ARCH5006: Transit Oriented Design Tutor: Munira Mackay ASSESSMENTS ONE TO THREE ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW You will identify a topic of interest within the field of TOD; suggestions are below. You will research within this broad TOD topic area and develop a question that you would like to investigate in your abstract, presentation and essay for assessments 1 through to 3. TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT Suggested topic areas: • Amenity and quality of experience necessary to enhance and encourage greater use of public transit • The qualities of the public realm that lead to increased walkability within a Transit- Orientated Development (TOD) precinct • Architectural qualities, and diversity of land uses that are required to encourage people to live in transit precincts • Building typologies and residential densities and that are most appropriate to different types of TOD precincts • The different transit modes and the patterns and morphologies of urban development that best support the • The role of TOD in the urban revitalisation process • The use of smart technology in encouraging greater use and acceptability of mass transit • The economic, social and environmental benefits of TOD • The role of TOD as a fundamental structuring device for cities ESSENTIAL READINGS Curtis, C., Renne, J. & Bertolini, L.eds. 2009. Transit Oriented Development. Making it Happen. UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Kenworthy, J. & Newman P. 2015. The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Away from Car-Based Planning. Washington DC: Island Press. Altoon, R. A. 2011. Urban Transformations: Transit Oriented Development and the Sustainable City. Images Publishing Walker, J. 2012. Human Transit. Washington, DC: Island Press Other readings Jacobs, J. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House. Jacobs, A. 1993. Great Streets. MIT Press. Kunstler J.H. 1994. The Geography of Nowhere: Remaking our Everyday World for the 21st Century. Free Press. Newman, P., Beatley T. & Boyer H. 2009. Resilient Cities Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. Washington DC: Island Press. Landry, C. 2012. The Art of City Making. Routledge Dunphy, R. & Cervero, R. 2005. Developing around Transit: Strategies and solutions that work. Urban Land Institute. Bohl, C. 2002. Place Making. Urban Land Institute. Calthorpe, P. 2013. Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change. Washington, DC: Island Press. Gehl, J. 2010. Cities for People. Washington DC: Island Press. Newman, P. & Kenworthy, J. 1999. Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Washington, DC: Island Press. Bernick, M. & Cervero R. 1996. Transit Villages in the 21st Century. McGraw-Hill. Speck, J. 2013. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time. North Point Press. Dittmar, H. & Ohland, G. eds. 2004. The New Transit Town: best practices in transit- oriented development. Washington DC: Island Press. Assessment One: Abstract (20% of the total marks) Week 6 - Submitted via Turnitin BRIEF The purpose of this first assessment is to establish your research by proposing a topic, doing some preliminary research and planning your research project. Your first task is to choose a topic. The starting point is to identify an area of research. You should select first a broad area that has your particular interest. Explore it and try to determine some of the issues. This will help you determine a specific research problem or topic, something for you to research and discuss. Keep in mind that this unit requires you to use your critical and analytical skills. For this assessment, you are required to present an abstract that: • Explains the context of your research and key themes • Explains the issue you are interested in and what you will research (your research problem) • Ends with a statement of the main objective of your research You are essentially presenting the reader with what to expect from your research. You are also required to present a set of objectives that you will address during your research. The objectives should demonstrate that you know how you will proceed with your research. You should have one main objective and two or three sub-objectives. Finally, you are to submit a Literature Worksheet, with each reference annotated. This means you will have to briefly describe in one paragraph the main argument and relevance of this reference for the essay. These may be the work of architects, theorists, academics or other suitable authors. You should look at them from a critical point of view. For instance, you may agree or disagree with certain points or you might identify weak or intriguing arguments that you might further research. You are to include annotations for at least five pieces of work. FORMAT Your submission should have: a research title, an abstract, a set of objectives and a filled up literature worksheet. You may refine your title for the other assessments, but the topic should remain the same throughout. You must include in-text referencing and reference list/ bibliography. Your abstract and objectives should act as a detailed essay plan. It should outline your broad topic area and your particular area of interest within your theorist’s scope; and should introduce and define your research question and argument. This research plan will identify the main points you will discuss in your presentation and essay. SUBMISSION CRITERIA • 500 word Abstract with an additional literature worksheet • Chicago referencing 1. Abstract will consist of: 1. Research Question: within the broader theme of Transit Oriented Design A research topic can question any one of the following aspects and support functions of the built environment in relation to how people undertake and experience their daily lives in the city. • structure and cohesiveness of the built environment • choice and support for a movement mode (walking, cycling, public transit, private vehicles) • built form type and scale within the context • community health • economics and efficiency of development and quality of the architecture • a place’s culture and character • environmental responsiveness (quality of 'greenness') 2. Significance of the research question 3. Key objectives (based on the research question) 4. Methodology to be used for exploration 5. Critical theorists/literature selection 6. Selection and suitability of case studies (local and international) 7. Understanding of the site and the context Marking Criteria • Research Question • Significance of the research question • Key objectives (based on the research question) • Methodology to be used for exploration • Identification of critical theorists/literature • Selection and suitability of case studies and the site Assessment Two: Oral presentation (30% of the total marks) Week 11 - Oral presentation with visuals in class BRIEF Please note: the topic for this assessment remains the SAME as in assessment 1. Now that you have selected a topic in Assessment 1, it is now time to explore it. You should research your topic thoroughly using different types of sources. You might want to determine a set of key words relating to your topic to help you narrow down your research. Nowadays, technology allows us to find a lot of information at the click of the mouse, but for your research to have some academic value, it is important for you to evaluate your sources before you use them. Bell (2000, 94) suggests the following questions to help you evaluate your source: • Have you only drawn on source material that supports your point of view, without making efforts to consult a range of sources? • Have you really made an effort to carry out a critical examination of the evidence? • Is the research well designed and are the data-collecting instruments suitable for the purpose? • Do you see any terms that suggest partisanship or bias? You must also remember to record the details of your sources and to reference them when you use them. For this assessment you are required to present the research you have done on the topic you selected in Assessment 1. You should start by presenting your topic and provide some context to it. Don't forget to mention your research problem that forms the basis of your research. You must also present and address the objectives you submitted in Assessment one, you may find they have altered or changed in which case you will need to justify those change. Finally you should draw some key conclusions based on your research. Note: this is not a presentation only of your abstract. It should include key findings from your case studies and a brief explanation of the main body of work showing your analysis, commensurate with this being Week 11 of a study period in a Masters level course. FORMAT 5 minutes oral presentation. The use of relevant visual materials is strongly encouraged. This not only makes for a more interesting presentation, and the possibility of visual analysis, but it will also assist you in structuring the oral segment of your presentation. The Oral will cover: 1. Research question and case studies 2. Literature review 3. Development of a framework for research 4. Data collection based on the developed framework SUBMISSION 5 minutes maximum ORAL with a short visual presentation to explain key concepts. MARKING CRITERIA • Evidence of critical evaluation and analysis. • Logical development of presentation. • Quality of research sources and diversity of references used. • Quality of presentation style and visual communication of topic. Assignment 3: Scholarly research essay (50% of the total marks) Week 15 - Submission via Turnitin BRIEF Working through assessments 1 and 2, you should have researched your topic quite extensively. You are now asked to present your research in written form with a maximum of 3500 words. Make sure that your essay includes the following elements. • Title page containing: -Research Title: The title should clearly describe the proposed research topic in 10 to 15 words. The title should be useful to your readers. It should be factual rather than fanciful and should hint at the nature and context of your research. -Your name -The name of the unit -The date of submission • An Abstract: An abstract is a brief summary of the essay with a maximum of 500 words that tells readers what to expect. Booth et al (2003, 219) state that ‘an abstract is a brief summary that tells readers what to expect. It should be shorter than introduction, but still do three things that an introduction does: it states the research problem, it announces key themes, it ends with a statement of the main objective or with a launching point that anticipates the main point in the full text.’ • Main body containing: - Introduction Use the introduction to provide an overview and set the problem. Later sections can fill in the detail. In general, the introduction should state what you propose to do (your main objective), where your research is situated in a broader context, why it is significant, and a brief outline of what each section in the proposal, to give the reader an overview of the whole document. -Objectives Provide a clear and concise statement of the research objectives you wish to address. What do you wish to achieve through this research? You should have one Main Objective, and two to three Sub-Objectives. -Background Provide information on the field of knowledge your research sits in. Report on the specific background knowledge you identified as important. What is the context of your research, what are the problems you have identified that informed your research? -Your research Describe (in diagrams/sketches/text) what you have learned i.e. what themes have emerged from your analysis of the material you have reviewed. For each specific area that you have studied: a) Specify what methods/techniques you have used. b) What you have gained from your research c) Draw conclusions as to what areas of background you have synthesised. -Significance The significance can be developed by asking the question ‘So what?’ What is the significance of the research, to your discipline? What knowledge are you looking at in a new way? -Conclusions Conclusions are different from a summary. The conclusion is a summary of the arguments presented in the body and how these relate to the essay question with a restatement of the main point of view presented in the introduction in response to the topic and what the implications of this view are or what might happen as a result (http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions). • References You should include any references you have used in your research proposal. All referencing (text and images) should follow the Chicago referencing system. FORMAT An A4 essay (not a report) of 3,500 words (+/- about 10%), plus supporting images and graphics and including in-text referencing and reference list/bibliography. You must use your research along with relevant selected images and findings from assessments 1 and 2 but you should develop further what you have already submitted. The essay should be thorough and include a structure and the headings as stated below. 1. Abstract (revised if necessary) 2. Research Question 3. Significance of research 4. Key objectives 5. Theoretical/conceptual framework 6. Methodology 7. Site/case studies 8. Data analysis and synthesis 9. Findings 10. Revisiting and critiquing the theoretical/conceptual framework based on the findings 11. Conclusion 12. References MARKING CRITERIA • Data Analysis and synthesis • Outcomes/findings • Revisiting and critiquing the conceptual/theoretical framework based on the findings • Communication, content coverage, style, presentation.