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Built Environment
A View from Down Under
Australia is an economically and culturally
vibrant place to be. Its annual economic growth rate is in
excess of 4%, and its export of manufactured goods is increasing
consistently by more than 5% per year. It is a land of migrants,
with 23% of its population being born overseas in more than
200 different countries.
Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria,
is the educational and scientific powerhouse of the nation
- the Boston of the South. It has eight worldclass universities,
seven of which play a key role in the State's development
producing Masters, and Doctoral graduates who are at the forefront
of knowledge in aspects of the built environment.
Melbourne is also a production, trading and
transport hub. Exports are growing at an annual rate of 7%,
and exports that originate from other states and pass through
Melbourne are doubling every five years, as a result the city
is upgrading its urban infrastructure. A 22 km long freeway
that skirts the northwest sector of the city has recently
been opened to facilitate the movement of freight to and from
the seaports and airports. The docklands, which are adjacent
to the Melbourne Central Business District, are being redeveloped
with a sports stadium that can seat 54,000 people and that
has a retractable roof, and a new residential housing project.
Construction of the world's tallest building on the site is
being mooted.
Developments such as those being experienced
in Victoria demand a supply of highly trained professionals.
Victoria University of Technology, one of Australia's newest
universities founded in 1991, is rapidly establishing itself
as a national and international leader in several targeted
research areas. Its engineering research activities are based
on the Footscray Park and Werribee campuses. The School of
the Built Environment is one of the University's most productive
research units and recently pioneered the 'Xie Algorith',
a new method for optimising structures. The School is also
a world leader in the development of postharvest systems for
maintaining commodities such as food grain, in good condition
without needing to use chemical pesticides.
The University of Melbourne lies at the other
end of the age scale - it is Victoria's oldest University
founded in 1853. The University's Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering has four key research areas, Structural
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Hydrology and Water Resources,
Production Agriculture, and Engineering Project and Construction
Management. The department has been building up its expertise
in earthquake engineering and the dynamics of structures for
fifteen years, and it has a wide range of software, shaking
tables and other specialist equipment.
Monash University was established on a 'green
fields' site with new faculty members in 1958. Research on
the built environment is conducted in both the Departments
of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Researchers in the Department
of Civil Engineering concentrate their efforts in the general
areas of structural engineering, geomechanics, water resources
engineering, transport and traffic engineering and timber
engineering. Deakin University is based in Geelong, a pleasant
city located some 70km south west of Melbourne. The campus
is home to the Built Environment Group and the Building Resource
Management Group, located in the School of Architecture and
Building.
The main aims of the research are to help to
design buildings that are appropriate to their environments,
comfortable, resource efficient and aesthetically pleasing.
One aspect of the research is to investigate glazing techniques
that integrate the requirement for good natural lighting and
energy efficiency. Swinburne University, located in the eastern
suburbs of Melbourne, has a reputation for producing graduates
who have been exposed to an entrepreneurial spirit, and who
identify with the needs of industry. Members of the Department
of Civil Engineering have recently developed a litter trap
that prevents environmentally harmful waste from being flushed
into Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay, as well as stormwater control
systems that regulate the flow out of building sites that
are becoming occupied by higher density housing.
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
University is the largest tertiary institution in Australia.
The Department of Civil Engineering concentrates principally
on teaching at the undergraduate level, although some research
is carried out. One of its areas of specialisation is the
development of high strength concrete that can be used to
minimise the space taken up in tall buildings by columns and
maximise the area that can be rented. The University of Ballarat
is located about an hour's drive from Melbourne and was founded
in 1994 from the former School of Mines and Teachers' College.
Its research activities in engineering include vibration and
strength, fluid mechanics and rock and soil mechanics. The
university also has a particular strength in occupational
health and safety.
This brief guided tour of Melbourne's diverse
universities illustrates the opportunities for graduate research
in the area of the built environment. As an added benefit,
Melbourne is a great and safe place to live and study. Sports,
culture, fine scenery and a diverse and friendly people provide
a wonderful environment for overseas students.
Author
Graham R Thorpe, PhD, DEng
School of the Built Environment
Victoria University of Technology
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