Master of Urban Design

This subject explores different understandings and expressions of social exclusion and inclusion in the city; what these contested concepts mean for urban planning; and how professional practice can respond to fashion inclusive cities. Case studies, working policy and theoretical perspectives are used to highlight key features of planning for inclusive cities, including for specific population groups like youth, aboriginals, the disabled, older persons, refugees and women. Students will examine the lived experience of disadvantage in the city, analyse urban issues through different theoretical lenses and study relevant urban policy and project responses to promote inclusive cities.

This subject was formerly called Comparative Housing Policy and Services.

Urbanization can be a generative force of our time. For the first time in human history, more people live in cities and towns than in rural areas. Around 56 percent of the world’s population is urbanized (2017 figures) and the United Nations predicts that between now and 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will be born in or move to cities. This opens new and exciting opportunities for social mobility and economic productivity. Citizens and visitors alike in urban areas now have greater access to education, health, employment and transport. However, while cities and towns are recognized as engines of national economic growth and centres of innovation, poorly planned and mismanaged urbanization can further reinforce the already present wicked challenges of poverty, informality, affordable housing, climate change, and inequity.

For instance, it is estimated that one in every seven people (i.e. more than 1 billion people) live in slums and unplanned settlements around the world - lacking affordable and secure housing and basic services such as clean water supply and sanitation. The UN estimates that 227 million people moved out of slum conditions from 2000-2010 yet the number of people living in slums continues to grow. It is projected that by 2030 two billion persons will live in slums.

There is a widening participation of actors and agencies - governments, the private sector, civil society and poor communities themselves becoming crucial players in improving and upgrading existing settlements. Moreover, there is an increasing number of initiatives across sectors to better plan for and accommodate the urban poor’s right to the city, to create better cities for all.

This subject has four underlying themes, namely:

•  To explain the process of urbanization, the importance of housing, and policies that give rise to slum formation and the persistence of slums.
•  To make use of practice-oriented research, employs case studies from around the globe to explore government-led, community-led, and community/local government partnership approaches to slum upgrading and the delivery of land and provision of basic services in the context of urban governance.
• To examine cross-cutting topics that underwrite inclusive and sustainable, well-managed cities, including regulatory frameworks, security of tenure, housing finance, land use and transport interaction and linkages, and affordable house designs. 
• Analyse emerging ‘best-practice’ over the years and the roles of institutions in influencing and/or formulating national urbanization, housing and slum upgrading policies.

In design thinking and practice, there is a schism between ‘formal’ and ‘political’ (or compositional and socio-political) considerations. This subject provides a study of the relations between form and politics, in an attempt to fill up this critical gap. Ideas and theories of form and of politics are introduced. Under the category of ‘form’, visual, formal, spatial, aesthetic, compositional, syntactical and organizational issues will be introduced; whereas under the concept of ‘politics’, issues of the nation, the city, the institution, micro spatial politics, the body, visibility, knowledge, design ethics, design criticism, spatial and urban planning, and art-politics relations, will be introduced and explored. Multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural, the subject also aims to test western ideas and Asian cultures in an attempt to forge a constructive dialogue between the two systems.

This subject provides a multi-disciplinary overview of the design of sustainable buildings and considers the design from an architectural, services engineering, facade engineering, environmental engineering and structural engineering, tenants and owners perspective. Topics include: ecological sustainable design, life cycle analysis, planning for sustainable buildings and cities, regulatory environment, barriers to green buildings, green building rating tools, material selection, embodied energy, operating energy, indoor environmental quality (noise, light and air), facade systems, ventilation systems, transportation, water treatment systems, water efficiency, building economics, and staff productivity.

A number of industry based case study examples will be introduced to complement the lectures.

This subject focuses on impacts of digital technologies on professional practice and services. It explores issues such as emerging forms of professional practice, status of professional knowledge and skills, use and value of digital information in design, and digital fabrication and assembly of contemporary buildings. The subject involves guest lectures by practicing designers and case studies of real projects.

Constructed Ecologies engages with the key principles of ecology as a fundamental requirement for landscape architectural practice. Typical topics include biodiversity, soils, changing rural ecologies, wetlands and stormwater design strategies including water flows, environmental history informing design, and performative design. The focus is on ecosystem function. The course emphasises foundations of ecology, suburban design, and designing with water. The course will address case studies from around the world as illustrations of ecological principles informing design.

Note: There might be a field trip with 2 nights away during semester; this is not a hurdle and other arrangements could be made for those students who find it difficult to attend.

This subject introduces graphic skills appropriate to design and building. These skills are taught through a series of constructed and freehand drawing assignments essential to the design thinking process. Graphic skills are developed through tutorials and lectures which are held in the studios and outdoors. Emphasis is given to the development of orthographic and perspective drawing, delineation and representation of form and volume.

This subject prepares students for environmental management roles by providing them with the principles of how human impacts on the environment might be detected and managed. The principles will be placed within the legal and social contexts of environmental impact assessment. At the completion of the subject, students should understand three aspects: prediction of the kind of changes that might occur with human activities; the design and implementation of proper monitoring programs that can detect changes; and assessment of those changes. Additionally, a strong emphasis is placed on the practical implementation of principles.

This elective will involve modelling and interacting with complex urban sites focusing on modelling difficult terrains, both existing conditions and topographical manipulation. Students will investigate biomorphic/organic form making and representation techniques utilising procedural modelling using 3DS Max as well as plug-in and script use. Through investigating rapidly emerging digital modelling technologies, students will learn time-saving modelling, how to manage complex files, and how to move information between a range of software.

This subject introduces the concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and its application in landscape architecture, urban planning and development. It will:

• introduce the origin and development of GIS respect to landscape architecture, urban planning and development;
• introduce basic GIS concepts, data structure, data format, and data management;
• introduce fundamental GIS operations such as digitising, overlay analysis, spatial analysis, hydrological analysis, 3D analysis, etc.;
• address key issues of applying GIS in planning, design and development, such as landscape capacity and suitability analysis, urban heat island analysis, water sensitive urban design, property management, etc.;
• place how GIS will facilitate site analysis, inform decision making and improve efficiency and productivity in planning, design and development.

The subject will be delivered through lectures/guest lectures, lab tutorials, workshops and practical sessions synthesising dominant themes in this fields of using GIS as tool to achieve sustainable design and ecological landscape planning.

This subject focuses on algorithmic digital form explorations using intensive computational scripting coupled with fabrication of detailed material models. The selected topics introduced in the subject include: variational design, interactive skins and spaces, materials and technologies of digital fabrication.

The majority of sustainable practices are pursued within the ‘mechanistic’ or eco-efficient orientation of sustainability where measurement and reduction is the primary focus. This subject turns the sole focus of ‘doing less harm’ on its head, and proposes a radical new direction for sustainable development – one that is focused on fostering socio-ecological connection and thrive-ability across communities.

The subject will include a series of lectures exploring ideas of Indigenous knowledge systems, biophilia and biomimicry, ecological design, regenerative development, placemaking and contributive design. Students will take part in a series of seminars and site visits (documented through bi-weekly reflections), and have the opportunity to apply their learnings to an existing project in Melbourne

issues are often complex, controversial, and associated with uncertain knowledge. In this context, this subject explores the ‘knowledge challenges’ faced by environmental professionals, and strategies for addressing these challenges. Particular attention is given to collaboration across disciplines and sectors in generating, integrating, communicating and applying knowledge for environmental decision-making and management. Through case studies of knowledge partnerships, we examine the context, forms and functions of knowledge production and use for environmental policy and management questions. Incorporating perspectives from a broad range of environmental professionals and academics, the subject draws on and develops students’ practical skills for engaging and working with different types of environmental expertise.

The subject focuses on the following main questions:

• How are different forms of environmental knowledge produced, applied and evaluated?
• In collaborating across disciplines and sectors, and with communities and stakeholders, what are the challenges in evaluating, framing, integrating, communicating and managing knowledge?
• What skills and strategies can assist environmental professionals in addressing these challenges?

The Robin Boyd Foundation's Walsh Street design studios explore the public role of an architect. They provide an opportunity for students to be better equipped theoretically and practically and to develop critical thinking around architectural design in an urban context and the role of good design for the community.

The design studios are a five day residential program that involve an intensive design studio culminating in design presentations by participants with critique by the studio tutors, invited guests and project stakeholders. The project requires an architectural design response within a strong urban context on a site of high government and city importance.

Participants will be expected to work in groups, share knowledge and participate in discussions and pin-ups - the emphasis is strongly on participation. Professional Architects from Melbourne will be invited to participate in some of the pin-ups and crits.

Participation in the Robin Boyd Foundation's Walsh Street design studios will encourage students to consider and develop their awareness and skills in:

1. the public aspects of architecture - the impact of buildings on streetscapes, neighbourhoods and community;
2. communicating architecture - the presentation of ideas and concepts in an articulate and accessible manner;
3. the collaborative nature of the production of architecture.

More information about Robin Boyd Studio can be found at https://robinboyd.org.au/category-design-studios/

Costs: Standard course fees apply for students current enrolled in a university. Other members of the community can enrol via the Community Access Program (CAP) - only available via CAP in “assessed” mode.

In addition, all students will be required to pay an additional accommodation and meals levy to the Robin Boyd Foundation https://robinboyd.org.au/category-design-studios/.

The social, economic and environmental advantages of providing a diversity of housing choices, close to jobs and services, have been recognized by successive state planning policies. However, these policies have largely failed to provide mixed use, walkable communities near train stations. The current metropolitan strategy, Plan Melbourne, has a much stronger emphasis on creating mixed-use, public transit-oriented ‘employment clusters’ aligned with large educational and health institutions: Parkville (University of Melbourne/RMIT/’hospital precinct’), Monash/CSIRO, and Dandenong Hospital/Chisholm TAFE being three of these activities centre.

East Werribee is an ‘emerging’ Employment Cluster, located south-east of Hopper’s Crossing Train Station. Within 500 metres of that station are Mercy Hospital, South-East Melbourne Primary Care Partnership, the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, a campus of Victoria University and Suzanne Cory selective entry High School. But it is difficult to walk, cycle or take a bus from the train station to these destinations, there are at present no residential and few commercial uses, and there is very limited public space amenity.

In this studio, aligning our learning process with inter-disciplinary practice collaboration approaches, we will work with an array of industry partners and stakeholders on a set of sites, examining possibilities for healthier and more inclusive public spaces, and better mixed-use development, including possibilities for student and/or health care worker housing. Sarah Backhouse (architecture) and Carolyn Whitzman (planning), will work with Master of Architecture, Masters of Urban Design, and Masters of Urban Planning students to develop a master plan and several in-depth studies.

GeoDesign is an emerging field in which the analytical rigor and methodological strategies of geospatial sciences are being fused with the forward thinking, creativity, and graphic capabilities of landscape architecture, urban planning and design. This subject explores geodesign models and applications. Specifically, the subject will introduce geodesign methods and their practical consequences in the reconfiguration of vision, knowledge, professional practice and embodied experience in geodesign.

This subject explores the notion of resilience and its application to the planning, design and management of urban settlements at various scales. The notion of resilience is related to the capacity of systems to adapt to disruptions without them changing to entirely different states, which in the case of human settlements often results in catastrophic consequences for the inhabitants. The subject will explore approaches for enhancing existing settlements, as well as creating new ones, to be better prepared to confront future environmental changes, both predicted and unpredicted, as they occur, with a focus on changes associated with climate change, such as increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, as well as more gradual changes, such as rising sea levels. Students will explore ways of decreasing the vulnerability of urban settlements to these types of risks and while at the same time promoting sustainable development through planning and design interventions.

Notes:
• Students are advised that there is a two day field trip that is central to the completion of the unit. Field trip costs are covered by the faculty, excluding food and beverage.
• Students are expected to complete readings in the week before the intensive lectures begin.

This subject will introduce students to a range of creative research methods. As distinct from traditional ‘quantitative research’ (classical scientific research method involving systematic collection of verifiable data) and ‘qualitative research’ (in-depth inquiry into human perceptions used in social sciences often involving interviews) ‘creative research’ is a relatively new methodology. In this subject we follow de Bono’s definition that creativity involves lateral moves sideways in contrast to the logical, linear thinking inherent to traditional research methods. We follow the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ‘research’ meaning investigation or inquiry into things. The focus of our creative research will be uncovering new knowledge that can lead to the generation of imagined futures for designed environments.

Note:Students will be required to prepare installations, models, designed assemblages and drawings, as well as written essays during the course. Additional costs should be minimal. Recycling, reusing and scavenging of materials is positively encouraged. And digital presentations are allowed in lieu of costly printing for most presentations. 

This subject provides a coverage of the different systems significant in the design of buildings, which are described in terms of 3 interlocking systems: human, mechanical and natural systems.

Human Systems
• Concepts of environmental comfort: heat, light and sound
• Occupational Health, Safety and Environment
• Post-Occupancy Evaluation

Mechanical Systems
• energy efficiency, alternative energy sources and energy management
• active solar heating and cooling systems;
• electrical, telecommunications, transportation and building management systems;
• air-conditioning system designs; refrigeration, heating and air handling plants;
• façade design, natural ventilation and mixed mode systems;
• displacement ventilation, evaporative cooling and radiant cooling systems;
• special servicing conditions
• acoustical design and noise control

Natural Systems
• passive design techniques for buildings
• waste and water treatment techniques, WSUD (water sensitive urban design)
• green infrastructure and ecological services
• integrated greenery – green roofs and vertical greenery

Sustainable building standards like Green Star and NABERS will also be introduced and used in the discourse of the lectures.

This subject was formerly known as Urban Design for Planners.

Urban design is concerned with the shaping of public space at multiple spatial scales from lanes, streets and squares to the neighbourhoods and districts of the larger metropolis. This subject emphasises the development of urban design knowledge that is of value to urban planners and other related professionals, while critically reflecting on urban design as it is practised.  Students will develop understandings of the nature of urban design, and the roles of other professionals in relation to it. The fundamental qualities of urban places are examined from an urban design perspective. These understandings form the basis of skills development in using planning tools to achieve desirable urban design outcomes. An integrated program of lectures, studio workshops, fieldwork, and teamwork provide the basis for developing urban design understandings. Students will undertake hands-on urban design work, while reflecting critically upon the role of urban design, and the manner in which planning and urban design are interconnected.

Urban Informatics is the study of cities using digital data, information, knowledge and models to understand trends, complexities and inform the formulation and evaluation of sustainable urban futures.

This subject aims to arm the student with the necessary fundamental concepts and practical understanding of the rise of the Smart City and how urban informatics can assist in evidenced-based and collaborative decision-making.

The new science of cities (Batty, 2013) is driven by the deluge of data that enables the mapping of the Smart City and new geographies that can be explored, analysed and synthesized. Planners, geographers, urban designers, landscape architects, spatial scientists and other disciplines interest in the urban settlements require a deeper knowledge of digital data and how to access, interrogate, visualize and synthesis such data to realise the vision of the smart and sustainable city.

This subject utilises the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) portal as an e-learning resource for exploring what is possible in emerging in the new discipline of urban informatics. Students will also be exposed to a range of other complementary digital environments including open data repositories, urban modelling and visualisation tools and open source geospatial information technologies.

Demographic ageing is creating a shift in how to think and define homes, cities and public spaces. This subject explores feasible and sustainable approaches to keep the older segment of the population physically and socially active. Innovative changes in design can lead to significant advancements in service delivery, transportation models and homes that allow people to age in place. In addition, design principles for dementia and palliative care are a few of the many concepts that help minimise stress on people as they age and their families. Students will explore these topics and develop their own ideas about the way design can optimise the ageing process for comfort, security and overall well-being.

Persistent problems plague the systems of society. If you know how the systems work, can you hack them and transition them to be more sustainable, liveable, resilient? Energy, food, healthcare, transport and even cities as such. All of them complex systems, plagued by problems tied up with the very structures of those systems making them unsustainable, expensive, vulnerable or unfair.

Hacking society means intervening based on analysis, using your knowledge of the systems of society to overcome persistent problems. A good hack changes systems and contributes to transitions.

This is a highly interdisciplinary subject. You will learn concepts and methods from social science, evolutionary theory, analytic philosophy and other fields notably sustainability transitions research. No background or prior knowledge in any of these is required though and students from all disciplines are invited.

So what will you be hacking? You will design an intervention to address a real-life persistent problem. You will have to show that your hack will make a difference using the concepts and methods from the lectures, complemented by your own research.

In recent years, there has been a greatly increased interest in the impacts of the built environment on health and wellbeing. At present, spatial inequalities in regards to access to jobs, affordable housing, social services, and healthy food results in a greater burden of disease for particular social groups and in particular geographic areas. Many of the health problems in cities today, including obesity, violence, and depression, are linked to poor residential and recreational environments, lack of access to jobs and social services, and low social cohesion. Urban decision-makers like planners and designers influence physical, social, natural, cultural, and economic environments. They therefore have a key role in ‘planning health in’, rather than ‘planning health out’, of communities.
This subject will provide a local and international background into current policies and practices related to pursuing health and well-being objectives as a central part of urban planning work. It will cover: the influence of planning over key health determinants, international good practice, the current legislative framework, and Health Impact Assessment. A strong skills focus will ensure that planners, designers and other professionals are able to assess existing sites, plans, and policies from a health perspective.

A series of case studies conducted in following centres in China (Shanghai and Beijing) and India (Bangalore and Hyderabad), over two intensive weeks (China: July 1 to July 13, 2019 and India: July 15 to July 26, 2019). The student must choose and indicate participation in one of the two countries. Case studies are to be carried out in groups. They will cover a range of property, construction and infrastructure topics including project inception, project finance, project valuation and appraisal, urban planning policies and permits, project procurement and delivery, construction planning and management, construction technology and services, construction methods and equipment, construction and leasing contracts, and associated legal matters.

Candidates are required to arrange and pay for their own travel, accommodation and incidentals. The travel cost would be about AUD 3000 (AUD 1500 for travel and AUD 1500 for accommodation, food and local travel -for either of the countries). One preferred/ recommended budget accommodation option in each of the cities will be provided.

Note: This subject includes a pre-teaching period. During the pre-teaching period students are expected to complete the course readings, review the lectures and any other course preparation as outlined on the LMS. The LMS will become available at the commencement of the pre-teaching dates. Pre teaching starts around the middle of May.

Current practices of urban and regional planning have emerged as a human response to the range of circumstances surrounding settlements over time. This subject provides students with a grounding in the main theories of planning over the last two centuries as a means of understanding present-day planning practices and debates in an historical context. Accordingly, students will develop understandings of the contexts in which planning emerged as a response to concerns with a range of circumstances over time. These include: public health, technological change, environmental degradation, economic development, social justice, and conceptions of order and aesthetics. An integrated programme of lectures, readings and tutorials provide students with the materials to answer a series of related questions that chart the development over time of planning. The evolving responses to the enduring questions of planning, such as: ‘what is planning; why plan; how to plan; and what or for whom do we plan?’ are charted over time. The Australia response, in an international context, is emphasised to provide a critical lens upon current Australian planning, providing a basis for subsequent subjects in the Masters of Urban Planning Program.

The subject concerns housing in Australia. This subject has four components:

1. The operation of the housing market: how the housing market works; supply, demand, role of property developers and the role of banks.
2. The contribution of housing and planning for housing to the urban forms of Australia's cities.
3. Why the housing market fails certain groups.
4. Low-income housing policy (e.g. social housing).

The subject includes both market and equity considerations.

This subject explores skills required for transport planners who wish to improve the economic, environmental and social performance of urban transport systems. It draws on international experience and research to articulate the principles and practical techniques in two key areas:

• Public transport planning and network design; and
• The preparation of regional multi-modal transport plans.

This subject includes a half-day field trip involving use of public transport services in a chosen suburban region of Melbourne. This trip will be undertaken in small groups in week 3 and is a hurdle requirement. Students will require a valid Myki card, and the cost will not exceed a daily ticket in Zone 1.

This subject explores planning and policy making for productive and competitive urban settlements by investigating the economic drivers, activities, and interrelationships of cities and regions. You will examine how making and moving of goods, services, and jobs shapes the vitality, structure and governance of cities and regions. Complex planning issues, requiring judgements about the competing demands of economic development and social needs, are associated with the growth and decline of sectors and places in their particular urban contexts. Various economic perspectives and examples are used to show and interpret how urban activities and sectors – such as manufacturing, transport, services, recreation, and creative activities – have locational and network impacts within and between cities. Special attention will be paid to comparative analysis and innovation in developing cities and regions, and to the implications of market failures and inequalities produced by economic development activities.

Urban governance and citizen participation influence both the structure of the planning process (e.g. who participates, and how and when they participate) and the built environment outcomes produced from this process. All practitioners who work in local and regional environments (built, natural, social) need to be aware of the strategies and techniques that can be employed to elicit involvement from the public and private sector, and the modes of governance that shape citizen and stakeholder participation at different scales of government and at different points in the planning process.  This subject will impart to students the skills involved in encouraging and managing participation in the overall governance and planning of urban regions.

These skills include:

• Understand the concept of urban governance 
• Understanding the influence of different forms of urban governance on processes of citizen participation 
• Understand the nexus between the public and private sectors and civil society in planning for and managing cities 
• Understand the role of local, State and Commonwealth government, the private sector and civil society in delivering and financing infrastructure and services
• Encouraging and managing citizen engagement using different participatory tools 
• Understanding and assessing different characteristics of urban conflict 
• Negotiation, mediation, consensus-building between government, the private sector and civil society in complex situations with deep value differences 
• Have insight into comparative governance contexts through case studies from other countries 
• Evaluation of citizen participatory processes

There will be considerable reliance on hand-on exercises based on case studies from Melbourne and around the world. The subject aims to be relevant to urban and social planners, landscape architects, urban designers, architects, property professionals, community developers, and environmental activities. 

This subject replaces ABPL90315 Urban Governance, and was previously known as Participation and Negotiation.

This subject explores the politics of transport planning in cities and regions. It examines recent examples of transport planning in Australian cities and globally with a particular emphasis on how patterns of mobility and automobility have come to influence transport planning decisions. A dilemma is exposed between the political-economy and social desires to maintain automobile-dependency and the challenges this presents for ecological sustainability and social equity in the contemporary city and region. Urban transport politics brings to the foreground the changing roles of the public and private sector in the funding, construction, maintenance and operation of urban transport networks and the implications this has for the city and its people.

The subject examines a series of case studies that showcase the politics of transportation planning. Case examples will enable students to explore in-depth recent examples that showcase the changing political, economic and governance landscape shaping transportation planning. This includes such case studies as: contested tollway and light rail projects in Australian cities and internationally, the rise of car-sharing platforms and the anticipated roll-out of autonomous vehicles.

The subject is delivered in seminar form with readings, lectures (occasional guest lectures) and presentations from students. Students are encouraged to bring their ideas and views into class discussions

This subject was previously known as Planning Urban Sustainability. 

Humans have altered the earth's natural environment to such an extent, that scientists are considering the determination of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Climate change is one of many indicators of these significant human driven changes to the environment. 

This subject will provide students with an understanding of the key factors contributing to changes to natural and built environments, and their centrality to urban planning activities. Students will critically analyse the complex interrelationship between environmental processes, climate change, urban change, sustainability goals and urban planning policies. Current urban planning issues including: sustainability, climate change, resilience, and vulnerability will be critically analysed and applied to current and future problems. Local and global examples will be drawn upon. This approach will equip students with the capability to propose urban planning solutions to address climate change and facilitate urban sustainability.

Through completion of this subject students will be provided with exposure to cutting edge urban planning approaches to address climate change and sustainability. Students will be well prepared to take elective subjects which focus in detail on environment, resilience and sustainability topics.

This subject was formerly called Transportation, Land Use and Urban Form

This subject examines the linkages between transport systems and the growth and form of urban regions. It introduces the theories linking transport systems to the urban footprint, and reviews some empirical analysis of those theories. The subject also traces the evolution of theories connecting transport and land use as they have evolved over time. The timeline of this subject begins in the 1950s and extends to the present.

This subject also introduces some of the tools used to evaluate and manage land use and transport systems, introduces strategies for integrated transport and land use planning, and examines empirical evaluations of these strategies. Major debates in the topic area are addressed. The subject develops students’ ability to apply and critically analyse the theories, tools, and strategies used in transport and land use planning, and to propose alternatives and innovations to those strategies.

This subject is taught in a seminar format. The format will include two hours of weekly guided discussion during which students are expected to have prepared to discuss several readings. There is also a one-hour lecture in which major skills-based topics are explained. These include accessibility modeling, the four-step transport model, and benefit-cost analysis.

This subject sets out the key mechanisms by which land use planning can reduce the risks associated with human settlements located in bushfire prone areas. It begins with an overview of bushfire as a natural hazard that occurs in particular landscapes, and the ways that human settlements interact with these to result in spatial and locally particular risk outcomes.

The ways that urban planning mechanisms can influence risk levels in bushfire prone areas are explored. First principles of planning intervention techniques are set out, followed by a detailed explanation of relevant elements of Victorian planning processes. Current regulatory approaches suitable for the treatment of bushfire risk in Victoria are a core learning outcome for the subject, in parallel with developing understandings of the inter-relations between building, planning, response and land management agencies related to bushfire risk reduction.

The course covers the fundamentals of fire behaviour and the key drivers. Students will examine the importance of the key factors affecting fire behaviour including fuels, weather, topography and ignitions. Methodologies for measuring fuels, fuel moisture, and weather will be examined through theoretical and practical approaches. Using these skills, students will learn computer and manual approaches for predicting the extent and intensity of landscape fires in a range of ecosystems. Students will apply the knowledge of fire patterns to examine how prescribed burning might be used for land management and the fundamentals of wildfire suppression strategies and tactics. Finally, we will assess the potential changes to fire patterns under global climate change.

Sustainability Governance & Leadership (SGL) is one of two core subjects for the Master of Environment course, and is designed to develop the knowledge and skills you will need to succeed as a sustainability leader in a world of complex challenges and global change. This subject provides you with a strong foundation in interdisciplinary understanding of critical concepts and issues, and how they relate to policy, management, leadership, and governance in a range of contexts and across different scales and sectors. You will learn to anticipate and envision environmental change, and design and implement strategic plans to manage impacts or create positive pathways.

Exploring the broad agenda of sustainable development, SGL considers concepts and principles fundamental to the understanding of interdependent human-nature systems, including ecology and biodiversity, social justice and equity, technology, and issues of global change. SGL covers:

• Different perspectives on sustainability;
• Global and local environmental challenges, including for water, energy, food, and human communities in relation their natural and built environments;
• Vulnerability and resilience in complex social-ecological systems;
• The processes of policy design and implementation in these areas;
• The economics of sustainability, and the role of business and innovation in building a sustainable future; and
• Recurring management, governance, and leadership issues for achieving environmental sustainability.

SGL includes extensive use of scenario-based learning and simulation activities.

Planners shape cities and regions by managing land use, development, infrastructure and services. In order to do this effectively, it is essential that planners have the capacity to gather and analyse data relevant to planning circumstances, even when the information available to them is incomplete. Further, it is critical that planners are able to design appropriate planning inquiries, and critique the processes designed by others. This subject provides students with an introduction to the essential process of research undertaken by planners, including the consideration of professional ethics.

Through completion of the subject, students will be equipped with the ability to: gather and analyse both primary and secondary data; understand and apply essential principles of both qualitative and quantitative methods; and identify the context for their appropriate use. Students will be trained to critically assess any shortcomings of data sources and methods, and consider the impact this has on the conclusions drawn. Overall, the subject facilitates the development of skills and knowledge regarding the use, collection, analysis, and representation of information. This will be utilized in future subjects and practice as planners.

ABPL90066 MSD Research Project Short (12.5 points) is designed to produce a 5,000-word ordered, critical exposition of knowledge gained through the student's own efforts, demonstrating a sound understanding of a topic of their choice. Regular meetings with a supervisor allow the student to obtain advice and guidance for completion of an independent study. Material prepared in any of the following subjects is expected to form an integral part of the final research report:

ABPL40041 Research Methods (Honours)
ABPL90070 Research Methods (Masters)
ABPL90135 Analytical Methods

NOTE: In addition to meeting the required perquisites, students who wish to enrol in this subject should find a supervisor first and get approval from the course coordinator before enrolling in this subject

This subject will introduce students to a range of creative research methods. As distinct from traditional ‘quantitative research’ (classical scientific research method involving systematic collection of verifiable data) and ‘qualitative research’ (in-depth inquiry into human perceptions used in social sciences often involving interviews) ‘creative research’ is a relatively new methodology. In this subject we follow de Bono’s definition that creativity involves lateral moves sideways in contrast to the logical, linear thinking inherent to traditional research methods. We follow the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ‘research’ meaning investigation or inquiry into things. The focus of our creative research will be uncovering new knowledge that can lead to the generation of imagined futures for designed environments.

Note:Students will be required to prepare installations, models, designed assemblages and drawings, as well as written essays during the course. Additional costs should be minimal. Recycling, reusing and scavenging of materials is positively encouraged. And digital presentations are allowed in lieu of costly printing for most presentations.