ISSUE 11 | SEPTEMBER 2024 |
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Kaya, The long weekend is just around the corner, and we have got you covered with plenty to read, watch, listen to, and think about with the latest issue of Urban Scrawl.
This month, explore international inspiration from Hogeweyk Dementia Village in The Netherlands, Taiwan’s digital democracy, and Sweden’s pioneering modular housing industry. In research bites, discover what earned Perth the #25 spot in the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index, and dive into the latest Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre’s Gender Equity Insights report.
Plus, we’re excited to feature our first guest op-ed by Professor Sanjit Roy from ECU, offering his expertise on the impact of new technologies on services to explore the future of Australian healthcare with humanoid nurses.
By sharing ideas and opinions, we can continue to advocate and challenge for change. Is there any research you think we should know about? A great new book or podcast? Or a smart solution to an urban problem you have seen in other cities? Let me know by emailing francien.boom@committeeforperth.com.au.
Happy reading, Francien Boom Committee for Perth |
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INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION |
In 2023, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated that approximately 411,100 people in Australia were living with dementia. As the population ages, the need for purpose-built residential aged care facilities continues to grow. A pioneering example of this is Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands, the world’s first gated village designed specifically for people with advanced dementia.
Founded in 2009 by two nurses who wanted a better alternative to traditional nursing homes for their parents, Hogeweyk allows residents to live seemingly normal lives while being discreetly cared for by staff. The village is staffed by nearly twice as many caregivers as residents, with staff working in roles such as shop assistants and hairdressers. For example, a resident might interact with a nurse working incognito behind the supermarket counter.
Hogeweyk’s approach emphasises the “deinstitutionalisation of care and the need to emancipate people living with dementia and include them in society". This model has led to psychological and physical benefits for residents who are taking less medication, eating better and living longer.
Inspired by Hogeweyk, similar villages have been established, including a 1950s-style village in Switzerland and Korongee Dementia Village in Tasmania. |
THE CHANGING FACE OF DEMOCRACY |
If you could engage with public affairs and influence policymaking, would you?
Taiwan has demonstrated crowd-sourced policymaking and civic engagement in play through its digital democracy platforms, such as vTaiwan. The origin of Taiwan’s digital democracy spans back to 2014, following its Sunflower Movement – a significant protest opposing a trade agreement between Taiwan and China. The movement highlighted the need for greater transparency and public participation, leading to the launch of vTaiwan.
One of vTaiwan’s early successes involved regulating Uber, which polarised public opinion. The platform facilitated a debate that led to key recommendations, such as fair regulation and driver registration, which were adopted. Today, vTaiwan continues to serve as a public engagement platform to facilitate public discussion, influence legislation, promote transparency and enhance civic engagement.
Another democratic innovation, join.gov.tw, enables citizens to submit petitions. If a petition receives at least 5,000 signatures, it triggers face-to-face meetings with relevant ministers to explore how the petition’s proposals can be incorporated into policymaking. Taiwan’s ban on plastic straws in 2019 resulted from a petition by a 17-year-old girl. |
EASIER THAN AN IKEA FLAT PACK |
Modular homes, typically built off-site and assembled on the property, offer cost- and time-efficient alternatives to traditional building methods.
Perth is slowly catching on to the growing popularity of modular homes, with more modular builders entering the local market. The State Government is also looking to these pre-fabricated models to help address the housing crisis by piloting modular tiny houses for social housing, with four modular homes unveiled in Spearwood earlier this year.
With the ongoing housing crisis, there is much to learn from successful international examples. In Scandinavian countries like Sweden, modular construction is a key part of the housing industry. Sweden is often regarded as a global leader in off-site manufacturing, with as much as 84% of its detached homes incorporating prefabricated elements. The country’s abundance of slow-growing, high-quality timber, along with its climate conditions, are cited as major factors driving the popularity of prefabricated housing.
Integrating more prefabricated elements in housing construction could significantly accelerate housing supply to meet growing demand. |
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PLANET, PEOPLE, PROFIT &
PROGRESS INDEX |
Perth has topped the Australian cities in the Arcadis global Sustainable Cities Index 2024. The report, which examines 100 cities, assesses 67 sustainability metrics based on the pillars of planet, people, profit and progress.
Perth is ranked 25th overall, scoring 61 for planet, 22 people, 23 profit and 28 progress. Criteria related to planet includes immediate needs of citizens (such as green spaces), long-term impacts (greenhouse gas emissions), investment in low-carbon infrastructure, as well as city resilience (natural disaster risk), and green policy. The report suggests there is potential for progress by addressing waste treatment management, air pollution, and availability of EV chargers.
Read the full report here. |
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Did you know Australia has one of the highest shares of part-time employment across OECD countries? That’s one of the key insights from the ninth report in the Gender Equity Insights Series from the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) released earlier this month. It found part time roles have dropped by 3.2pp in the past two years, and employees are increasingly seeking flexibility and prioritising employment opportunities that provide work schedules and locations that fit their needs.
Key actions the report recommends include: Normalise part-time and flexible work arrangements in the workplace. Implement and maintain effective workplace policies and processes to guard against unconscious biases and systemic penalties against part-time employees. Explore hybrid and remote work options to attract and retain part-time employees who need flexibility in their work location.
Read the full report here.
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Committee for Perth’s member community holds a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and passion for Perth. In our guest column, we invite members to share their insights and passions on topics that resonate with them, allowing voices within our community to explore ideas, challenge perspectives, and spark conversations. |
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Sanjit K. Roy is Professor of Marketing and Service Science and the Vice Chancellor's Professorial Research Fellow at Edith Cowan University. His research interests include Service Science, Customer Experience Management, and Impact of New Technologies (i.e., AI, robotics) on Services.
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ARE HUMANOID NURSES THE FUTURE IN AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE? |
As the healthcare industry worldwide enters the fifth industrial revolution, humanoid nurses are increasingly being deployed across the sector. To address the challenges the healthcare sector faces and provide seamless patient care, human nurses and humanoid nurses are interacting. The human nurses and humanoid nurses engage and collaborate on a regular basis with the aim of increased patient well-being. These interactions have the potential to revolutionise the healthcare sector with the integration of digital technology, biological technology and physical technology.
For example, ‘Pepper’, a humanoid service robot manufactured by Softbank Robotics, was deployed at the Townsville Hospital in Queensland. Pepper was primarily introduced to lessen the workload of human nurses and to conduct functional and mechanical jobs. This in turn freed up time for human nurses to focus on patients and provide care with empathy and better communication therefore reducing psychological discomfort.
Empathy is the cornerstone of healthcare service; it is crucial to satisfy the basic patient need: being understood by healthcare professionals. And the human-machine collaboration can lead to compassionate healthcare service delivery to improve patient well-being. Humanoid nurses can support the onboarding process of patients by collecting patients’ data, managing medical records and processing patient related documents. Humanoid nurses can also provide 24/7 care to the patients and seamlessly monitor patients’ health and collect vital data. They can even alert the nurses in real time in case of any emergency and free up time for nurses to focus on the well-being of patients and their overall experience.
Humanoid nurses are touted as a promising intervention to complement the quality of healthcare and nursing services in Australia given its ageing population. The need for such humanoid nurses is felt in various areas including hospitals, assistive care, rehabilitation services and medical diagnosis. The need for humanoid nurses in hospitals escalated during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Humanoid nurses were used in many countries to collect patient information and reduced the need for human contact.
In Rwanda a hospital used robots to measure temperature and deliver medical supplies. The Australian healthcare sector can take lessons from such deployments and use humanoid nurses to provide personalised patient care. |
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Research from CSIRO has revealed new Australian homes are up to 50% more airtight than those tested in 2015. This increased airtightness leads to greater comfort, lower energy bills, and healthier indoor air quality in both houses and apartments. |
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As the long weekend approaches and you find yourself with a bit of extra time, here’s what we’ll be tuning into, watching, and reading. |
WATCH: “Brisbane is different to Sydney, it’s different to Melbourne and it’s different to Perth… So how do we reflect that in a stadium design?” The Brisbane Design Alliance explore how to develop Brisbane as a vibrant and thriving global city beyond the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. |
READ: AECOM’s Dr. Beverley Stinson says population growth and urbanisation, combined with climate change will pose unprecendeted challenges. This Australian Water Association article explains how collaboration will be key to meeting global water challenges. |
LISTEN: 99% Invisible podcast series Not Built For This episode, ‘Maximum Temperature’ talks about how climate change is wreaking a different kind of havoc in hot places such as Phoenix, Arizona. |
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Sometimes the best research comes from people who are living and breathing a city, like Fremantle Chamber of Commerce CEO Chrissie Maus who shares her Fremantle secrets. |
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It’s the weekend. Are you an early riser or lazy starter? What’s your typical Perth weekend morning?
I love an early wake up. I start the day with a real Lemon juice from the Fremantle Markets, and a cheeky little sweet nibble for breakfast, before heading to the beach or yoga. Will you be eating out this weekend? And where?
I absolutely will be. I eat out, more than at home. We are so spoiled for choice here in Fremantle, however, my current favourites are Vin Populi and Ode to Sirens. What will you be listening to? Reading? Watching?
I read a book a week, so the list is long! My go-to listen is anything that makes me want to dance. I’m also a sucker for an 80’s power ballad! What’s your favourite street in Perth? Bannister Street, Fremantle - the street between Market Street and Pakenham Streets. All my faves are along here! I’m a regular at Lions & Tigers!
The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Perth?
Napping! My weeks are huge and I have events or speaking engagements almost every night of the week. So I live for a Sunday nap!
Is there a particular project or development in Fremantle that you are excited about?
Absolutely, the historic Elders Wool Stores, once central to WA's wool trade, these are being transformed by leading developer and heritage specialist, H-U.
Based on your experience as CEO of the Chapel Street Precinct Association, what lessons do you believe Perth could learn? To be unique and brave. It is my experience that ‘luck favours the brave’. |
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FROM THE COMMITTEE FOR PERTH RESEARCH LIBRARY |
Diversifying Western Australia’s economy has been the state’s mantra for many years. The FACT Base Special Report – Perth as a resilient economy (2017) explores the evolution of Perth’s economy. It looks at its resilience to external shocks, and the emerging industries crucial to its future. Covering key periods like post-WWII and various resource booms, the report emphasises the need for continued innovation and economic diversification. As Perth approaches a population of 3.5 million, its future success depends on adaptability and leveraging new industries to maintain resilience in a rapidly changing global market.
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Committee for Perth conducts its work on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar. We recognise their peoples' ongoing connection to land, culture and community and in doing so, pay our respects to Elders past and present. |
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