Papers by Dr Michael Kane
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
As economies are transformed by growth in the knowledge-intensive economy, this thesis
examines h... more As economies are transformed by growth in the knowledge-intensive economy, this thesis
examines how urban intensification is impacting on post-industrial cities. While a global
perspective is considered, a case study of Perth, Western Australia, is used. This thesis
proposes that cities in post-industrial economies are characterised and driven by a multilayered
intensification of knowledge. This includes:
• intensification or agglomeration of knowledge economic activity;
• intensification of human capital knowledge; and
• intensification of the means of knowledge exchange i.e. Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) systems and transport.
The research concludes that post-industrial cities such as Perth are, in respect of the
growing knowledge-intensive economy, returning to a monocentric urban structure. This is
because of a market demand for urban centres that both facilitate economic agglomeration
by increasing tacit knowledge exchange through face-to-face interaction and provide scale
and knowledge intensity in the urban labour and service markets.
The polycentric premise of accepted metropolitan planning is therefore questioned. An
alternative urban structure is proposed for metropolitan scale cities, which includes a more
targeted and focused polycentric approach. This is based on the intensification and
densification of key urban centres around universities as the complementary centres for the
central CBD.
The intensification in cities is also shown to be occurring with urban transport. Consistent
with the worldwide trend away from spatially inefficient private motor vehicle use, Perth is
seeing an increase in spatially intense forms of transport with knowledge-intensive
professional workers. It is concluded that walking in dense urban centres is the fundamental
means of creating face-to-face interaction. In a knowledge-intensive economy, reliant on
scale in labour and service markets, capacity for dense centres is provided by high capacity
spatially efficient transport, of which rail is the most spatially efficient.
This thesis is significant in that it suggests the need to rethink both the underlying premises
for metropolitan spatial and transport planning in post-industrial cities.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Conference Presentations by Dr Michael Kane
Worldwide population growth and economic agglomeration is driving increasing urban density
within... more Worldwide population growth and economic agglomeration is driving increasing urban density
within larger metropolitan conurbations. Population growth and housing diversity and
affordability issues in Queensland have seen an increasing demand for more diverse and
higher density development. Under Queensland’s flexible planning regulatory provisions, a
level of ‘medium’ to ‘high density’ is being achieved by a focus on fine-grained urban design,
low scale development, lot diversity, and delivery of single dwelling products.
This for Queensland (and Australia) has been an unprecedented innovation in urban and
dwelling design. Dwellings are being delivered on lots with zero regulatory minimum sizes
providing for a range of new products including ‘apartments on the ground’. Initially the
province of special State zoned ‘Priority Development Areas’ (PDAs) planning mechanisms
and design provisions are also now being mainstreamed in local government planning
schemes across Queensland.
This paper reviews recent and nascent examples of PDA development projects and local
government planning schemes, and examines fine-grained urbanism principles, identifiable
within historical ‘vernacular suburbanism’. The concept of a preferable ‘natural density’
linking human scale built form with walkability and access to ecological amenity is also
considered.
The paper challenges the notion that (sub)urban development needs to be of a higher scale
to achieve density and diversity aspirations and suggests multiple dwellings could become
unnecessary outside major city centres.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Dr Michael Kane
examines how urban intensification is impacting on post-industrial cities. While a global
perspective is considered, a case study of Perth, Western Australia, is used. This thesis
proposes that cities in post-industrial economies are characterised and driven by a multilayered
intensification of knowledge. This includes:
• intensification or agglomeration of knowledge economic activity;
• intensification of human capital knowledge; and
• intensification of the means of knowledge exchange i.e. Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) systems and transport.
The research concludes that post-industrial cities such as Perth are, in respect of the
growing knowledge-intensive economy, returning to a monocentric urban structure. This is
because of a market demand for urban centres that both facilitate economic agglomeration
by increasing tacit knowledge exchange through face-to-face interaction and provide scale
and knowledge intensity in the urban labour and service markets.
The polycentric premise of accepted metropolitan planning is therefore questioned. An
alternative urban structure is proposed for metropolitan scale cities, which includes a more
targeted and focused polycentric approach. This is based on the intensification and
densification of key urban centres around universities as the complementary centres for the
central CBD.
The intensification in cities is also shown to be occurring with urban transport. Consistent
with the worldwide trend away from spatially inefficient private motor vehicle use, Perth is
seeing an increase in spatially intense forms of transport with knowledge-intensive
professional workers. It is concluded that walking in dense urban centres is the fundamental
means of creating face-to-face interaction. In a knowledge-intensive economy, reliant on
scale in labour and service markets, capacity for dense centres is provided by high capacity
spatially efficient transport, of which rail is the most spatially efficient.
This thesis is significant in that it suggests the need to rethink both the underlying premises
for metropolitan spatial and transport planning in post-industrial cities.
Conference Presentations by Dr Michael Kane
within larger metropolitan conurbations. Population growth and housing diversity and
affordability issues in Queensland have seen an increasing demand for more diverse and
higher density development. Under Queensland’s flexible planning regulatory provisions, a
level of ‘medium’ to ‘high density’ is being achieved by a focus on fine-grained urban design,
low scale development, lot diversity, and delivery of single dwelling products.
This for Queensland (and Australia) has been an unprecedented innovation in urban and
dwelling design. Dwellings are being delivered on lots with zero regulatory minimum sizes
providing for a range of new products including ‘apartments on the ground’. Initially the
province of special State zoned ‘Priority Development Areas’ (PDAs) planning mechanisms
and design provisions are also now being mainstreamed in local government planning
schemes across Queensland.
This paper reviews recent and nascent examples of PDA development projects and local
government planning schemes, and examines fine-grained urbanism principles, identifiable
within historical ‘vernacular suburbanism’. The concept of a preferable ‘natural density’
linking human scale built form with walkability and access to ecological amenity is also
considered.
The paper challenges the notion that (sub)urban development needs to be of a higher scale
to achieve density and diversity aspirations and suggests multiple dwellings could become
unnecessary outside major city centres.
examines how urban intensification is impacting on post-industrial cities. While a global
perspective is considered, a case study of Perth, Western Australia, is used. This thesis
proposes that cities in post-industrial economies are characterised and driven by a multilayered
intensification of knowledge. This includes:
• intensification or agglomeration of knowledge economic activity;
• intensification of human capital knowledge; and
• intensification of the means of knowledge exchange i.e. Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) systems and transport.
The research concludes that post-industrial cities such as Perth are, in respect of the
growing knowledge-intensive economy, returning to a monocentric urban structure. This is
because of a market demand for urban centres that both facilitate economic agglomeration
by increasing tacit knowledge exchange through face-to-face interaction and provide scale
and knowledge intensity in the urban labour and service markets.
The polycentric premise of accepted metropolitan planning is therefore questioned. An
alternative urban structure is proposed for metropolitan scale cities, which includes a more
targeted and focused polycentric approach. This is based on the intensification and
densification of key urban centres around universities as the complementary centres for the
central CBD.
The intensification in cities is also shown to be occurring with urban transport. Consistent
with the worldwide trend away from spatially inefficient private motor vehicle use, Perth is
seeing an increase in spatially intense forms of transport with knowledge-intensive
professional workers. It is concluded that walking in dense urban centres is the fundamental
means of creating face-to-face interaction. In a knowledge-intensive economy, reliant on
scale in labour and service markets, capacity for dense centres is provided by high capacity
spatially efficient transport, of which rail is the most spatially efficient.
This thesis is significant in that it suggests the need to rethink both the underlying premises
for metropolitan spatial and transport planning in post-industrial cities.
within larger metropolitan conurbations. Population growth and housing diversity and
affordability issues in Queensland have seen an increasing demand for more diverse and
higher density development. Under Queensland’s flexible planning regulatory provisions, a
level of ‘medium’ to ‘high density’ is being achieved by a focus on fine-grained urban design,
low scale development, lot diversity, and delivery of single dwelling products.
This for Queensland (and Australia) has been an unprecedented innovation in urban and
dwelling design. Dwellings are being delivered on lots with zero regulatory minimum sizes
providing for a range of new products including ‘apartments on the ground’. Initially the
province of special State zoned ‘Priority Development Areas’ (PDAs) planning mechanisms
and design provisions are also now being mainstreamed in local government planning
schemes across Queensland.
This paper reviews recent and nascent examples of PDA development projects and local
government planning schemes, and examines fine-grained urbanism principles, identifiable
within historical ‘vernacular suburbanism’. The concept of a preferable ‘natural density’
linking human scale built form with walkability and access to ecological amenity is also
considered.
The paper challenges the notion that (sub)urban development needs to be of a higher scale
to achieve density and diversity aspirations and suggests multiple dwellings could become
unnecessary outside major city centres.