E Altmann

Apartments, Co-ownership and Sustainability: Implementation Barriers for Retrofitting the Built Environment

Abstract Environmental sustainability issues have been at the centre of urban densification and the walkable city in Australia. While many newer developments are built with green star ratings, retrofitting existing buildings with shared governance structures is sometimes viewed as problematic. This paper explores the use of retrofitting for environmental sustainability within Victorias owner corporation environment. Little is known about how the use of privatized governance structures within apartment and townhouse developments adds to the complexity of implementing sustainability measures. This paper investigates the motivations and attitudes of strata managers and committees of management in relation to the retrofit measures by drawing on the findings of 13 semi-structured interviews with committee members and strata managers. Findings revealed that there was a substantial understanding of the benefits associated with retrofitting buildings for environmental sustainability; however, a range of reasons and attitudes existed within the strata environment that affected the implementation of such measures.

Industry professionalisation of strata title managers: what are the implications for governance?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the rise of strata manager as a newly emergent profession and note their impact on the governance within medium and high density, strata titled housing such as flats, apartments, town-houses and CIDs. Design/methodology/approach – This research presents finding from a small scale, qualitative research project focused on the interaction between the owner committee of management and strata managers. Findings – The introduction mandatory certification is championed by industry bodies. The strata managers considered they already demonstrated valuable attributes desired by committees of management. These differed to the attributes targeted by the new training regime, and the attributes valued by the committees of management. Research limitations/implications – This is a small scale pilot study. A larger study will need to be undertaken to confirm these results. Practical implications – There is a disjunct between the training and what strata managers consider r...

Nursing students’ preferences for clinical placements in the residential aged care setting

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To examine nursing student placement preferences submitted as online comments to a universitys placement management system, to inform strategies for positive residential aged care experiences. BACKGROUND There are predicted shortages of nurses to service an ageing population. Clinical placements undertaken by undergraduate nursing students help shape their attitudes and are a key determinant of career decision-making, yet there is little research about why students prefer particular placement areas. DESIGN Analysis of qualitative data from a placement management system. METHODS Of 6,610 comments received between 2007-2014, 607 related to aged care and were coded according to preferences for being placed in a residential aged care facility, with reasons for this preference thematically coded and quantified. RESULTS Four hundred and one comments (66.1%) related to students requesting not to be allocated residential aged care for the upcoming placement, primarily due to previous experience in the sector; 104 (17.1%) referred to aged care in a neutral manner, focusing on conflict of interest; 102 (16.8%) related to a request for an aged care placement. CONCLUSIONS The student nurse comments characterise students as being focused on maximising their learning, while considering prior experience. In some cases, increased exposure to aged care is considered to offer limited learning opportunities, which is concerning and suggests that both the tertiary and aged care sectors have a joint responsibility to pursue recognition of aged care nursing as a specialised, highly skilled role. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nursing programme providers should ensure curriculum content and exposure to aged care placement clearly identify the complexities of care and provide genuine opportunities for knowledge acquisition and skill development based on multifaceted resident care needs. This will support both those interested in a future aged care career and those undecided.

Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities in Context

While escalating investor and owner demand for properties within the central precincts of Asia-Pacific cities has created an exuberance around the benefits of apartment living and investment, less well understood are the substantial constraints on individual rights, restrictions and responsibilities (3Rs) associated with collective living. From a range of geographic and disciplinary perspectives, this collection questions the assumptions that support today’s compact city hype. It canvases structural issues, including established and emerging legislative and policy settings. It also illuminates the experience of strata managers, owners, residents and their agency within these processes.

Multi-Owned Properties: Bringing It All Together

Rapid urbanisation, urban densification and the rise of neo-liberal policy programmes across the Asia-Pacific region have combined to fundamentally reshape property systems and housing opportunities. However, policy development timing, pace and impact has varied between and across societies and has been affected by economic conditions and financial reforms. In concluding, we explore the common and different consequences of these trends and their significance in terms of urbanisation, the growth of multi-owned property and the attendant rights, restrictions and responsibilities as demonstrated by our co-contributors. We highlight directions for future research.

Environmental Restriction in Multi-Owned Property

In this chapter, we examine impediments to environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient change in multi-owned properties and how this impacts on the capacity of the strata community to achieve economic and environmental goals. Our research identifies four major impediments to sustainable adaptation in the Australian context. First, there are missed opportunities to integrate core environmental sustainability principles into initial design and construction. Second, centralised systems create difficulties in terms of facilitating consumer awareness of on-site energy and water use and waste. Third, decision-making for environmentally sustainable adaptation of dwellings is complex with strata managers remaining key gatekeepers of environmental and financial product information in this process. Finally, the market does not provide appropriate financing mechanisms to facilitate loans within the multi-owned property sector.

Small scale housing unit developments: Implications for strata manager market penetration

Purpose – Some multi-owned housing developments do not appoint an external strata manager. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how governance is negotiated when there is no strata manager in place. Design/methodology/approach – A semi structured interview was conducted as a case study to contrast and highlight issues that occur where no strata manager is in place. Findings – The lack of a manager presented particular difficulties when negotiating outcomes. A market gap is identified highlighting implications for how strata managers may increase future market penetration. Research limitations/implications – The number and spatial occurrence of strata titled complexes operating without a formal governance structure in situ is not known. Further research needs to be undertaken in this area. Practical implications – The resilience of Australia’s densification policies is dependent on how owners perceive and adjust to additional layers of governance. Difficulties arise for the individual and the scheme a...

Beyond Gated Communities

Gated communities have received an increasing amount of attention over the past two decades. This is unsurprising since the rate of urban densification has increased over this timespan. From the outset, it is clear that the focus of gating has shifted over time from earlier discussion of historical gating, conflict, power, law and politics, master planned estates and vertical gating to name a few. Bagaeen and Uduku set the scene by providing a discussion of how gated communities are currently viewed and go on to question what additional forms of gating may occur that affect the longer term consequences of urban living. They advise that to further understand gating the link between what happens in individual enclaves to macro level forces needs to be explored. This book challenges the reader to consider important aspects of urban gating through five lenses: new debates; structures and process; new geographies; networks, power and social relation and the future of urban gating. Through consideration of the five proposed lenses, Beyond Gated Communities soundly identified and extended the essence of gating allowing the reader to engage with new understandings of the metastasising phenomena of ‘gating’.

Parkland – when caravan is home

This is a book review of Parkland– when caravan is home.Newton provides an enticing glimpse into a rarely explored world. Sociologically informed and using an interpretive and interactionist approach, Newton (2014) strives to understand how individuals living in caravan parks invest sense and purpose into their lives. Caravan park living is an increasingly important part of the Australian permanent housing rental market and includes traditional caravans, mobile homes, manufactured and relocatable homes which may be leased from the park owner/operator or supplied by the resident. Newton’s research debunks the myth that residents are a significantly disadvantaged group living on the fringes of homelessness and experiencing multiple social, emotional and economic problems. Her interviews indicate a hierarchy of tenants within the parks. Central to this is the type of rental agreement entered into with park management - rental of the land only or building and land, and size of the mobile home.

Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation

In Cities, disaster risk and adaptation, Christine Wamsler’s significant contribution to the area of environmental risk and adaptation coalesces, drawing the strands of planning, architecture and socio-economic conditions together to form an intricate web. It begins with the idea that disaster and its inherent risk to our ways of life is increasing exponentially, outlines the reasons why, and the impacts where it has already occurred. Importantly, it predicts what will occur if we fail to adapt to certain risks. In this book, Wamsler debunks the idea that urban centres, even those in first world countries, are places of refuge, immune to risk and the effects of climate change. She asserts that all cities generate hazards directly through the creation of urban heat islands and indirectly because of their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, though it is the poor who tend to bear the brunt of disaster risk.