This PhD scholarship is attached to an Australian Research Council DECRA project (undertaken by Dr Dorignon) investigating the implications of a shift to offsite construction for urban apartment housing delivery and consumption in Australia using a critical social science approach. Australia needs more quality, sustainable and affordable housing urgently, but the construction industry cannot meet the demand through traditional construction approaches. Offsite construction is being considered for its potential to increase employment opportunities, reduce carbon emissions and increase the quality and affordability of housing.
At the same time, urban consolidation and densification are a focus of Australian Federal and State policies. While there has been an increasing focus in Australia on the technological dimension of offsite construction, its social and lived experience implications have so far been overlooked. Contrasting four offsite industry trajectories internationally, the DECRA project analyses the relationships between residents' needs and expectations, housing policy, and construction industry practice in the application of offsite construction for apartment delivery.
The proposed PhD project will explore the lived experience implications of medium to high-density housing built using offsite construction. These could include a range of methods and processes as selected by the candidate, e.g. modular, volumetric, mass timber, etc. The PhD is expected to focus on how one or several of the following dimensions, or a closely related topic which could be proposed by the candidate, are being reshaped through offsite methods of apartment delivery:
- affordability
- climate-preparedness
- cultural and symbolic value
- encounters with materials and design
- everyday practices, including in relation to sustainability
- experiences across householder differences (e.g. age, gender, tenure status, etc.)
- home and homemaking
- social interactions
- well-being, liveability.
The successful candidate is expected to engage in extensive field-based research in Australia, with international case-study research encouraged in Sweden and/or in the UK. The PhD project will be closely aligned to the DECRA project and will therefore involve collaboration with industry and government partners. The research will inform research and practice in the scaling up of delivery and normalisation of offsite construction in the Australian housing industry. The outcomes may lead to further collaboration with policymakers and industry. Further the successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the RMIT University research community, and in particular to the Post Carbon Research Centre of which it is expected the candidate will be an active member.
