Urban fieldwork journal

Victoria Street & Victoria Market

Observation 1 Loncation 1 SWANSTON ST - FRANKLIN ST INTERSECTION - QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET

Officially Queen Victoria Market, the best known market. It's both a signigicant land mark and the most popular food market. Recently the market has made efforts towards sustainability, including providing organic food, and supplying electricity with solar energy panels. on the roof.

Intersection of Swanston St and Little La Trobe St (from left to right) RMIT Building 80, Building 16, Building 37.

Building 80 is the one of the local land marks.

People around this area are predominantly students, looking energetic and enthusiastic, and generally very fashionably dressed.

Large area of intersection that releases transport pressure of Melbourne CBD

Old cemetry

The old cemetry was the fist official cemetry at West Melbourne.

Now it's not accessible to us because the Market is built upon it.

Intersection of Victoria Street and Swanston Street RMIT Design Hub "Construction of the 12,000m2.Multi-disciplinary student teams working with industry and researchers will use the Design Hub as a home base. This will provide the environment for the cross-pollination of ideas and expertise among a range of disciplines including textile and fashion design, architecture, industrial design, landscape architecture, interior design, urban design, engineering, fine art and creative media. 2009-2011.

Budget: $28.6 million" [1]

ďźˆhttp://www.rmit.edu.au/capitalworks/designhub

The building under construction is Swanston Square.

The site of this new construction is on the axis from the corner of Swanston Street and Victoria Street to Shrine of Remembrance.

Observation 1 Loncation 2 & 3 FLAGSTUFF GARDENS AREA AND MELBOURNE'S COURT

The lawn is well planed and The flagstuff garden's now a place with abundant t r i m e d . T h e d e n s i t y o f t h e sports facilities. vegetation is neither too high or too low.

Some men are having a kind of criket games on bicycles while their fans were watching and having a barbecue.

A warehouse, seems still in not intensive use.

The Barman Street area is probably in a stagnation of development.

A homeless sleeping in front of a warehouse St. James Cathedral

When i went to the church on weekends they were having a ceremony. People attending were dressed formally and very amiable and introduced me the church's background and articulate in a clear way...

Therefore I assume they are well educated and basically from middle class families.

Observation 1 Loncation 2 & 3 FLAGSTUFF GARDENS AREA AND MELBOURNE'S COURT

Typical official buildings blocksďźŒ very compact and making full use of space.

Victoria Supreme Court. It occupies huge and long volume of space along the street.

The intersection between William Street and Longsdale.

From this point of view, looking at the four directions, the roads are all going downwards. This intersection is in fact at a vantage point of Melbourne CBD. Gilbert Sutherland, the architectural form of it is distinct from neibouring buildings and much more classic.

Analysis The urban development of Melbourne CBD has kept changing and altering to respond to contexts in different ages where people have different needs, wants and demands.

As in the reading of the novel "The View from the The Palisade Hotel", the author got lots of information about Sysdney from those traces, such as Scientific and navigational revolution of the eighteenth century, class struggles and middle class reform movements of the mid-nineteeth century, the public health and planning ideologies of the early 20th century, the modernist doctrines of the mid 20th century and the heritage and post-modernist reactions of the late 19th century.ďźˆDavison 2006 So the history of development could be traced by architectural details (forms, shapes, orders, decoration ands so on.) as well as changes of the buildings and lands' way of grouping and changes of functions as well.

With rapid development of the city, surplus of wealth has been accumulated, thus initiative and innovative ideas that are previously impossible to achieve become possible. This quite coincides with the idea mentioned in the first lecture of this semester that agricultural surplus boosts urban development.[2](unknown author 2013) And that's why we have more and more fashionable, sustainable and functional in the student district north of La Trobe Street, why Flagstaff Garden is providing more functions and has evolved from a previous burial place.

However, they are also problems with rapidly aging communities like that of the Batman Street where used to be home to warehouses of companies. When the city has upgraded its economy, the street seems in a stagnation and need to be revitalised.

Observation 2 - Docklands Location 1 SOUTHERN CROSS STATION AND ITS SURROUNDING AREA

Interior of Southern Cross Station.

A showpiece of mordern structure achieved by advanced construction techonology can be seen from the roof.

Southern Cross station, viewed from Spencer Street. It is terribly noisy here. Huge wavy roof and supporting elements.

New constructions going on on Burke Street,near the entrance of Southern Cross Station.

Docklands are home to the well-known Publisher Pearson PLC.The prismatic glass panes make it looks attractive and pleasant but may cause air pollution locally.

This is the sculpture "eagle", around 25 metres tall. It also stands for Wurundjeri people's creator figure. (http://melbournedaily.blogspot.com. au/2012/05/eagle-sculpture.html)(http:// images.theage.com.au/2011/07/26/2517421/

Observation 2 - Docklands Loncation 2 official area between burke street and collins street A Sushi Bar

Aerial view from my apartment of the office building clusters.

A few hot air ballons can be seen above the bay. (Left picture was taken at 7 am and the right one at 8 am)

The restaurants cater for the white collar workers workign here are of diverse backgrounds, including Japnaese, Thai, Western and Chinese.

A Thai Restaurant

A playground buit by the local council. But are nobody can enter this playground after 10pm, in order to avoid disturbance to local residents.

Observation 2 - Docklands Loncation 3 WATERFRONT CITY

Etihad Stadium Etihad Stadium, also known as Docklands Stadium. Etihad is the major sponsor of it Palms trees are dominant trees in the Waterfront City, much taller than their tropical conuterparts.

Around 5- 7 metres high.

The bay is enclosed by docks, thus the water is moving very slow, though not stagnant. The water quality is not so pleasant if a closer observation is taken.

The bay provides a bery peaceful and quite view in the morning as the sky and sea almost meet togheter on the horizon.

A few apartment complexes have been built and there are a few restaurants near them

Observation 2 - Templestoew Loncation 1 YARRA RIVER AND RUFFEY CREEK

These are pictures of Yarra river downstream. The transparency of the water indicates high water quality,

This preservation of the water quality could be partly accredited to Melbourne Water's program of revegetaing the waterways.

Finns Reserve. (Right) The man was walking a dog along the pathway downwards. (Left) There are a considerable number of entertainment facilities for children nearby.

Ruffey Creek and the Linear ParkďźŒthe creek is fairly narrow compared with Yarra River

Observation 2 - Templestoew Loncation 2 Templestowe Village

A subway brunch on the street, adjacent to a 7-11 Convenience Store. What's interesting is that there is a parking area in front of them. Maybe they are beyond the residents' walking distance.

There are also Asian Restaueants near by, the font of the sign looks like Japanese, but waiters'accent tell that they are Cantonese,

What's out of my expectation, the shopping centre is not a single building complex but a street. This wall is attachted to a high-class Indian Restaurant.

A frequently used and efficient roundabout Whipping flags on Foote Street The pedestrian walkways here are seperated by lawns for advertising for Templestowe Village. security conserns.

Observation 2 - Templestoew Loncation 3 TEMPLESTOWE RESERVE

Large grassland for sporting activities. The reserve has two ovular tennis courts.It is also the most important recreation centre in the area.

The pavillion ar night, the lights were left on for passers-by.

(from Google Map, retrieved on 7th September, 2013)

TEMPLESTOWE RESERVE SPORTS PAVILION. The "arms" of it conveys a sense of sports. (http://www.perrettsimpson.com.au/uploads/featured_images/ templestowe_sports_pavillion.jpg)

As is shown in the map the Reserve is the only large and flat open space covered with vegetation. Conservation of this the reserve is necessary as it adds to the diversity of local landscape and land form and is also a good place for sporting and gathering.

Analysis

How are the two observed sites comparable with each other?

The two sites are quite comparable in terms of various parameters.

The volume and density of population of Docklands is relatively smaller than those of Templestowe's.

People living in Docklands are also much younger and a bit wealthier.As people and working in Docklands are basically professionals white-collar workers in service industries( mainly in finance). （http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/ quickstat/SSC21324?opendocument&navpos=220） （http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/

Due to Docklands' proximity to Melbourne CBD and the intense conmmercial activities within it, its achitectrual styles and forms are aggreassively moderner than those of Templestowe's：the scale is larger, the height of buildings are overwhelmingly taller, the distance between buidlings are longer, while residents lived in small apartment units.And there are also massive use of glassy wall, reinforced-concrete and steel materials in buildings.

In Templestowe, people live in large houses with attached garders(which inevitably leads to more water usage and a different local metabolism process) Public transport of Docklands are also more convenient than Templestowes's, accessibility and frequency of all means of public transport all better in Docklands. When i went to Templestowe on weekends, the frequency of some lines are even more than one Templestowe is surrounded by large areas of grasslands, several reserves and has Yarra river passing across it, while Docklands are, recently though, highly urbanised suburb and are distant from any natural environment expect the ocean. Therefore the biodiversity in Tomplestowe is for sure higher. I noticed lots of insects, birds, other small animals and flora species that are foreign to Docklands along my journey to Templestowe. Frequent contacts with nature also make local peole in Templestowe aware of the importancec of natural environment,so reserves are established here and there.

The pace of life also vary in these two sites, a relationship of conversion between time and money can be observed in Docklands.

Every moring and afternoon, dressed people hurried from Southern Cross Station to their workplaces, a sense of alienation can be well perceived. But in Templestowe，people are walking very slow and in a relaxed manner. Children in Templestowe also have more opportunities to enjoy all what natural environment has to offer.

Analysis

（http://www.censusdata. abs.gov.au/census_ services/getproduct/ census/2011/quickstat/SS C21324?opendocument& navpos=220） （http://www.censusdata. abs.gov.au/census_ services/getproduct/ census/2011/quickstat/SS C20402?opendocument& navpos=220）

Moreover, Docklands are apparently more outward-looking than templestowe, with its fast-growing import and export business, good facilities, and even an international reputation, many multinationals have located their headquarters whithin Docklands. However, both of the sites have diverse cultures and ethnic groups,as shown in the above tables.

What's more, these two sites share some in common.For example the topography, both of the sites are not has undulations of the landscape.This feature of both of the sites has made walking in them an unpleasant experience and incured heavy reliance on buses, trams and cars, rather than bikes or walking on foot. As far as i am concerned, if the slopes' gradient could be properly adjusted with modern engineering technologies, we can manage to use less fossil fuels and generate less greenhouse gas emissions as is indicated by Arnold (1983) that "Such limitations may be overcome by appropriate engineering techniques."

REFLECTION ON METHODOLOGY

Development of Melbourne As i took the journey, historical traces presented themselves from time to time, telling stories. Actually the CBD plan, Hoddle Grid, conveys much information, like it is in fact parallel to Yarra river (maybe to provide a good view),that there was a robust government to carry out the plan, dividing the land in detail. The multiple layers of cities make the city more interesting and organic. A city with modern productivity and meaningful history can surely sustain itself and generates proper identity. The expansion and complexity of the city show the efforts to accommodate increasing population and fulfil people's needs.

Benefit &Limitation of the observations The benefit obviously is direct observtion enables me to get first hand information about the sites, with which I can better understand why and how the city has develope in the particular way,and further digest and reflect on the knowledge i have been taught. Then a systematic view towards the city can be formed.

The limitation, is that time is limited so that I can't explore everywhere of the site in detail. And sometimes, many factors could constrain or even disrupt the plan. For example, the sunset on 7th September was at 6:07, and the bus wasn't on time, so I arrived later than 6:30 at Templestowe Reserve and did not take many clear pictures.

What's more, we could be limited by our perspective that what we are able to observe wouldn not necessarily be the whole truth, it may be only part of it or even a distortion of the fact.

Bibliography [1]RMIT University , RMIT University , Melbourne viewed 7 September 2013, <http://www.rmit.edu.au/capitalworks/designhub>.

[2]Unknown author, "Origins of the City (1): Cities of Mesopotamia"in Carrillo Centre at The University of Melbourne, Yan Zhang on August 5th 2013.

[3]Davison, G. 2006 ‘The View from the Palisade Hotel’, Meanjin, Vol. 65 Number 2, Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing and the Meanjin Company Ltd., pp. 96-107.

[4]Arnold E. 1983 ‘The Geomorphology of the City’, in I. Douglas (ed.) The Urban Environment, Arnold,London pp. 93-126.