Improving Efficiency and Safe Workplace Operations in Heavy Industry: Training Problem Solving and Decision Making through Immersive Simulation. Civil construction is critical to Australia's economic growth. Currently the industry suffers from significant accident rates and severe labor shortages. Simulators offer a means to tackle both issues by accelerating training and familiarizing staff with unsafe, hazardous situations. This project will test and refine training programs to ensure they ar ....Improving Efficiency and Safe Workplace Operations in Heavy Industry: Training Problem Solving and Decision Making through Immersive Simulation. Civil construction is critical to Australia's economic growth. Currently the industry suffers from significant accident rates and severe labor shortages. Simulators offer a means to tackle both issues by accelerating training and familiarizing staff with unsafe, hazardous situations. This project will test and refine training programs to ensure they are both valid and effective. Results will maximize quality of simulator-based training for heavy industry and contribute to safer workplace practices on high risk work sites. Training innovations in heavy industry are essential to keep Australia's competitive edge in the domestic labor market and Asia-Pacific region.Read moreRead less
Evaluation of Performance-Based Planning under the Queensland Integrated Planning Act 1997. The project will undertake an evaluation of performance-based planning in Queensland, examining the application since introduction of the Integrated Planning Act in 1997. The project aims to assess how performance-based planning has been adopted in Queensland; evaluate national, international literature and empirical experience with the application of this planning method; develop a set of measurement cri ....Evaluation of Performance-Based Planning under the Queensland Integrated Planning Act 1997. The project will undertake an evaluation of performance-based planning in Queensland, examining the application since introduction of the Integrated Planning Act in 1997. The project aims to assess how performance-based planning has been adopted in Queensland; evaluate national, international literature and empirical experience with the application of this planning method; develop a set of measurement criteria drawn from policy and scholarly literature that have evaluated performance-based systems; contribute to the international social scientific understanding of performance-based planning; and enhance the partner organisation's ability to assess its key policy and regulatory frames to improve their data handling and analytical capacities.Read moreRead less
Transitions of mobility and parking. Transitions of mobility and parking. This project aims to understand the role of parking in mobility, urban consolidation and transit-oriented development. Does parking supply affect travel demand, car ownership, and ultimately urban quality of life? New transitions and trends in land-use and transport, including car-sharing and automated vehicles, and the revival of urban living, raise important questions about the redesign and reuse of urban space. This pro ....Transitions of mobility and parking. Transitions of mobility and parking. This project aims to understand the role of parking in mobility, urban consolidation and transit-oriented development. Does parking supply affect travel demand, car ownership, and ultimately urban quality of life? New transitions and trends in land-use and transport, including car-sharing and automated vehicles, and the revival of urban living, raise important questions about the redesign and reuse of urban space. This project aims to give policy-makers an evidence base and toolkit to determine how best to repurpose the space currently accommodating private cars. This project is expected to make cities more attractive, efficient and liveable, improving a disproportionately large number of Australian lives.Read moreRead less
Urban Accessibility Re-Shaped - Transport disadvantage and urban socio-spatial change. The project directly addresses 'National Research Priority 2: Promoting and Maintaining Good Health - Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric' by assisting governments to solve problems of communities' poor access to employment and services. Good urban accessibility is crucial to achieving good economic, social and environmental outcomes from land-use and transport planning in Australian cities. ....Urban Accessibility Re-Shaped - Transport disadvantage and urban socio-spatial change. The project directly addresses 'National Research Priority 2: Promoting and Maintaining Good Health - Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric' by assisting governments to solve problems of communities' poor access to employment and services. Good urban accessibility is crucial to achieving good economic, social and environmental outcomes from land-use and transport planning in Australian cities. The project will assist state and local government's to address unmet and often unidentified community needs. The project will be of immense national importance in providing new methodologies to assess urban access employment and services. Internationally this project will mark Australia as a producer of high quality urban research.Read moreRead less
Tackling defects in multi-unit strata housing. This project aims to address growing concerns that building quality issues are threatening the appeal of higher density multi-unit housing for city dwellers, which could undermine urban planning goals. The project will investigate the prevalence of defects, why they occur and how multi-unit housing quality can be improved. The findings will be used to inform options for changes to planning and development policy resulting in significant economic and ....Tackling defects in multi-unit strata housing. This project aims to address growing concerns that building quality issues are threatening the appeal of higher density multi-unit housing for city dwellers, which could undermine urban planning goals. The project will investigate the prevalence of defects, why they occur and how multi-unit housing quality can be improved. The findings will be used to inform options for changes to planning and development policy resulting in significant economic and social benefits including more effective construction regulation, improved building quality and safety, lower costs and stress for owners, more resilient urban communities and better urban planning outcomes.Read moreRead less
Estimating temporary populations. Estimating temporary populations. Drawing on new and emerging sources of data, this project aims to develop a novel series of population estimates for Australian regions and localities that encompasses visitors and other temporary movements, and complement existing estimates of resident populations. It will clarify user needs, evaluate data quality, apply metrics to capture key forms of temporary mobility, and integrate symptomatic data to estimate the timing an ....Estimating temporary populations. Estimating temporary populations. Drawing on new and emerging sources of data, this project aims to develop a novel series of population estimates for Australian regions and localities that encompasses visitors and other temporary movements, and complement existing estimates of resident populations. It will clarify user needs, evaluate data quality, apply metrics to capture key forms of temporary mobility, and integrate symptomatic data to estimate the timing and magnitude of population flux at local and regional levels. These results are expected to advance the science of population estimation and have direct practical relevance to planning, while positioning Australia at the forefront in addressing a growing global information need.Read moreRead less
Evaluating Community Consultation: Criteria and Tools for Assessing Processes and Outcomes. Planning agencies are expected to include community consultation as an element of the decision-making process. Past research has focussed on developing effective consultation techniques. Little research attention has been given to guidelines for evaluating consultation activities. The proposed project will contribute fundamental knowledge on evaluation of consultation programs. It will do this through ....Evaluating Community Consultation: Criteria and Tools for Assessing Processes and Outcomes. Planning agencies are expected to include community consultation as an element of the decision-making process. Past research has focussed on developing effective consultation techniques. Little research attention has been given to guidelines for evaluating consultation activities. The proposed project will contribute fundamental knowledge on evaluation of consultation programs. It will do this through assessing a major regional planning exercise (SEQ 2021). It will develop and test comprehensive evaluation criteria and tools. The project will result in ready-to-use evaluation materials for SEQ 2021, and for other planning and decision-making authorities in Australia, representing a significant breakthrough in evaluation research and practice.Read moreRead less
Locating jobs to improve urban sustainability: investigating the Transport Impacts of Employment Decentralisation in Australian Cities (TIEDAC). This project investigates how the relocation of public sector employment to suburban nodes can improve the efficiency of Australian cities. The project will identify transport efficiencies from employment decentralisation that can reduce infrastructure costs for governments and reduce commuting distances for Australian urban residents.
Renewing the compact city: economically viable and socially sustainable approaches to urban redevelopment in a complex multi-stakeholder environment. This project will investigate a key challenge facing city planners in Australia over the next 30 years: how to renew older areas of multi-unit housing, providing not only economically but also socially viable solutions within a market context and enable all players -developers, policymakers and residents - to benefit from the coming city redevelopm ....Renewing the compact city: economically viable and socially sustainable approaches to urban redevelopment in a complex multi-stakeholder environment. This project will investigate a key challenge facing city planners in Australia over the next 30 years: how to renew older areas of multi-unit housing, providing not only economically but also socially viable solutions within a market context and enable all players -developers, policymakers and residents - to benefit from the coming city redevelopment.Read moreRead less
Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implement ....Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implements a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework and decision support modelling tool that integrates environmental, economic and social data into a single user-friendly source. This will provide a platform for evidence-based decision-making that will lead to a sustainable future for rural and regional Australia.Read moreRead less