Building reuse and sustainable behaviours: Nurturing occupant behaviours towards a sustainable reuse of existing buildings

<p>This proposition will address the identified problem of deteriorating built environments through designing a sustainable reinvigoration. This type of reinvigoration instils not only the value of sustainability in reuse, but is known to succeed when designs result in the ‘triple bottom line’ effect of increased social, economic, and environmental values (“Triple Bottom Line”, 2009). This proposition intends to explore a fourth bottom line. One to engage with people outside of the site, to extend beyond the prescribed boundaries and behaviours, and to go away with people within the mind of the beholder. To introduce the fourth bottom line is to address the psychology of sustainable practice surrounding the built environment. Integrating this principle will deliver a design response that aims to be sustainable, and regenerative in the teachings and demonstrations that can provide inception of sustainable practices within the wider society. This proposition will explore a discussion between two pre-existing enquiries; - sustainable reclamation of existing built environments - pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable psychologies The existing built environment along the western shore of Watts Peninsula, known as Shelly Bay, was home to the New Zealand Defence Force Base for over 125 years. Since its retirement from government use in 1995, its re-development has been setback by policy, a division of land tenure, and member approval from its governing body (Jackman, 2014). Since the retirement, the infrastructure and existing built environment have been progressively deteriorating. A sustainable reinvigoration of this site will succeed in savings of the existing culture, expenses and heritage while positioning an adapted environment that could be utilised by the wider society. Moreover, this proposal could be designed to inform sustainable psychology while achieving increased or realised social, economic, and environmental values. This design as research thesis will explore the existing site to determine contextual and psychological effects that are influencing the degradation of the environment. The identified problem(s) will then provide parameters for the designed reinvigoration and through an analysis of the pre-existing principles, a proposed design criterion will be applied to the designed concept.</p>

Building reuse and sustainable behaviours: Nurturing occupant behaviours towards a sustainable reuse of existing buildings

<p>This proposition will address the identified problem of deteriorating built environments through designing a sustainable reinvigoration. This type of reinvigoration instils not only the value of sustainability in reuse, but is known to succeed when designs result in the ‘triple bottom line’ effect of increased social, economic, and environmental values (“Triple Bottom Line”, 2009). This proposition intends to explore a fourth bottom line. One to engage with people outside of the site, to extend beyond the prescribed boundaries and behaviours, and to go away with people within the mind of the beholder. To introduce the fourth bottom line is to address the psychology of sustainable practice surrounding the built environment. Integrating this principle will deliver a design response that aims to be sustainable, and regenerative in the teachings and demonstrations that can provide inception of sustainable practices within the wider society. This proposition will explore a discussion between two pre-existing enquiries; - sustainable reclamation of existing built environments - pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable psychologies The existing built environment along the western shore of Watts Peninsula, known as Shelly Bay, was home to the New Zealand Defence Force Base for over 125 years. Since its retirement from government use in 1995, its re-development has been setback by policy, a division of land tenure, and member approval from its governing body (Jackman, 2014). Since the retirement, the infrastructure and existing built environment have been progressively deteriorating. A sustainable reinvigoration of this site will succeed in savings of the existing culture, expenses and heritage while positioning an adapted environment that could be utilised by the wider society. Moreover, this proposal could be designed to inform sustainable psychology while achieving increased or realised social, economic, and environmental values. This design as research thesis will explore the existing site to determine contextual and psychological effects that are influencing the degradation of the environment. The identified problem(s) will then provide parameters for the designed reinvigoration and through an analysis of the pre-existing principles, a proposed design criterion will be applied to the designed concept.</p>

Experiential Intensity of Exploring Place Abandoned

There is a growing global shift towards urbanization resulting in diminishing connections with the traditional rural placescape. Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has a long history of out-migration and internal migration between communities in coastal areas within the province. Resettlement programs initiated by the NL government between 1954 and 1975 accounted for the internal migration of approximately 30,000 people from 300 communities. Modern-day encounters with these abandoned communities are relevant to understanding the loss of place and home, as significant numbers of students in NL today are affected by migration. This paper is a phenomenological study of the experiences of educators as they explored the remnants of an abandoned community. The participants of the study were six experienced public school educators with teaching experience at the primary, elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels. The study took place in eight abandoned communities located on the western shore of Placentia Bay, where mainly the remnants of Isle Valen, St. Leonard’s, St. Kyran’s, and Great Paradise were explored. Data collection consisted of two personal interviews and one group hermeneutic circle, with the aim to answer one fundamental question: What is the experience of educators exploring the remnants of an abandoned community? Data in this study are represented by lived experience descriptions, which were interpreted hermeneutically and guided by four phenomenological existentials: temporality, corporeality, spatiality, and relationality. The results of this study not only provide deeper insight into intense experiences in communities abandoned through resettlement; they also reveal the significance of place in our lives, place as heuristic teacher, the pedagogical power of place, the need for local, meaningful place-based experiences in a curriculum as lived, and their potential for furthering personal and educational insight no matter where in this world we live or dwell.

Patterns and processes of beach and foredune geomorphic change along a Great Lakes shoreline: Insights from a year-long drone mapping study along Lake Michigan

Coastal storms are an important driver of geomorphic change along Great Lakes shorelines. While there is abundant anecdotal evidence for storm impacts in the region, only a handful of studies over the last few decades have quantified them and addressed system morphodynamics. Annual to seasonal lake-level fluctuations and declining winter-ice covers also influence coastal response to storms, yet relationships between hydrodynamics and geomorphology are poorly constrained. Given this, the Great Lakes region lags behind marine coasts in terms of predictive modeling of future coastal change, which is a necessary tool for proactive coastal management. To help close this gap, we conducted a year-long study at a sandy beach-dune system along the western shore of Lake Michigan, evaluating storm impacts under conditions of extremely high water level and absent shorefast ice. Drone-derived beach and dune topography data were used to link geomorphic changes to specific environmental conditions. High water levels throughout the year of study facilitated erosion during relatively minor wave events, enhancing the vulnerability of the system to a large storm in January 2020. This event occurred with no shorefast ice present and anomalously high winter water levels, resulting in widespread erosion and overwash. This resulted in 20% of the total accretion and 66% of the erosion documented at the site over the entire year. Our study highlights the importance of both antecedent and present conditions in determining Great Lakes shoreline vulnerability to storm impacts.

On country: Identity, place and digital place

Place is central to the identity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Narrabeen Camp Project explores the use of immersive technologies to offer opportunities to engage with Indigenous histories, Storytelling and cultural heritage in ways that privilege place. While nothing can replace being ‘on Country’, the XR technologies of AR and VR support different modalities of engagement with real, and virtual, place. The project documents the Stories, Language and Lore associated with the Gai-mariagal clan and, in particular, with the Aboriginal Camp that existed on the north-western shore of Narrabeen Lakes from the end of the last ice age to 1959 when it was demolished to make way for the Sydney Academy of Sports and Recreation. The project will investigate evolving Aboriginal Storytelling dynamics when using immersive digital media to teach culture and to document a historically important site that existed for thousands of years prior to its demolition in the mid-twentieth century. It expects to generate new knowledge about Aboriginal Storytelling and about the history of urban Aboriginals. Expected outcomes include a schema connecting Aboriginal Storytelling with immersive digital technologies, and truth-telling that advances understanding of modern Australia and urban Aboriginal people. The research should promote better mental, social and emotional health and wellbeing for Indigenous Australians and benefit all Australians culturally, socially and economically.

“Gray ghosts”

This chapter focuses on events after the collapse of the North Tower. Minutes after the pulverized remnants of 1 World Trade Center settled out of the air along Manhattan's western shore, mariners started evacuating people. Many people caught up in the unfolding catastrophe also had the duty of protecting children. Parents, teachers, daycare workers, and sitters were all forced to navigate their way through the danger while simultaneously soothing their frightened charges. Although they could not stop the planes from crashing or buildings from falling, people from all quarters rose up and stepped forward to provide whatever assistance they could. All along New Jersey's North River waterfront, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics, administrators and doctors, firefighters and police were working to establish and supply triage centers. Instrumental to their efforts were ordinary citizens helping every way they could. Personnel from nearby hospitals, medical centers, and emergency management offices worked with fire department and hazmat crews to establish makeshift facilities to decontaminate, assess, treat, and direct evacuees to different transit options. Their efforts were supported by the contributions made by employees of local businesses, among others.

The genus Phagocata Leidy (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) in Israel, a new species of Phagocata from Lake Kinneret, and an emended description of Dugesia salina

The genus Phagocata (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) is represented in Israel by two pigmented species, namely, Phagocata armeniaca (Komárek, 1916), reported previously from Armenia, the Caucasus and eastern Turkey, and more recently known from the constantly cold headwaters of the River Jordan in northern Israel, and Phagocata punctata sp. nov., which was found inhabiting the littoral of the south-eastern shore of Lake Kinneret where there are large seasonal temperature fluctuations. Several samples of both species were collected in different seasons and raised in the laboratory at various temperatures and their habitats, morphology, karyology (2n = 34) and breeding behaviour were compared. The results of cross-breeding experiments are given, with most of the F1 offspring showing a range of patterns of colouration, gut branching and fecundity which were intermediate to those of the parent species. However, crossbreeding also resulted in a small proportion of abnormalities among the F1, and especially the F2, generations, indicating an incomplete reproductive compatibility, but supporting the hypothesis of their common origin. An emended description of Dugesia salina (Whitehouse, 1914), is also given together with karyological data (2n = 16) from material collected from a saline spring, En Sheva (Tabgha), situated on the north-western shore of Lake Kinneret.

Updated Distribution of Endangered Psathyrella ammophila in Poland – New Localities on Wolin Island

<em>Psathyrella ammophila </em>is a psammophilous fungus most frequently inhabiting seashore beaches, sand dunes and sandy inland areas. Although it is a widely spread species, in some countries it is rare or threatened, including Poland, where it is classified as “endangered” (E). In Poland, <em>P. ammophila </em>has been found in 26 localities, including 14 new reports after 1970. We present two new Polish localities from white sand dunes at the western shore of the Baltic Sea (Wolin Island). Moreover, ecological information and macroscopic and microscopic features of the basidiocarp based on collected samples are presented. The problem of the disappearance of dunes as a primary habitat of <em>P. ammophila </em>is also discussed.

Glacier Geometry Changes in the Western Shore of Admiralty Bay, King George Island over the Last Decades

This paper presents changes in the range and thickness of glaciers in Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 128 on King George Island in the period 1956–2015. The research indicates an intensification of the glacial retreat process over the last two decades, with the rate depending on the type of glacier front. In the period 2001–2015, the average recession rate of the ice cliffs of the Ecology Glacier and the northern part of the Baranowski Glacier was estimated to be approximately 15–25 m a−1 and 10–20 m a−1, respectively. Fronts of Sphinx Glacier and the southern part of the Baranowski Glacier, characterized by a gentle descent onto land, show a significantly lower rate of retreat (up to 5–10 m a−1 1). From 2001 to 2013, the glacier thickness in these areas decreased at an average rate of 1.7–2.5 m a−1 for the Ecology Glacier and the northern part of the Baranowski Glacier and 0.8–2.5 m a−1 for the southern part of the Baranowski Glacier and Sphinx Glacier. The presented deglaciation processes are related to changes of mass balance caused by the rapid temperature increase (1.0 °C since 1948). The work also contains considerations related to the important role of the longitudinal slope of the glacier surface in the connection of the glacier thickness changes and the front recession.