Blairgowrie: The Meaning of Place

Defining the meaning of a specific place is difficult. Blairgowrie is a peaceful and naturally protected beach haven on the Nepean Peninsula on the tip of the Mornington Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia. When a major development is perceived as threatening the quality of place, it is perhaps already too late to begin to name its characteristics or particular attributes. The evocative and poetic qualities of Blairgowrie do not reveal themselves immediately. Only over a period of time, and by visiting at various times of the day in all seasons, can one begin to fathom its moods, its soul, its many colours; and to touch its memories. Here sea and sky can meet, or divide, totally unobstructed, depending on climatic conditions, seasonal weather patterns and diurnal changes. It is still possible to get a sense of scale and wide-angle limitless vision. When a Safe Boat Harbour was proposed for Blairgowrie, residents came out in force to voice their objections or their support. A tribunal hearing was put in place. In light of the dismissal of qualitative data, of reflective experiential material, of community opinion, of values of the 'other' in planning tribunal hearings, this paper attempts to build a case for putting into words 'the meaning of place'. The Safe Boat Harbour proposal was the catalyst for this exploration of 'meaning of place', and is not itself primarily the subject of this paper. This very personal paper begins to examine the meaning of this place. Through images, perceptions, and representations; through time; history, topography; flora and fauna: it attempts to find a way of coming to terms with this extraordinary land/seascape. In the long term this project aims to produce relevant, authoritative, and defensible research that provides the context and rationale for the selection and assessment of places of outstanding heritage significance. Further, it will provide a case study in support of new planning regulations for 'place' zones (Mant, 2001) rather than the generic land use zones, which are current in Victoria.     

A Multiple Land Use Classification System

“Land use” is a key term in the language of city planning, but its meaning is growing ever more ambiguous. In this article, the author identifies some of the major dimensions of the land use concept, and attempts to make each dimension the basis of a distinct land use classification. The result is a multiple classification system which is comprehensive, flexible, and well suited to modern machine-techniques of data manipulation; it is also capable of putting land use data in a form which corresponds to many of the practical concerns of planning.     

反恐视角下的安全城市及其规划应对——兼论城市非常规安全规划

随着全球恐怖袭击日益增多,安全城市在反恐研究和部署方面的滞后性也逐渐显现出来。恐怖袭击具有针对平民、以标志性建筑和政要人物活动聚集处为主要目标、手段极端、带有政治目的等特点。针对以上特点,安全城市可进行非常规安全规划,打造"外松内紧"的安全规划体系,建构高科技监护下的"水陆空"立体安全体系,针对重点地段进行重点防护,建立起有效、完整的反恐体系。     

香港城市发展上的新地标——“西九龙”海滨文娱艺术新区规划评价

西九龙40 hm2的填海造地重新规划为香港未来文娱艺术区可追溯到1994年,当时政府意向在维多利亚港这块海滨宝地建造一个重点体育馆和一个大型的海滨公园。1999年香港新机场的设计建筑师诺曼·福斯特设计的一个平均高达120m,覆盖面积为20hm2的“天篷”赢取了政府为此新规划举办的概念设计比赛。2004年底,政府宣布了最后招标的3个入围发展财团,2005年中将决定最终中标者。自此香港公众开始质疑此大型滨海发展被单一发展财团控制,及未来30年文化活动依赖于房地产收益的可行性。而政府对于这重点的发展未提供有效控制的规划条例,也成为公众批评的重点。这篇文章主旨在介绍此高度争议项目的背景及公众主要争议的内容。     

Regulatory Frameworks for Place-based Planning

This paper examines the application of concepts of place, locality and constructions of place identities as frameworks for place-based regulatory planning instruments to control development across whole local government areas. New approaches to achieving single-level, place-integrated planning documents in NSW are summarised that move away from the traditional format of land use zones. This will require a more place-focused governance to act as a strategic relational arena in existing localities.     

The birth of ‘land use planning’ in American urban planning

Although the concept of ‘land use planning’ is now firmly enmeshed in American urban planning, its meaning still remains vague. This paper aims to clarify the meaning by examining the historical development of land use planning in the USA. At the beginning of the twentieth century, city planners viewed a city as an organic unit of public facilities. While city planning thereafter provided potential elements of land use planning, such as zoning, zoning surveys and land use classification systems, the idea of land use planning itself was actually derived from rural county planning and was initially utilized in urban county planning as a guide for zoning in the 1930s. After bringing about a change in the way cities were viewed, that is, as a pattern of land use and population density, land use planning was further employed as a guide for urban redevelopment policies in the 1940s, and finally reaching full integration into city planning in the 1950s and 1960s.     

国际海岸带规划管制研究与山东半岛的实践

尽管海岸带规划管制在国际上的开展已非常普遍,但在我国仍属新兴和前沿课题。结合笔者主持的多项山东半岛海岸带相关规划课题的研究成果,对国际海岸带规划管制发展的背景、管制方式和重要内容,以及沿海化压力下,山东半岛海岸带规划管制的解决之道做了解析和总结。     

Linking Spatial Planning and Land Use Management in the City of Cape Town: The Case of the Package of Plans

Spatial planning has been the subject of critique within the South African context, particularly the disconnect between the intentions of spatial plans and land use decision-making. The City of Cape Town uses a land use assessment mechanism called the Package of Plans, originally developed for the assessment of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront development, which based on the hierarchical nature of the approach, can provide a link between strategic spatial planning and land use decision-making. Although the mechanism was developed for a specific purpose over 20 years ago, it has not been reviewed within the current spatial planning and land use legislative context. The paper reviews the Package of Plans within this current context and discusses the role it can play in linking spatial planning and land use management within the Cape Town context (and perhaps elsewhere). In so doing, it raises particular questions regarding the role of the mechanism within the City of Cape Town and ways its implementation could be improved.     

龙舟意象·文化传承——谈华侨大学厦门校区龙舟训练馆设计

华侨大学厦门校区龙舟训练馆是学校在国侨办的批示下,为更好地发展中华才艺(龙舟)培训基地而筹划设计的专业训练场馆。本文尝试通过对其设计背景、设计思路的分析,说明其如何在满足基本功能需求的同时,达到传递中华文化并体现侨校特色的特殊要求。     

Pollution in the coastal waters of Hong Kong: case studies of the urban Victoria and Tolo Harbours

Rapid population growth and industrialisation resulted in severe pollution in Hong Kong's urban harbours. Victoria Harbour is located in the centre of Hong Kong and received substantial discharges of untreated sewage and industrial effluents but even the formerly rural Tolo Harbour experienced serious pollution as a consequence of excessive nutrient loadings from livestock wastes and wastewaters following the development of new towns around its shores. This paper provides an overview of the marine ecological disturbance and pollution pressures in Hong Kong coastal waters and discusses the measures adopted to intercept and improve wastewater discharges that consequently led to improvements in coastal water quality in local harbours.