A brief history of autonomous vehicles

A brief history of autonomous vehicles: A personal perspective on the history of autonomous vehicles in Australia (2016 to 2060) and their impact on the built environment ABSTRACT: Dame Sylvia Crowe the great forward thinking landscape architect of the 20th Century once said “It would seem that the highway facilities must always lag far behind the means of locomotion, and we should watch carefully that the next advance in transport does not find us still thinking in terms of roads for outdated vehicles.” (1960) With the advent of autonomous vehicles the effect on the road and street environment will be profound. …

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Adaptive Sustainability – Business Management in an Age of Disruption and Transformation

There can be no doubt that organisations today operate in a dynamically changing business environment. Companies are getting disrupted at an unprecedented rate with managers and their staff struggling to keep up with new technologies, new business models, new economic and regulatory challenges, and the consequences of the hyper connected digital world. At the same time social responsibility and environmental sustainability are fast becoming a critical part of doing business.  Effective engagement using sustainable business frameworks not only enables an organisation to deliver on its social and environmental obligations, it can also maximise productivity and performance by having positive impacts …

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Strategic Sustainability and Risk Management (SS&RM) for Liveable Cities

Dr. Ian R Kirkwood PhD, MBA, DipMechEng, MAICD, JP Associate Dean – MBA program, James Cook University, Brisbane. Trainer, Coach & Consultant www.iankirkwood.org This article is about creating and maintaining ‘Smart Businesses”. Smart businesses are businesses that are wholesome and knowingly sustainable in all dimensions: ethically, socially, ecologically, economically, and with sound ongoing governance. Unfortunately, a high percentage of managers and owners are untrained in this aspect of business management. In his management career, Ian Kirkwood was involved in two separate company ‘turn-arounds’ where both companies were considered ‘normal’ but in reality, were making losses and heading towards ultimate closure. …

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Smart Parking for Smart Cities

Traffic congestion caused by vehicle is an alarming problem at a global scale and it has been growing exponentially. Car parking problem is a major contributor and has been, still a major problem with increasing number of vehicles and confined parking spaces in urban cities. Congestion and parking are interrelated since looking for a parking space (called “cruising”) creates additional delays and impairs local circulation. In central areas of large cities cruising may account for 30% of the local circulation as drivers can spend up to 30 minutes on average looking for a parking spot. Smart city concept is a …

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Land of opportunity – accommodating population and social diversity from the ashes of manufacturing

Preston is a typical Melbourne working class suburb characterised by industrial properties along key routes with surrounding ¼ acre worker housing. The recent decline in Australian manufacturing has resulted in many sites becoming vacant and jobs going out of these areas.  In many cases these vacated sites are large enough to accommodate significant residential, commercial and civic infrastructure and therefore generate local employment. They also present a great opportunity for exemplary urban design outcomes due to the sheer scale. Oakover Square is such a property.  This proposal is an example of industrial land being successfully knitted back into its suburban …

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Three way communication creates place making results

Two years ago, the town of Nambour on the Sunshine Coast was a little lost. It had great ‘bones’ but the surface was looking a little tired. The place was a bit … well, directionless. Fast forward one year, and the local council adopted the Nambour Activation Plan. Unlike many plans, the Activation Plan does not prescribe what must happen, when and at what cost. Rather, it is an ‘enabler’ – providing the webbing and stimulation for locals to define the types of projects and place Nambour wants to be. Fast forward another year to the present, and the catchphrase …

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Our Region Our Future: Securing an Economic Future for Gippsland and Latrobe Valley

Anticipating that a power station closure in the Latrobe Valley was highly likely, the Committee for Gippsland undertook a six-month body of work that included the input of hundreds of Gippslanders contained in a final 100 page report. Our Region Our Future: Securing an Economic Future for Gippsland and Latrobe Valley was launched in July 2016 and adopted by the Victorian and Federal Governments as a blue-print for a future transition. Only four months later Hazelwood power station announced it would close. Our Region Our Future includes economic and employment modelling on a closure scenario by GHD, the input of …

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What is Synaptic Urbanism?

Urbanisation is not a new phenomenon. As our species transitioned from migrant hunter-gatherers to farming societies with permanent settlements, we started to build cities as centres of trade. Cities are a product of our natural human state. “The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind”    Lewis Mumford (from ‘The Culture of Cities’ 1938). The …

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Henderson Town Centre Project, Auckland, New Zealand.

The reduction of vandalism and graffiti through arts based place making and youth engagement. This project responded to a request from stakeholders within the Henderson Town Centre for vibrant and positive public art that could cover multiple sites, and create visible change within selected public spaces. Public spaces blighted by graffiti and vandalism. Our project methodology utilised the power of Public Art to engage with youth to reduce vandalism and graffiti sustainably in the short and long term. It did this by linking a series of public art making events to entry portfolio requirements to higher education in art and …

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