largest integrated urban water cycle management program.
The suburbs of Pimpama Coomera, located around 40km south of Brisbane
at the northern end of the Gold Coast, are one of the fastest growing
regions in Australia and are expected to grow from 15,000 people in 2006
to 120,000 in 2056.
The Master Plan combines many of the Waterfuture Strategy
initiatives, including residential usage of Class A+ recycled water, to
create a guiding blueprint for water, wastewater and stormwater
management throughout the Pimpama Coomera region.
In June of this year the master Plan was globally recognised for its
water saving initiatives by winning the United Nations Excellence in
Water Management prize at the World Environment Day Awards (Australia
Chapter) in Melbourne.
Implementation of the Master Plan will result in a variety of
sustainability benefits to this rapidly growing population. The Master
Plan and its benefits are transferable to a variety of suburban
situations when seeking to provide sustainable solutions and include:
Reduced demand for potable water by up to 84 per cent Reduced quantity
of treated wastewater released back into the environment Protecting
local waterways by reducing the quantity and improving the quality of
stormwater runoff to waterways. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions The
Master Plan also received recognition in September 2006 by taking the
Global Grand Prize for water planning at the International Water
Association’s Biannual Project Innovation Awards in Beijing, following
receipt of the Australian and South East Asian regional category of the
award and in July 2005 won the Australian Institute of Project
Management (AIPM) President’s Award.
Mr Charlie Hargroves
Engineering Sustainable Solutions Mr
Jeremy Harris A Planet in Peril - The Role Of Urban Design In Building
Sustainable Cities With half of the world’s population now living in
cities, and with urbanization occurring at an accelerating rate, human
civilization has now entered the “Urban Era”. It is becoming
increasingly evident, however, that up until now, the built environment
has not been designed or developed in a sustainable way. The challenge
of our time is to bridge the gap between the unsustainable design of the
past and a new sustainable urban paradigm for the future. In the
developed world, our quality of life has been achieved by building our
cities on an unsustainable paradigm of consumption and waste. If the
urban built environment continues to be designed in this unsustainable
way, the world will face potentially catastrophic effects. To meet this
challenge we must redesign our cities. Its all about holistic design,
and who better to lead the world in the sustainable redesign of our
cities than architects and urban designers. Architects and design
professionals must take the lead in articulating a new urban agenda and
they must take bold steps to redefine the architectural and design
professions to encompass responsibility for the entire built
environment. In his inspiring presentation, Mayor Harris will explore
the complex challenges that we confront in sustainably transforming our
cities thru design. He will examine the issues of green design, energy
policy, urban design, sustainable transport, and sustainable urban
infrastructure, and he will detail strategies and approaches that
architects and design professionals can use to inspire and educate the
public and government leaders in the sustainable re-design of our
cities.
Professor Gordon Holden
Urban Design Education
The knowledge needed for urban design practice has grown
significantly over the past forty years. Initially it grew from a
limited scope that borrowed heavily from the principal parent
disciplines of architecture and planning and to a lesser extent,
landscape architecture, and it focused mainly on precincts and
townscape and it was undertaken mainly by individuals or small teams. As
the complexity of cities became apparent a second wave of knowledge was
established. Much of this was influenced by human-environment studies
scoping across perception, cognition, environmental comfort and
social-cultural factors. Also, in this second wave attention was given
to the capacity for urban design interventions to revitalise places
economically. The scope of the second wave extended beyond the local
level to neighbourhoods and aspects of metropolitan scale.
We are now in a third wave of urban design knowledge development,
this wave being driven by the international sustainability agenda
embracing all aspects of human endeavour and being applied at all scales
of physical development. The third wave has called for a knowledge and
practice domain way beyond the capabilities of individuals. Urban design
is now being practiced in an integrative way by large teams that access
many knowledge fields. This poses questions about the scope of urban
design education and about who then is an urban designer? It also poses
questions about whether urban design should be considered a discipline
or if this way of thinking is too restrictive?
Mr Ben Lee
Revitalization of a Mature Urban Resort
Destination Problem:
In 1990 Waikiki, the economic engine of the City and State began its
agonizing economic death spiral as it had reached its 50 year life cycle
as a mature resort destination.
Discussion The charm, scale and beauty of the world famous Waikiki
Beach gave way to development of high rise hotels and condominiums in
the 60’s and early 70’s. In the early 90’s, merchants and the
hotel/visitor industry felt that Waikiki has lost its competitive edge
in the world market and feeling its effects of economic decline. The
numbers of new and return visitors were less and their length of stays
shorter and shorter. Politics and bickering between the
State and the City over the responsibility of Waikiki resulted in years
of neglect of the physical plant. The proliferation of T-shirt vendors,
protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, prostitution,
commercial kiosks selling trinkets and gold chains that encroached into
the street setback created a tacky, third world appearance along the
streets of Waikiki. Global events such as the Gulf War, the collapse of
the Japanese bubble economy further exacerbated the economic downturn of
the once thriving visitor industry.
Visitors’ perception of Waikiki is that there are too many cars, too
many tour buses, too many high-rise buildings, narrow sidewalks and too
many people on a narrow strip of sandy beach. Residents stayed away from
Waikiki and felt that it was more for tourist and not for them. Sun,
sand and surf was no longer sufficient to compete with other more exotic
destinations. Waikiki looked old, tired and unattractive. Band aid
solutions no longer worked. Waikiki needed major open heart surgery if
it is going to survive and compete in the world market.
Solution As Planning Director in 1990, I initiated the first
comprehensive Master Plan for Waikiki. While there were numerous plans
before, they were piecemeal in fashion, never implemented and never took
a holistic and bold approach in planning the future of Waikiki.
Visioning for Waikiki is not a simple task. There are competing interest
between the visitor industry and residents. Hoteliers wanted to expand,
residents who enjoy the convenience of the variety of shops and
restaurants, could not tolerate the hustle and bustle associated with
the service industry. The car first priority, which was the only thing
that residents and the travel/transportation industry seem to agree on,
had to change to a pedestrian first priority. I started with a community
based planning process and forged a partnership among residents, various
diverse and competing community groups, visitor industry and the design
professionals to forge a collective vision for Waikiki. This partnership
and community participation continued through every phase of
implementing, budgeting and obtaining City Council’s approval of the
plan. Convincing residents and politicians that Design Matters is a
critical component in creating a “sense of place” was one of the biggest
challenges to overcome.
A series of steps were taken that resulted in the success of the
revitalization efforts: 1. Rid t-shirt vendors off street of Waikiki. 2.
Completed and implemented key components of the Master Plan that
included: 3. Reduce traffic lanes and widen the beach and sidewalks and
created pedestrian friendly streets. 4. Insisted on design excellence
among the architectural community in the design of public facilities. 5.
Changed land use laws to encourage redevelopment of aging,
non-conforming properties. 6. Provided a tax incentive for private
landowners to improve and /or redevelop their properties. 7. Promoted
authentic cultural activities. 8. Recaptured the “Hawaiian Sense of
Place” 9. Implemented an ongoing training program for staff of the hotel
industry to be good hosts and embrace the “aloha spirit”. 10. Created
venues like “Brunch and Sunset on the Beach”, nightly concerts on the
beach (at no cost to the general public) featuring Hawaiian music, hula
and song and monthly festivals that embraced and showcased our cultural
diversity to encourage local residents to return to Waikiki.
Results A record number of visitors have returned to Waikiki. Waikiki
now hosts over 7 million visitors a year; up from 5.5 million in 1989
-1990. $50-60 million city improvements and providing award winning
urban and architectural designs became the catalyst for over $1 billion
in planned and completed improvements by the private landowners and the
visitor industry.
Ben Lee
Capacity Building and Achieving Design Excellence Problem: Citizens
have given up on government to solve their community problems.
Government leaders are caught up in their politics, infighting and petty
bickering and have lost focus on the business of efficient and
effective management of resources, taking care of environment, improving
quality of life, implementing smart growth and sustainability policies.
The public’s perception is they have no longer have a voice in
government and they take too long to get things done.
Discussion Residents feel that government is too large, too complex and
have lost touch with the priorities of the community. Furthermore, with
the cost of living and housing as one of the highest in the country,
both parents are working, sometimes multiple jobs to make ends meet. Any
discretionary time remaining is spent on the clogged roads and highways
commuting to and from work, dropping-off and picking-up their kids to
and from school, or taking their kids to soccer, piano lessons, ball
games and school related functions on weekends.
On the environment, Honolulu continues to import 40,000 plus cars a
year, have more cars than people, import 90% of fuel for energy, have
yet to implement curbside recycling, continues to urbanize agricultural
lands for single-family homes and have not utilize our greatest natural
assets of renewable sources of energy such as solar, ocean and wind
power. Cities around the world, including Honolulu, cannot continue
along this path and be reactive rather than proactive in the planning
and design of their cities. The challenge is to elevate the public’s
awareness of sustainability and smart growth to become daily household
words.
Solution: In 1998 Mayor Harris and a team of inspired architects and
planners in his cabinet started an island wide community based planning
process to forge a shared vision for the future of Honolulu. It was
unique because it was not limited to only one or two communities but
included all neighborhoods and communities encompassing the entire 625
square miles of the island of Oahu.
We partnered with the all members of the design profession, engaged
community leaders, residents and invited politicians to take on a
proactive role in shaping the future and determining the priorities for
their communities. Honolulu AIA assisted in articulating the vision by
the use of smart board, sketch up and interactive 3-D tools and a series
of overlay before and after images to help residents visualize the
potential of their communities. It was an extremely effective way to
expand the knowledge base and elevate the expectations of citizens on
the merits of good planning and the importance good urban design. The
success of this process was overwhelming.
Mr Ben Lee Citizens once again felt that government was
genuinely concerned about the future of their neighborhoods, restoring
community pride and recapturing each community’s unique sense of place.
It was a process about their community’s future, their children’s’
future, caring for the aina (land), protecting, preserving and enhancing
the island’s natural and scenic environment. The list of projects,
policies, implementation and results will be presented at the conference
that enabled Honolulu to receive the First Place Gold Award from the
International Awards for Livable Communities in 2004.
Results: Between 1990 and 2004 Honolulu received more design awards
from Honolulu AIA and recognition from the design and business
community for the quality of design, city beatification, and
achievements in the use of technology to improve city management and the
delivery city services than any other period in the history of the city.
Ben Lee
"A Matter of Time" Honolulu - Sun, Surf and Sustainability Honolulu
The City and County of Honolulu covers a geographic area of about 625
square miles with a population close to one million is the 12th largest
city in the United States. Honolulu’s scenic beauty, white sand beaches,
clean air, clean water, great climate, blue skies and ocean, rich
cultural diversity and the aloha spirit are the envy cities around the
world. How difficult can it be to plan paradise?
Honolulu’s Past Honolulu, similar to many cities across the country,
experienced rampant growth during the 50’s and 60’s. Thousands of acres
of agricultural land were displaced by residential subdivisions. Cheap
gas, inexpensive agricultural land and housing shortage coupled by an
insatiable appetite for the single family home fueled this growth
phenomenon. Large bedroom communities were followed by shopping malls,
fast food outlets; gas stations and strip commercial development. The
suburbs of the past became the urban sprawl of tomorrow. With the demise
of Hawaii’s sugar industry the urbanization of fallow agricultural land
continues. Charming two lane country roads along the water’s edge were
expanded into six and seven lane highways and separated the community,
including urban areas like Downtown Honolulu, from the shoreline. A maze
of double deck freeways greets seven million visitors to our city. Local
mom and pop stores like the Aoki’s General Store at the North Shore in
Haleiwa where I purchased my favorite shave ice with ice cream and azuki
bean became a thing of the past.
Another example of poor planning and land use is Waikiki … a victim
of dense, high-rise development several decades ago. In typical
political fashion, land use regulations and design standards were
adopted after 41 building permits had been issued. Waikiki is now a
mature, urban resort destination that reached the end of its 50 year
economic life cycle in the early 90’s. It would take more than a simple
face lift to reverse its economic death spiral. Hoteliers and merchants
realized that sun, sand and surf alone could no longer sustain their
once robust economy and compete with other exotic tourist destinations
in the global market.
Cities across the country were not planning, building or managing
their cities in a sustainable way. Major metropolitan cities in the 90’s
were struggling to keep afloat with less tax revenues and rising
operational costs to fund collective bargaining salary increases, health
and retirement benefits and, repair and maintenance of aging
infrastructure gave birth to the “no frills” approach in managing and
directing growth of their city. It was a political solution but not a
sustainable one.
Honolulu, like so many other cities, had arrived at a point of no
return. It can either continue on its current reactive rather than a
proactive path and suffer the consequences of environmental degradation
and economic decline or become a model of sustainability.
Architects, planners urban designers, members of the design
profession and community groups have to take charge of the political
agenda, establish and implement policies for smart growth and
sustainability, inspire the public and political leaders that design
matters in the planning and managing the growth and urbanization of our
cities. I don’t believe we have a choice. The future of our cities and
indeed our planet are at stake.
Craig Wallace and David Mephem
Creating an Accessible Rapid
Transit System on the Gold Coast The Gold Coast Rapid Transit is a $550
million project providing a world class transit link from Helensvale to
Southport then Broadbeach and then on to Coolangatta. Unlike other major
transport projects such as the busway project in Brisbane or the
extension of the Gold Coast rail line the GCRT runs through a very high
density urban corridor. The planning of this project poses significant
challenges and many lessons for the design urban rapid transit systems
and the way in which we might create opportunities for accessible and
connected Transit Oriented Development along the corridor. This paper
addresses these challenges and the planning and urban design solutions
proposed to ensure high quality urban design outcomes. Mr Richard
Neville FUTURE-QUAKE! COMMUNITIES OF TOMORROW Tremors in the workplace,
rumbles at the coalface. FUTURE-QUAKE! COMMUNITIES OF TOMORROW Tremors
in the workplace, rumbles at the coalface. The perils and the promise of
the 21st Century. It’s hard to plan ahead when the ground-rules tremble
beneath your feet and the map is obsolete. Business-as-usual is out the
window, certainty a pipe dream. While no-one can say for sure what lies
ahead, the clues to likely scenarios are easier to find than you think.
What are the driving forces of change? Where are the weak signals? How
can we develop a set of mind-skills for an age of collaboration and
creativity? The shift to alternative energies requires alternative modes
of thinking. Adapting to climate change requires a change of
consciousness. Future landscapes of work and leisure: safe havens
(self-sustaining, shared-value communities); free zones (licensed
pleasure premises); and parallel worlds (computer-generated role-playing
environments). Attributes of tomorrow’s thriving cities & towns: •
Continuous innovation. • Collaborative individualism … and connective
listening. • Self-organizing with constant feedback. • Self reliance,
self empowerment, “off the grid”. • Balancing materialism and
spirituality. • Nourishing a new concept of the common good….helping
each other succeed.
Mr Michael Norton OBE
The Creative City This keynote
presentation will suggest ways in which the ideas and creativity of
local people can be mobilised to create environmental and social change
in cities, towns and local communities. Using ideas from his books "365
Ways to Change the World" and "The Everyday Activist" and the
experience from a UK foundation he helped establish (which was endowed
with £100 million of lottery funding) which makes awards to assist
individuals turn their ideas into practice, Michael Norton will show the
sorts of issues that individuals are wanting to tackle, their creative
ideas and the impact this can have in improving local life. He show what
support is needed by these budding social entrepreneurs, and hwo they
can move from small-scale initiatves to developing world- changing
ideas. The underlying premise is that investing in individuals with
ideas is an extremely cost-effective way of creating change for the
better, and should become part of every urban strategy for renewal and
development.
Mr Robert Prestipino
Governance from the Heart - "Having the
Ticker Rather than Tick Boxes" This paper will focus on the human face
of governance as the foundation to building leadership capacity to
nuture the new ideas required to enhance the sustainability of
communities. Through the use of a recent award winning Town Centre
Revitalisation case study, this paper will reveal how local government
leadership and administrative structures can embrace creativity to allow
the delivery of innovative strategies to not only cope with change but
create a community that will thrive into the future.
Insights and experiences from Our Town Our Future – a revitalisation
Strategy for Ingham, Queensland will be used to show case the approaches
that have inspired local governance to break free from old patterns of
thinking and lead a process of radical change. This paper will identify
the critical steps and techniques used to build capacity and encourage
Town Leaders, Councillors and Administrative staff to commit to change
and have the ticker to stick to it!
Our Town Our Future has recently received a Highly Commended Award
for “Robust Public Participation Process” in the 2006 Asia Pacific
Public Participation Wards. As well as receiving a Certificate of Merit
for “Rural and Regional Planning Achievement” in the recent Planning
Institute Australia – Queensland Division 2006 Awards.
Future solutions to the unstoppable waves of change must not lose
touch with the human heart. Solutions must respond to the needs and
fears of local leaders to embrace change and think creatively so new
outcomes can be achieved. With individual and collaborative group
commitment from the heart of the city governance team, rather than being
dumped by the waves of change, cities and local communities can harness
their creative energy and surf to a more sustainable future.
Mr Liam Proberts
City Fabric How does the quality of our
cities improve when development is the primary contributor to the fabric
of a city? Allain de Botton suggests that people look for an expression
of themselves in the places they live. An“ ambition to let others know
who we are and in the process remind ourselves “ is as true for houses
as it is for our cities. The clear communication of a city’s ideals - in
theory and in built form - is a critical component in guiding developers
who are fast becoming the custodians of city renewal.
A design authority Is a key role in the urban renewal or growth of a
city. Experiences with various formal design authorities , approval
regimes and local “champions” will support the view that a design regime
influences the outcomes of a city.
We will review the design process and examine the role of the
authority and delivery methods in project outcomes. Local projects
(complete and current) along with international references will advocate
a “qualitative” approach that can contribute to the fabric of the city –
and provide a successful outcome for the developer.
The presentation will review projects including Saville apartments,
Ithaca Iceworks, Miro Apartments and design in transport nodes. Designs
that use artwork as fabric, blur site boundaries, and recognise the role
of big buildings, will be reviwed in the context of the subtropical Mr
Peter Richards High Density Subtropical Urbanism Ms Virginia Rigney A
Cultural desert and a place of no history
Changing perceptions and community building for an emerging city
through collections and exhibitions. For cities undergoing massive and
dynamic change where do you look for an understanding of who you are as
a community and where you have come from . The Gold Coast has a unique
history that is not expressed through the presence of sandstone
buildings and monuments but is rather in a constantly evolving urban and
cultural landscape. It has also been regarded as a place of no history
and of no culture. In the face of such change and preconceptions, what
cultural objects can provide insight and meaning. For both newly arrived
citezens and long term residents, what role can public cultural
facilities play for the development of greater community bonds? An
understanding and engagment of past, current and future issues can be
expressed thourgh a dynamic collecting and exhibiiton program. The Gold
Coast is considering the extension of an art gallery and the development
of a museum - what kind of form might these places and take to respond
to the need for this highly transitory community to develop a greater
sense of place and belonging.
Mr Peter Robinson
The Spatial Dimension of Sustainability -
From the Region to the Place Sustainability has concentrated on discrete
elements within urban systems, such as individual Green Buildings,
isolated Water Sensitive Urban Design, Hybrid Cars, small scale
Sustainability Initiatives, etc. But at the broader scale what is the
use of living in a "green" home when your travel, economic and social
relations are all unsustainable because the place you in live and the
location of where your activities are is spatially divergent? What if
the spatial patterns of our cities are actually encouraging increased
greenhouse gas emissions and actually do not help achieve wider
sustainability goals because of a lack of understanding of the spatial
nature of sustainability in regard to land uses and transport and where,
how and when they should be located? This presentation will examine the
nature of spatial sustainability, and how discrete urban sustainability
issues can be examined holistically from the micro to the macro. The
importance of a building's location (in terms of land use and transport)
and its relationship to the region and its sustainability will the shown
as the basis of each and every decision made in planning/urban design
can affect broader sustainability issues.
Ms Vivian Romero
“When I got chase by a magpie” and “No dirt
on ground:” Images of walkable routes to school from the viewpoints of
children. Concurrent trends of declining pedestrianism among children
and increasing levels of sedentary activity have directed specific
research into school travel and urban form. However, current research
aimed at increasing the rates of children’s walking habits are
undertaken from adult constructs that under-utilise or ignore variables
targeting children’s specific interests. Emerging from the urban
planning, transportation, and health fields, studies have been initiated
through the adult lenses of safety and accessibility. How realistic do
these indicators portray the enhancement or inhibition of children’s use
of their local environments? Absent from this discussion is children’s
experience of their walking journeys. Four Western Sydney public schools
situated in depressed socioeconomic communities were compared and
contrasted for urban design mechanisms and incidences of walking
patterns among school children. Structured around the understanding that
children are affected by and can affect their local surroundings, this
research incorporated the use of surveys, drawings, and focus groups to
integrate children’s perspectives into models of pedestrian behaviour.
Results indicate that current design mechanisms in economically
depressed areas generally provide unstimulating environments for
pedestrian activity among children. Despite these uninspiring
surroundings, children have provided a variety of design improvements
to possibly enhance their walking trips. It is critical to note these
suggestions in order to design environments that are welcoming and
usable for children. By elucidating children’s interpretation of their
school journey, practitioners, academics, and others can work towards a
comprehensive neighbourhood planning policy.
A/Prof Peter Skinner
The 300km city…..taking the long view Our
regional planning assumes a twenty-year framework. Though six terms may
seem an eternity to legislators, it is merely one generation of a city
and a blink in the life of its landscape. In 1903, Daniel Burnham
challenged Chicago; ‘Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir
men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized…’. 150 years
of hindsight highlight the brilliance of Olmstead’s Manhattan Central
Park proposal, while another century will be needed to fully appreciate
Light’s Adelaide or Griffin’s Canberra. The SEQ ‘200km city’ is a
challenge- it is patently clear that sea-changers are generating
north-south growth; 200km from Noosa to Coolangatta and, beyond the
virtual fence, 300km to Byron Bay. Residential desire for this
desirable, temperate and sustainable coastal corridor must be
acknowledged. The linear cities of Soria y Mata, Milyutin, May and
Corbusier promise equity of access and should focus attention on the
virtues of a single, economical, fast and well-connected spine. This
paper maps a rational linear city model onto the powerful landscape of
the big rivers region. The great sand islands, beaches and headlands;
wide coastal rivers and ‘big scrub’ flood-plains; forested hinterland
and majestic mountain-scapes of Wollumbin and the Glass Houses form a
powerfully figural landscape north and south of Moreton Bay. Eschewing
timid political incrementalism this paper seeks to rise to Burnham’s
further challenge, ‘…Make big plans; aim high in hope and work,
remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.’
Mr Michael Sorkin
The City After Now In an era of exponential
growth, environmental degradation, and global homogenization, how can
cities find forms that are both sustainable and singular? Using examples
from his own international practice, Michael Sorkin will present an
argument for dramatic formal and technical invention as keys to creating
identity, security, and democracy in contemporary cities. Rejecting both
the sentimental nostalgia of morphologies wrested from their originating
contexts of meaning and the booming hyper-urbanism of economic
neo-liberalism, Sorkin will call for cities that are scaled to the body,
filled with local singularities, and radically self-sufficient
ecologically. Ms Caroline Stalker Design in the Age of Climate Change
It’s been interesting to see, over the last 12 months, the issue of
Climate Change move from the margins to centre stage as a major federal
election issue. There are also myriad publications and TV shows
advising us how to reduce our carbon emissions at the level of the
individual household, but what we can do at a collective level about the
form of our cities seems to be absent from the conversation.
What we can do conceptually about our urban carbon emissions is not
esoteric knowledge; more compact urbanism is derigeur in many planning
schemes around Australia, and we have a number of successful built
examples around the country. However culturally, and politically, it
poses more of a challenge, apparently one so substantial that urban
sustainability doesn’t even rate a mention in the publicised environment
policies of either the Federal Government or the Opposition.
Is the large house on the large block and the private vehicle
lifestyle really such a deep seated non-negotiable that it’s ‘hand off’
for urban designers in the suburbs? It is critical that we find ways to
live in our different climatic regions that are less car dependant, less
energy consuming, but at the same time enable us to keep what we love
about living in those locales. Isn’t now the time that we should be
engaging the broader Australian community in re-imagining (possibly
radically) our urban future?
At a recent Architectus ‘Think Tank’ we brought together all of our
directors from offices around Australia to develop ideas for living at
high densities in the subtropics. We were lucky enough to enjoy the
participation by representatives from Gold Coast City Council, the
Office of Urban Management, Tweed Shire Council, and the Centre for
Subtropical Design. The Think Tank used design as a tool for
experimentation and research, and yielded a range of key principles for
designing subtropical living environments.
Mr James Tuma
Green Heart-Urban Parkland Gold Coast
UrbanDesignAbstract "Great spaces make great city's. The floodplain
located at the heart of the Gold Coast has long been identified as an
important visual and environmental resource for the city. Mounting
development pressure and a desire to invest in the recreational and
environmental future of the Gold Coast has prompted the Council to
develop a vison that secures the future of the area as a major new urban
parkland.
Located at the centre of the city’s urban footprint between Nerang in
the north, Robina in the south, Mudgeeraba in the west and Clear Island
Waters to the east, the Green Heart will become one of the largest urban
parkland systems in the world. When the vision is realised, the Green
Heart will be a space of such quality and scale that it will discernibly
re-balance the image of the City and contribute significantly to the
quality of life and prosperity of the Gold Coast.
This presentation will highlight the process undertaken, the key
elements of the vision, and the implementation strategy for this great
space of the future."
Mr Alec Tzannes
Rewriting planning and development controls
for sustainable cities and better building infrastructure 1. Current
planning assessment principles and process – NSW case study Description
of the assessment process under current controls as applied to complex
development proposals in urban environments.
2. Planning and development controls for sustainable cities
Discussion on an alternative conceptual framework to guide planning
assessment reform based on principles developed for sustainable cities.
Typical planning and development structures and tools. Graphics to
describe controls. Performance assessment procedures for property
development. Acknowledgement of site specific design processes - the
future role and responsibility of architects. Effects on the education
of planners, urban designers and architects.
3.Community participation and the evolving democratic process The
relevance of defining public domain outcomes. The terms of reference of
community involvement and grounds for objection. Improving the timing
and management of the development approval process. 4. Case
studies today and how they may have been different if assessed under the
proposed criteria and processes described.
A/Prof Ali Ulu
Urban Regeneration as an Urban Development
Strategy The Experience of Turkey A problem, which has steadily grown in
magnitude despite the existence of a development control system, is
shortage of built space and buildable land in urban areas. To cite a few
examples, which illustrate the situation, between 30%-60% of the
population of the country's main urban centres live in squatter or
illegal housing. Indeed, this high percentage of squatter housing is
related to inefficiency of the planning system in making built space and
especially low-income housing available at the right quantity. Also
related to shortage of urban built space, is inadequate and untimely
provision of infrastructural facilities like roads, water supply, storm
water drainage, sewerage systems, etc; and community facilities like
schools, dispensaries, shopping space, recreational facilities, etc. in
newly planned areas. There are many cases, which demonstrate that
private developers and self-builders in most urban centres in Turkey
are unable to start developing their plots simply due to absence of
basic infrastructure in the areas where the plots are located.
Furthermore, despite the planning intervention in land, almost all major
cities in Turkey have been unable to produce adequate number of planned
and surveyed plots especially for residential development to meet demand
as expressed by the number of applications for such plots. The most
important development strategy needed in the builded areas is the re-use
of vacant and underused land and buildings. It is argued that urban
regeneration is more than just altering the urban environment and that
analysis of the existing environment, the context, and the decision
making process are essential for new plans and projects to be
successful.
Craig Wallace and David Mephem
Creating an Accessible Rapid
Transit System on the Gold Coast The Gold Coast Rapid Transit is a $550
million project providing a world class transit link from Helensvale to
Southport then Broadbeach and then on to Coolangatta. Unlike other major
transport projects such as the busway project in Brisbane or the
extension of the Gold Coast rail line the GCRT runs through a very high
density urban corridor. The planning of this project poses significant
challenges and many lessons for the design urban rapid transit systems
and the way in which we might create opportunities for accessible and
connected Transit Oriented Development along the corridor. This paper
addresses these challenges and the planning and urban design solutions
proposed to ensure high quality urban design outcomes. Mr Paul Walter
Australian Apartments @ 3rd Millennium. High Density Urban renewal and
increasing urban density will be key characteristics of development in
the 21st century. They represent the key alternative to continued urban
sprawl with its high space and energy demand. Creating the built
environment involves decision making at many levels including the
establishment of development controls; the interpretation and
application of controls; selection of building typology and
architecture. These decisions are invariably taken without reference to
empirical analysis and outcomes are highly variable. How do we know
whether the decisions made are optimal or if they succeed, once a
building is built?
This research project captures the characteristics of 20 high-density
residential and mixed use developments along the East Coast which
creates a desirable urban environment close to transport, work places
and facilities in walking communities. The methodology used was to first
select innovative and acclaimed designs and then to document their
characteristics, design strategies and performance within a standardized
set of parameters. The information included floor areas, project costs,
sale prices, planning framework, along with occupant amenity, street
quality and impacts on the surrounding areas. One of the most
interesting elements is the questionnaires which are distributed to the
occupants.
The research has brought empirical analysis to the art of
city-building. The resulting paper is designed to provide a rich source
of information about exemplary Australian projects with a clear set of
graphics. Developers, architects, planners and other decision-makers
will each take different intelligence from the work. For each, key
project ‘moves’ will be brought into clear relief.
Mr Chris Walton
The Ecovillage at Currumbin - a case study in
sustainable development Prof Kongjian Yu Urban Design as An Art of
Survival 1. Path to Death: Urbanity in history I have traveled through
the history of urbanity of thousands of years, and across the landscape
of thousands of miles from the coasts of Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean
and from the low lands to the plateaus. In this trip, I have seen two
kinds of people: one is the special, noble, but deformed, and dead. The
other is the common, humble, yet healthy, productive and still alive
today. The special city rulers of pre-Hispanic Maya deformed themselves
in order to legitimate their power by cutting their fingers or
flattening their heads. For more than a thousand years, young Chinese
girls were forced to bind their feet in order to be able to marry
citified elites, and the natural “big” feet were considered rustic and
rural. In this trip, I have experienced two kinds of landscapes: one is
normal, real, associated with hardworking, but still alive and
prosperous. The other is grandiose, special, creating mirage, but
decayed, as shown by the ruins of Rome, the ruins of great Maya cities
in Mexico, and the burnt Grand View Gardens in Beijing. These decayed
cities are those built by the deformed and citified high class. I thus
contemplate two cultures: The low culture, the rusticus, which is
invisible and seldom recorded in history textbooks: who know the art of
survival that created the real landscape and real world and survive.
On the other hand, the higher culture, the urbanitas, the visible,
the dominantly recorded, who had lost the art of survival but have
indulged into the art of entertaining and ornament that created fake
landscape and fake world, and perished. Unfortunately, for a long time,
the practice of urban design belong to the later, and been buried in the
higher culture of civic cosmetics, monumental city making, gardening to
create fake paradise. Modern urban design, from theory to practice, is
based on the knowledge about the ruins of those decayed cities, the
Greek, the Roman, the Maya, the Chinese capitals, etc. Students are
taught to design for the decaying but not for the survival. 2. A
Movement from Rusticus to Urbanitas and The Challenge of Survival Each
year 1% of 1.3 billion population will move to city, to become
urbanized, or citified, from Rusticus to Urbanitas. 65% of the national
population will live in cities within 20 years. The inherited values
about urbanity not only changed the city itself, but the whole landscape
of China and of the world. The rough and wild rivers are channelized and
lined with marble stone; the rustic wetland are replaced by shinning
furnished pond and fountain; the “messy” native shrubs are uprooted and
replaced by ornaments while the harsh native grasses are replaced by
ever-green exotic lawn which consume huge amount of water…….. In the
overwhelming “City Beautiful Movement” in China today,the art of urban
design has lost its way in searching for senseless style, meaningless
form and exotic grandeur.
Examples in contemporary China include the new Olympic park and the
steel-wasteful “bird nest”, the dangerous flamboyant CCTV tower, the
energy-wasteful National Opera House, etc. All these facilities of
urbanity as a reflection of the same values inherited from the dead high
class in the past centuries, do nothing more than accelerating the
degradation of the environment for our survival. China has 21％ of the
world population, but only 7％of the world’s land and sweet water. Two
thirds of the 662 cities lack sufficient water, and not a single river
in the urban and suburban areas runs unpolluted. In the north,
desertification is in a crisis. In the past 50 years in China, 50
percent of the nation’s wetlands have disappeared. The underground water
level drops every day ……. These are all by products of China’s speedy
process of urbanization and the movement for Urbanitas. One can only
ask: Is this sustainable? This big picture leads us to argue that urban
design should be recovered as an art of survival, the art of land design
and stewardship. 3. The Redefinition of Urbanity: Reclaiming Urban
Design as An Art of Survival If we want to survive, we, the city makers
and designers have to take three strategies, in terms of values, the
definition and practice of urban design, and methodology of design
approach, namely:
3.1 The change of values: to redefine urbanity, value the vernacular
and go back to the authentic relationship of land and people. 3.2 The
redefinition and practice of the profession of urban design: recover and
reclaim urban design as an art of survival. 3.3 The methodology: the
negative approach, urban design around the ecological infrastructure.
The multi-scaled ecological infrastructure safeguards the various
ecological, cultural and spiritual processes across the landscape. It
also provides ecosystem services for the sustainability of a region and
a city such as water and flood processes, biodiversity protection and
species flow, heritage corridors and recreation. This ecological
infrastructure becomes an integrated medium of various processes,
bringing nature, man and spirits together.
4. Case Studies and Projects: Contemporary Landscape Architecture
Meeting the Challenges
To illustrate the above theoretical discussion, five urban design
projects are presented to explain how urban designers can meet the major
challenges of survival in the new era: (1) Urban growth
pattern based on ecological infrastructure: The Taizhou case, the
negative approach; (2)The floating gardens of Yongning River
Park: a urban design responding to floods; (3) Value the
neglected common culture and the beauty of weeds: the Zhongshan Shipyard
Park;
(4) The productive landscape: the Rice Campus of Shengyang
Architectural University.
Conference Dates 2010
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