Planning from Failure: Transforming a Waterfront through Experimentation in a Placemaking Living Lab

This article assesses on what happens when planning by experiment becomes imperative for strategic city sites such as waterfronts due to the failure of other forms of centralised, top-down, or market-led planning. Through an in-depth case-based analysis of La Marina de València (LMdV) we investigate the potential of experimentation for revitalisation of city sites. To do this, we first review the literature on urban development approaches to identify specific issues that lead to urban planning failure. We then extend the scholarship on urban experimentation by proposing a definition of place-based experimentation as ‘relational process.’ Then, we explore how planning by experiment emerged as a response to planning failures in a broader strategy for revitalisation of LMdV. We propose key processes for planning by experiment through a Placemaking Living Lab based on perception, collaboration, and iteration, which we use to assess experimentation at LMdV. In the conclusion we discuss the potential of this approach to ‘planning by experiment’ to revitalise urban governance and planning processes in cities and their strategic sites

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Photography as phenomenology: capturing (my) views of space

The value of tension is often underestimated. While it may be the case that tension causes destruction and harm, it is equally likely that it can open up new avenues for creation, adaption, and change. Tension can be used as a conceptual tool for thinking about the moments when bodies collide with time and space, and each makes its presence known. It is in tension that we see moments of opportunity arise. Body Tensions explores these moments through the use of cross-chapter dialogue between inter-disciplinary and internationally located authors. Focusing on expressing and transgressing body tensions, the authors consider issues such as how humans embody time and space; where the limits of corporeality lie; and in what ways humans are able to re-imagine their bodies, environments, and cultures

Capturing disappearance : a visual-phenomenological investigation of Sydney's irregular performance spaces

This practice-based thesis explores what might be discovered about a city’s being, through a phenomenological study of its most vital and dynamic alternative arts and performance spaces. Philosophy and photography are brought together to reveal and explore the networks that exist within Sydney’s alternative scene and the irregular spaces that bring it to life. This doctoral research first establishes the historical and cultural context surrounding Sydney’s alternative arts and performance spaces, before delving into the intimate and ephemeral environments that exist within these irregular spaces. The methodological approach combines Actor Network Theory (ANT), hermeneutic phenomenology and photography to expose the sensorial and tacit dimensions of these spaces through a variety of visual assemblages. My photographic practice illuminates, tracks and links the assemblages of human and non-human actors that form inside and outside irregular spaces, and connects them to the wider urban networks to which they contribute. This work seeks to capture the essence of irregular spaces beyond documentary representations and to disturb the binary logics of inside/outside; space/time; and human/non-human embedded within urban environments. In this, the research makes a practice-based, reflexive contribution to analysing the city and its spaces, particularly the discourse on ‘space’ and ‘place’. This research offers a mode of linking seminal and notable elements, patterns and associations of irregularity identified through my photographic investigation. In doing this, it aims to create a real and tangible contribution to the collective imagination of past, present and potential ideations of the city

Mixed Use

"Mixed Use" is a photographic exploration of underground spaces with a particular focus on the warehouses of Marrickville and the Inner West. These images were captured over the period 2010-2014, at a time when new spaces were opening as quickly as established venues disappeared. A record of evolution, invention and devolution, these images illuminate the human and non-human elements that form irregular spaces. The physical presence of bodies is implied, but it is the play of light and shadow that activates these transformative locations. The exhibition ran from 5 to 6 December 2018 at Mothership Studios

Capturing Disappearance

Exhibited at the “Pagination. The Book as Object” exhibition during 30 March - 30 April 2015 in the University Gallery, University of Newcstle. Pagination is an exhibition that investigates the medium and meaning of the book, and more broadly of book arts as a contemporary mode of expression. Capturing Disappearance is a digitally printed photo book in solander box. Dimensions: 21 x 29.7 x 1.5cm

Temporality: Enrico Scotece

Catalogue essay for exhibition Temporality: Enrico Scotece, Huw Davies Gallery, 11-27 November 2016

Photographic inquiry and the reflective practitioner

This paper presents images of Sydney’s subversive irregular spaces, analysing the role that the photographer as researcher plays in defining and documenting space and alternative communities. The Sydney alternative arts and performance scenes have been operating as a system of unofficial venues. Many artists and musicians etch out an existence in dissident spaces, away from the norms of the profit driven venue experience. These irregular venues are not purpose built spaces and consist of a range of warehouses, lounge rooms and re-valorised buildings within Sydney. My research utilises photography to capture these temporal spaces as they shift, relocate and reform new networks in the face of imminent closure or exposure. I capture and map these networks as my photography responds to cultural ‘actors’ both human and non-human and records my internal and external interpretations of space. This paper explores a reflexive process of my embodied experience with irregular time and spaces that resist public visibility

Tracing ephemerality : the digital dimensions of alternative cultures

This paper explores the visual and theoretical components of artistled initiatives in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney alternative arts and performance scenes have been operating as a system of unofficial venues. Many artists and musicians etch out an existence in dissident spaces, away from the norms of the commodified licensed venue experience. These irregular venues are not purpose built spaces and consist of a range of warehouses, lounge rooms and revalorised buildings within Sydney. My research utilises photography to capture these temporal spaces as they shift, relocate and reform in the face of imminent closure or exposure