METHOD
The research project combines rigorous investigations and thinking with a systemic approach to creating an environmental and intergenerationally just system. The method includes a cultural and environmental framework for connected autonomous vehicles and semiotics in the public realm. It also explains how the research was developed and revealed. The data collection is a mixture of investigation and discourse analysis. It employs both literature reviews and transdisciplinary discourse techniques. The research also uses framework analysis, such as familiarisation, context immersion, thematic frameworks, drawings, experimentations, interpretations and syntheses.
Practice as a method
The symposium method is presented as a diagram. The stages of research development are depicted in grey bands. The system includes feedback loops, which are represented as dotted lines. The procedure is presented from left to right and from top to bottom, but the reality is that the development is nonsequential.
The method is part of the systemic nature of the project, and changes in emphasis between practice, method and methodology are part of the system research modules. The research combines thinking and writing with drawings and architectural multimedia to explore design, emphasis, nuance and balance to explore the field and to create new data. The systemic and transdisciplinary nature of the project requires a variety of practices, design studies, reviews and feedback from a diversity of disciplines through the symposia method. A sequence of symposia and research modules creates the thesis method; this spatial investigation is the fifth and final symposium required to complete the research. The overall process can be explained through a flow chart. The project development proceeds through three phases: context immersion, experimentation and synthesis.
The emphasis of each theme (environment, technology and semiotics) was designed to be balanced across the five symposia. The emphasis manifests itself through the nature of data produced from the symposia. The symposia focus on answering the research questions, and they provide opportunities for integration through dialogues and the presentation of ideas, drawings and research practices with multiple voices. The term 'systemic' relates to broader research as an exploratory tool.
Each research module specifically relates to providing data to answer the research questions with increasing complexity. The modules form part of the knowledge accumulation and data output when viewed individually. Symposia are designed to obtain data through dialogues that fill the research gaps unavailable in the literature reviews. The practice of transdisciplinary dialogue, critique and reflection provides valuable data, whereas informal transdisciplinary dialogue provides research richness. The ongoing research investigates and documents the process.
The five integrated modules of research supporting the symposium method are presented in a diagram. Each of the five symposia is linked and themed to answer the research sub-questions and to increase the complexity of the whole system. The arrows represent the general flow paths.
Once the data from the symposia are analysed, the aim is to provide new insights into the knowledge gaps and answer the research questions. In such processes, dialogues and discussions open new avenues of enquiry. Furthermore, the research questions are progressively refined in response to the feedback. Combined and considered through evolutionary thought and a systemic approach, new and significant data are created. The layers of data across the disciplines fill the gaps and form new insights, as shown in the adjacent introduction diagram.
This spatial study undertook an ergonomic study, lane width (spatial) calculation and capacity study of various connected autonomous renewable energy vehicles (CAREV) including complex parametric modelling of standard vehicles and narrower, smaller vehicles (CAREV-S). The study provided data about road capacity and assisted me in determining which areas could be changed to environmental and have active transport space uses. It culminates in an urban heat island study to understand the cumulative effects of CAREV-S and increased shading as a case study from which wider research could emerge.
The method can also be represented by a diagram. Looking at the parts of a study through a holistic lens results in innovation. One approach to performing this systemic approach is to reverse the sequence of the study in the form of a flow diagram, representing one direction above the line and the other below. Comparing the sequence and the systemic approach is innovative. This combined systemic environmental approach to redistributing space, changing vehicle typologies to suit the city and increasing spatial systems and advanced technologies is an innovation. The combinations and mediations between the parts are the innovations in this study.
An extensive diagram representing a systematic approach to the parts of the spatial study. The diagram is intended to be systematically conceptualised and viewed in multiple directions to obtain a deeper understanding of the spatial study. The thin crossing lines represent the systematic enquiry that looks across the research modules to check the feedback and processes as part of the assessment process.
The strategy accepts that shared and larger diversity vehicles can remain part of a resilient transport modality and increase the system's flexibility. The central argument presented in the spatial study is related to a shift in the design of the fleet, as it is related to the city representing an environmentally systemic approach. This is necessary to respond to climate change and improve public health outcomes. An opportunity arises through the change in the fleet from human driven to CAREV vehicles. The combined study identifies a shift in the design strategy and perspective regarding the relationship of the vehicle to the city and the environmental approach of this research. Further, this research attempts to articulate the parameter changes that shape the environmental aspects of the city. The systemic approach requires transdisciplinarity to facilitate industry and academic research. Finally, the systemic approach is an essential factor that may help shape the city's future.