Railway stations : public realm gateways to sustainable futures of our cities

Train stations are places of connection in our cities and are the gateways of urban space. They represent one of the most exciting places to experience. Some stations make great destinations offering shops, restaurants, museums and exhibition spaces to commuters. While new architecture at railway stations acknowledges heritage, the urban spaces around them provide excellent public areas and rationalise functional needs. Grand spaces with monumental structures, including constant movement of people and trains makes for an exhilarating experience. Modern or historic, great train stations add another level of excitement in the regeneration of our cities. Adding into the mix of the sustainability paradigm, place making of railway stations transforms into sustainable urban centres and signature architecture, but how does it support an environmentally sustainable future? This paper reflects the journey of exploring the challenging situations of balancing the requirements between historic, operational, functional, economic and innovative sustainable design solutions during the Flinders Street Station Design Competition in Melbourne. The author highlights how the unique spatial, social and cultural circumstance of this world-renowned city railway station possesses specific resilient and sustainable design answers to a public realm and city space that challenges established thinking

Design with nature : a proposed model for coastal settlements in Australia adapting to climate change and extreme weather events

The Australian coast is rich in history and is scattered with coastal settlements amongst a contrasting landscape with infinite visual and ecological diversity. These attributes provide the opportunity to create sustainable and resilient settlements, linking the wholeness of a place to the foundation of living in harmony with nature. On the contrary the coastal regions of Australia are facing dynamic changes of population growth including the looming impact of a changing climate. Acknowledging these challenges, the Australian Government highlighted that one of the key requirements for a sustainable future is to establish sustainable settlements that are resilient against the impacts of climate change. Recent government studies and reports highlighted various possible impacts to the Australian coast and regional settlements due to sea level rise with associated coastal recession, extreme weather events, flooding, and prolonged heat waves. Various adaptation frameworks are proposed to deal with this issue, but very few consider the relationship between ecological systems and human built environments. The resilience planning of settlements must consider the co-evolution of human and nature under future climate effects. This paper is thus seeking answers to the question: How can the theoretical principles of Design with Nature (McHarg, 1967) and The Nature of Order (Alexander, 1980) provide for input to a adaptation model for settlements along the coast? Reflecting on a literature review of these two well established theories, the author select key principles from both as input to a ecological design based adaptation model for coastal settlements, which establishes a system of unfolding steps to create sustainable communities that connect with the landscape, and are resilient against future impacts of change

Landscapes in transition : local perceptions of indigenous and European settlement changes along the Victorian coast

Around the world coastal areas are witnessing dramatic changes due to the consequences of the growth of human settlements. Rapid urban expansion in coastal settlements due to ‘life style migration’ impacts negatively on environmental coastal amenities that are the driving factor behind the attraction of these areas. The Victorian Coast in Australia is under stress, with the growth pattern of coastal settlements in a sprawling linear fashion resulting in devastating effects on the natural coastal environment, biodiversity and the loss of cultural heritage. The Victorian coast is rich in history, and the coastal towns are often described in literature as places with ‘sense of place’, or referred to as place character. This place character has been formed over many years with the interaction between social histories and natural environments woven together across time. This paper reviews the transition of the landscapes along the Great Ocean Road coastal region, and ask the question how can a potential Generative Plan be developed to establish a process to keep the place character of coastal towns. The proposed plan considers the interrelationships of nature and people as fundamental to forming place character, from the time of Indigenous habitation before European settlement, to the current day of rapid increased developments scattered along this coast

Integrated approach of sustainability and climate change adaptation in a metro project

The new Melbourne Metro underground rail project will leave a legacy long into the future, with an estimated design life which will extend beyond 100 years. As such it is extremely important to consider the mitigation of any environmental impacts, providing a sustainable outcome. It is also essential to pre-empt required adaptation of buildings and infrastructure in the future against the impact of changes in the local climate. Designing a metro system in the age of climate change provides the opportunity to go beyond standard specifications and compliance requirements, creating innovative sustainable and climate resilient design outcomes. On the contrary, constructing an underground metro project presents various design challenges fuelled by complex constraints, many uncertainties and risks. This paper will review the methodology used to integrate environmentally sustainable principles and resilient design for climate change adaptation, within the concept development phase of the Melbourne Metro Underground Rail Project

Indigenous knowledge and climate change: settlement patterns of the past to adaption of the future

For centuries the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia have been confronted with major ecological, geological and climate events, and had to adapt home shelters and settlements to seasonal variations. Many of these changes have been captured in the cultural traditions of the indigenous people reflecting a harsh coastal environment. Weather patterns and climate change were gauged by the occurrence of the tidal changes, landscape changes, recurring weather events and the acknowledgement of six seasons. Community settlements got established and relocated to adapt to the patterns of nature. This paper investigates if this ancient knowledge can provide answers for adaptation of coastal settlements to a changing climate. Drawing upon recent published literature on predicted coastal climate change impacts in the different regions of Australia, and the review of indigenous settlement planning according to a six season cycle, the author explores traditional knowledge as input to a potential Design Based Adaptation Model for coastal settlements along the Australian coast

Regenerative-adaptive design for coastal settlements: a pattern language approach to future resilience

This study tests a regenerative-adaptive design theory towards investigating the possibilities of a holistic, integrated design method that incorporates the principles of regenerative design as well as an adaptive pattern language that re-establishes our wholeness with nature, and considers the vulnerabilities of a changing landscape. Findings include a holistic, regenerative-adaptive design-based model that encapsulates how coastal communities can better appreciate landscape change under future climate effects, and acknowledges the importance to adapt to patterns of change and therefore inform future resilience.<br /

Opportunistic destinations : transforming railway stations into sustainable urban centres

All over the world stations are changing to become new urban centres and destinations. Some flagship projects, like Atocha in Madrid or Grand Central in Manhattan, make great destinations with shops, restaurants, museums and exhibition spaces. The urban spaces around them have been redesigned to provide excellent public areas and rationalise functional needs. Suburban stations also have the potential to follow the same trend. After all, stations are places of high symbolic value, they are central to the life of many people and include all sections of society, while generating high footfall and stimulating the economy. For this reason, Station Master Planning must focus on \u27place\u27 as well as \u27product\u27 to respond to the multiple opportunities. Considering the need that designs of stations need to be sustainable and preserve and value the public spaces, this paper reflects on the case study of the station master plan of the Tottenham Hale Station in London where SKM Colin Buchanan applied opportunistic urban design principles and created a new, significant urban square for north London and a local destination for leisure and investment. The design methodology are transferred to the local context of Melbourne where the unique spatial circumstances of suburban stations along the New Regional Rail Link line are reviewed, highlighting how these stations possesses specific opportunistic and sustainable urban design answers

Geographic information systems and coastal planning in Australia

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of visualization and simulation techniques to aid and simulate current and future directions in coastal planning. The process of visualization will interrogate the coastal cities of Portland, Apollo Bay, Anglesea and Hobsons Bay in south-eastern Australian coastal seaboard through a progression of projections and simulated forecasts from 2014 to 2050 to see if a process(s) or methodology could help in planning the future growth of coastal settlements. The analysis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) associated with planning application software