Involving local communities in defining town character in Victorian coastal towns. Many Australian coastal towns are experiencing rapid growth from tourism. In such places it is common to hear residents complain that the ?character? of their town is being lost due to inappropriate development. Local planning authorities are now attempting to respond to these concerns by undertaking studies to define what it is people feel is being lost. This project will involve local communities in defining tow ....Involving local communities in defining town character in Victorian coastal towns. Many Australian coastal towns are experiencing rapid growth from tourism. In such places it is common to hear residents complain that the ?character? of their town is being lost due to inappropriate development. Local planning authorities are now attempting to respond to these concerns by undertaking studies to define what it is people feel is being lost. This project will involve local communities in defining town and neighbourhood character in affected rural coastal areas of Victoria. Questions concerning residents' conceptualisation of town character and relationships between psychological and biophysical attributes associated with the notion of town character will be explored.Read moreRead less
Assessing and enhancing the resilience of Australian beaches to sea level rise. Accurate forecasting of coastal recession due to sea level rise is required for planning and the design of coastal defences, but the existing method is widely disputed. With collaboration with world leading research partners, this study will perform unique laboratory experiments to determine the vulnerability of Australian beaches to sea level rise and to test environmentally sustainable measures to increase their re ....Assessing and enhancing the resilience of Australian beaches to sea level rise. Accurate forecasting of coastal recession due to sea level rise is required for planning and the design of coastal defences, but the existing method is widely disputed. With collaboration with world leading research partners, this study will perform unique laboratory experiments to determine the vulnerability of Australian beaches to sea level rise and to test environmentally sustainable measures to increase their resilience. The research will address longstanding uncertainties and significantly enhance the ability of communities to plan for a changing climate. The project will deliver new data and models of immediate benefit to professional engineers to enable robust engineering decisions which enhance the safety of coastal communities.Read moreRead less
Development and validation of an innovative wind stress model to obtain robust storm surge forecasts. Storm surges represent a major ocean flood hazard to coastal communities but present models have large errors, which are often dangerously low. Through international collaboration, this project will collect new field data and develop a new storm surge model which will enhance community safety by ensuring accurate forecasts of ocean flood levels.
Reducing the Australian tourism industry's vulnerability to external shocks: identifying and understanding disaster-resilient tourists. The tourism industry is vulnerable to external shocks, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Global Financial Crisis, all of which led to immediate and substantial drops in tourism demand of between 4 per cent and 55 per cent. This project investigates a new way of reducing this vulnerability well in advance of disa ....Reducing the Australian tourism industry's vulnerability to external shocks: identifying and understanding disaster-resilient tourists. The tourism industry is vulnerable to external shocks, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Global Financial Crisis, all of which led to immediate and substantial drops in tourism demand of between 4 per cent and 55 per cent. This project investigates a new way of reducing this vulnerability well in advance of disasters occurring: targeting the segment of disaster-resilient tourists.Read moreRead less
The Theory and Practice of International Tourism Demand Modelling. The volatility inherent in tourism flows and limited data availability are crucial issues in estimating and testing tourism demand models, and providing accurate predictions of international tourism. This project analyses critically the theoretical and finite sample properties of alternative techniques for evaluating the empirical performance of international tourism demand models. The significance of the project is the developm ....The Theory and Practice of International Tourism Demand Modelling. The volatility inherent in tourism flows and limited data availability are crucial issues in estimating and testing tourism demand models, and providing accurate predictions of international tourism. This project analyses critically the theoretical and finite sample properties of alternative techniques for evaluating the empirical performance of international tourism demand models. The significance of the project is the development of an optimal method for estimating and testing tourism demand and volatility, an evaluation of alternative statistical techniques using extensive Monte Carlo simulation experiments, and the dissemination of research findings regarding sensible econometric practice to policy-makers in the private and public sectors. Read moreRead less
Enabling tourism, conservation symbiosis by engaging protected area visitors in focused lifelong activism. Rainforests occupy just 0.3% of Australia and are endangered by increasing visitation and urbanisation. This project will transform visitors to rainforest-protected areas from a potential liability to an asset by investigating their willingness to participate in volunteering, fundraising, donating and other forms of park-related activism throughout their lifetime, and using this information ....Enabling tourism, conservation symbiosis by engaging protected area visitors in focused lifelong activism. Rainforests occupy just 0.3% of Australia and are endangered by increasing visitation and urbanisation. This project will transform visitors to rainforest-protected areas from a potential liability to an asset by investigating their willingness to participate in volunteering, fundraising, donating and other forms of park-related activism throughout their lifetime, and using this information to design a prototype park where quality visitor experiences also translate into biodiversity enhancement. Australia as a result will emerge as a world leader in tourism/conservation symbiosis, realising substantial ecological, social and economic benefits from the thriving rainforests that this symbiosis fosters.Read moreRead less
Triggering pro-environmental behaviour in pleasure-seeking contexts. This project aims to trigger environmentally friendly behaviours in tourists rather than relying on government or industry action. Using field experiments, the effectiveness of newly developed theory-based measures to reduce plate waste at hotel buffets will be tested. Given one billion tourists travel each year, the expected outcomes from this project can inform measures to substantially improve the sustainability of tourism ....Triggering pro-environmental behaviour in pleasure-seeking contexts. This project aims to trigger environmentally friendly behaviours in tourists rather than relying on government or industry action. Using field experiments, the effectiveness of newly developed theory-based measures to reduce plate waste at hotel buffets will be tested. Given one billion tourists travel each year, the expected outcomes from this project can inform measures to substantially improve the sustainability of tourism globally, regionally and locally.Read moreRead less
Consumer preferences for voluntary carbon mitigation in the aviation sector. The demand for aviation is rapidly adding to carbon emissions. Little is known about consumer preferences for aviation carbon offsets and how they evolve over time. This hinders the expansion of voluntary schemes at a crucial period in history. This research will investigate consumers offset preferences and their willingness to pay for aviation carbon mitigation using a novel time series methodology. The project aims to ....Consumer preferences for voluntary carbon mitigation in the aviation sector. The demand for aviation is rapidly adding to carbon emissions. Little is known about consumer preferences for aviation carbon offsets and how they evolve over time. This hinders the expansion of voluntary schemes at a crucial period in history. This research will investigate consumers offset preferences and their willingness to pay for aviation carbon mitigation using a novel time series methodology. The project aims to inform government policies and to help industry to develop carbon offset programs which are more likely to be supported by consumers, thus helping to reduce carbon emissions in the long term. It also aims to profile carbon offsetting groups to support communication activities to increase the size and value of offsets.Read moreRead less
Smart transformation of transport asset management through semantic web. This project aims to develop a novel asset management information model to improve the overall effectiveness of decision making in transport asset management. The project intends to provide logical formalisms and semantic features to value-adding asset information in key asset management areas. The expected outcome will be a new value-based asset management information model which provides semantically enriched asset inform ....Smart transformation of transport asset management through semantic web. This project aims to develop a novel asset management information model to improve the overall effectiveness of decision making in transport asset management. The project intends to provide logical formalisms and semantic features to value-adding asset information in key asset management areas. The expected outcome will be a new value-based asset management information model which provides semantically enriched asset information for decision-making concerning transport asset management. This will help reduce the cost, duration and effort required to acquire relevant asset information and improve the quality and data availability of current transport asset management systems.Read moreRead less
Spatial network analysis for multimodal urban transport systems: a planning decision support tool. This research explores and assesses the development and use of accessibility tools for integrated land use and transport planning. It will establish international benchmarks for sustainable accessibility providing evidentiary support for government decision making and investment in sustainable urban development and public transport infrastructure.