Encounters with Urban Nature in Australia: An investigation into environmental values, anti-urbanism, multiculturalism, and the transition to urban sustainability. This project offers strategic basic and applied research approaches to overcoming the neglect of moral experience of ?nature? in urban environments so as to further the transition to sustainability in Australia. Working at the intersection of aesthetic, geographical, philosophical, and sociological studies of ecology, this project dev ....Encounters with Urban Nature in Australia: An investigation into environmental values, anti-urbanism, multiculturalism, and the transition to urban sustainability. This project offers strategic basic and applied research approaches to overcoming the neglect of moral experience of ?nature? in urban environments so as to further the transition to sustainability in Australia. Working at the intersection of aesthetic, geographical, philosophical, and sociological studies of ecology, this project develops a comparative qualitative study of three Australian cities. It explores: (1) the paradoxical appeal of anti-urban environmental values to urbanites; (2) the multicultural axis of diversity in urban environmental values; (3) political sites for contesting experiences of ?nature?; and (4) policy opportunities for expression of local synergies between social and biotic well-being in urban ecosystems.Read moreRead less
From tourist siren to technological beacon: analysing the industrial function of the Sydney Opera House thirty years after its completion. The research will show that public buildings provide fertile ground to plant industrial seeds; but to have an impact on the local economy, they must respond to specific structural conditions or be supported by political will. These findings will improve Australia's institutional understanding of the relationship between cost and investment in construction, an ....From tourist siren to technological beacon: analysing the industrial function of the Sydney Opera House thirty years after its completion. The research will show that public buildings provide fertile ground to plant industrial seeds; but to have an impact on the local economy, they must respond to specific structural conditions or be supported by political will. These findings will improve Australia's institutional understanding of the relationship between cost and investment in construction, and clarify that the evaluation of building productivity requires a long-term perspective. Government agencies should use institutional projects to define their public face but also to plan and implement industrial strategies. The research will help Australia maximise its creative and technological capability by understanding the factors conducive to innovation and its acceptance.Read moreRead less
Life Cycle Measures of Cost Effectiveness for 4 D CAD in Design and Construct Projects across Industry Sectors. The effective and efficient delivery of complex construction projects will be transformed by the increased application of virtual design and construction technologies, including 4D CAD. By combining a 3D computer model of a design with the time dimension of the construction schedule, 4D CAD enables risks and opportunities to be better managed during the design phase and hence avoid co ....Life Cycle Measures of Cost Effectiveness for 4 D CAD in Design and Construct Projects across Industry Sectors. The effective and efficient delivery of complex construction projects will be transformed by the increased application of virtual design and construction technologies, including 4D CAD. By combining a 3D computer model of a design with the time dimension of the construction schedule, 4D CAD enables risks and opportunities to be better managed during the design phase and hence avoid costly issues during construction. However this requires addition design costs which currently represent a barrier to the uptake of this transforming technology. This project will overcome this by developing a flexible framework that allows the benefits gained across the life cycle of a project through using 4D CAD to be set against the additional costs and thus make this emerging technology more attractive to industry. Significantly this research will be based on comparative cases studies across different industry sectors including civil, building, and process engineering.Read moreRead less
Ontology-based collaboration in design. The design process of a building project establishes function, form and performance for the final building. When multiple participants from varying professions are involved there is a serious problem in coordinating, communicating, and locating information around each design decision. Establishing an ontology for this process, and using this ontology to structure all participant communication, will allow the requisite information from all participants to b ....Ontology-based collaboration in design. The design process of a building project establishes function, form and performance for the final building. When multiple participants from varying professions are involved there is a serious problem in coordinating, communicating, and locating information around each design decision. Establishing an ontology for this process, and using this ontology to structure all participant communication, will allow the requisite information from all participants to be considered for each design decision. This will greatly reduce rework and poor design decisions based on missed information. It will also ensure that participants are aware of all related information for their particular design tasks.Read moreRead less
Spatial Knowledge and the Built Environment: The Design Implications of Making, Processing and Digitally Prototyping Architectural Models. The construction industry accounts for 6.7% of Australia's GDP. Beyond the more pragmatic economic benefits, however, lies the potential to influence the physical quality and appearance of our nation's building within an existing economic framework. The evaluation of differing modelling methods in design will have considerable implications for the way in whic ....Spatial Knowledge and the Built Environment: The Design Implications of Making, Processing and Digitally Prototyping Architectural Models. The construction industry accounts for 6.7% of Australia's GDP. Beyond the more pragmatic economic benefits, however, lies the potential to influence the physical quality and appearance of our nation's building within an existing economic framework. The evaluation of differing modelling methods in design will have considerable implications for the way in which designing is carried out. It will lead to new kinds of computer strategies that will guide the direction of development of programs used in design modelling by showing that current tools do not properly facilitate certain kinds of design inquiry available by more traditionally established means.Read moreRead less
Incorporating Design Management Culture within the Total Project Management Process: a Socio-technical Approach. New project delivery methods (e.g. design & construct; alliance contracting) in major commercial and infrastructure projects have the potential to dramatically increase the value added to clients and the wider community.
However to realise this potential, we need to better understand those socio-technical factors that foster an effective design management culture within tradition ....Incorporating Design Management Culture within the Total Project Management Process: a Socio-technical Approach. New project delivery methods (e.g. design & construct; alliance contracting) in major commercial and infrastructure projects have the potential to dramatically increase the value added to clients and the wider community.
However to realise this potential, we need to better understand those socio-technical factors that foster an effective design management culture within traditional construction companies, especially their knowledge sharing culture.
This project will develop and test an innovative research methodology that blends approaches from the social sciences and engineering. The findings regarding design management will have wide applicability to industry and cover civil, building, mining and process engineering projects, each of which has its own culture.Read moreRead less
Aristotle's Categories in the Byzantine, Arabic and Latin Traditions. High quality pure research is of national benefit because it adds to the depth of national culture and because it enhances our national profile overseas. When it involves collaboration with leading scholars at leading international universities, the enhancement is even greater. To understand the great religions that form part of our national identity, and their influence on philosophical thought, is of national benefit because ....Aristotle's Categories in the Byzantine, Arabic and Latin Traditions. High quality pure research is of national benefit because it adds to the depth of national culture and because it enhances our national profile overseas. When it involves collaboration with leading scholars at leading international universities, the enhancement is even greater. To understand the great religions that form part of our national identity, and their influence on philosophical thought, is of national benefit because it helps understand our place in today's world.Read moreRead less
The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also co ....The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also consider how the normative and conceptual claims made by such theories, about what must be true of a moral judgment, are connected to descriptive claims about the psychology of the moral agents who make them.Read moreRead less
Digital Outsourcing in Architecture: Opportunities for Australian Firms or Perils for Australian Workforce? This research will help assess competitiveness and viability of different digital outsourcing practices in connection to the needs, the operative conditions and the products of the Australian building design sector. The information will give industry analysts a tool to identify the markets within which these arrangements are likely to spread or occur in the future, and take consequent corr ....Digital Outsourcing in Architecture: Opportunities for Australian Firms or Perils for Australian Workforce? This research will help assess competitiveness and viability of different digital outsourcing practices in connection to the needs, the operative conditions and the products of the Australian building design sector. The information will give industry analysts a tool to identify the markets within which these arrangements are likely to spread or occur in the future, and take consequent corrective or supportive action. The outcomes of this project will benefit Australia by forecasting changes in professional employment prospects, and by providing a framework to consider development scenarios for architectural educational and professional institutions, national research and development priorities, and international trade agreement agendas.Read moreRead less
Ethos and Topos: A Philosophical Investigation of the Ethics and Politics of Place. This project will contribute to the public and academic understanding of the way our sense of place relates to our sense of who we are, and the ethical implications of that relation. The outcomes of the project will have an application to a wide range of applied and policy areas in which questions of identity and belonging are at issue. It will connect directly with ongoing public discussion about a number of cr ....Ethos and Topos: A Philosophical Investigation of the Ethics and Politics of Place. This project will contribute to the public and academic understanding of the way our sense of place relates to our sense of who we are, and the ethical implications of that relation. The outcomes of the project will have an application to a wide range of applied and policy areas in which questions of identity and belonging are at issue. It will connect directly with ongoing public discussion about a number of critical contemporary issues relating to ideas of nationhood and community, our connection to land and environment, and our sense of identity and belonging.Read moreRead less