Dr Scott Hawken
Dr Hawken is an Urban Designer, Landscape Architect and Landscape Archaeologist with local and international experience in professional and academic contexts. His work focuses on the agency of open space as a variable in the spatial makeup of the city. Open space networks and patterns are infrastructures in their own right and will increase in importance as cities around the world continue to develop according to dispersed development patterns.
Current Projects include an assessment of urban landscapes and ecological infrastructure in the rapidly developing delta cities of Yangon and Ho Chi Minh City. Cities in delta environments face special challenges associated with climate change and urbanisation. Hawken is working with international scholars on this project which aims to deliver cost-effective options for providing ecosystem services to the expanding populations of such mega-cities. Emerging Asian mega-cities will double in size over the next few decades. The implementation of ecological infrastructure as part of their open space pattern is essential for the future liveability and sustainability of these cities. His work uses a synergistic approach using advanced geospatial technologies and innovative fieldwork approaches within the Southeast Asian region.
Hawken has also been a key member of the Greater Angkor Project. The project is an international collaboration between Sydney University, the École française d’Extrême-Orient and APSARA, the Cambodian authority charged with managing the archaeological heritage of Angkor. The Greater Angkor Project is guided by an archaeological approach to understanding urban development. Current approaches to urban sustainability are biased towards ‘future gazing’ and lack the rigor of an archaeological time perspective. Such long term perspectives provides insights into the possibilities and consequences of future development scenarios in relation to ecological systems, and also the inertia and legacy of massive urban structures.
Scott's research covers four areas: Landscape Archaeology, Urban Ecology, Smart Cities and Urban Design
Landscape Archaeology
Scott completed his PhD in archaeology on the role of role of open space in the low density urban environment of Greater Angkor, Cambodia the largest city of the pre-industrial world. Using and re-interpreting high end geospatial methods developed for the study of industrial urbanism, the study recovered various spatial signatures that provide insights into the spatial evolution of the metropolis over a 3000 year period. Deliverables include a range of digital maps and a series of qualitative and quantitative spatial analyses generated through analysis of remote sensed features in a GIS. The research informs understanding of both past and present environments. The findings are highly significant in the context of the rapidly developing modern town of Siem Reap as it emerges from the massive shadow of Angkor to irreversibly change the landscape. The findings will be delivered to APSARA - the local management authority for Angkor Archaeological Park.
Urban Ecology
Scott is currently working with a group of international scholars on planning ecological infrastructure for emerging megacities in the delta environments of Southeast Asia. The work involves the analysis and classification of ecosystems in the cities of Yangon and Ho Chi Minh City using very high resolution remote sensed imagery such as Worldview and Ikonos. Proposed outcomes from the research include a decision support system to help plan ecological infrastructure in the face of increasing development pressure. The optimisation of such ecological systems within the expanding cities will help insure their integrity and increase the liveability and sustainability of these future megacities. Key to achieving this outcome is combining GIS systems with ecological informatics. The project involves partnerships with the Institute of Environmental Studies UNSW, the Centre for Remote Image Sensing and Processing NUS, and with the innovator of the Desakota concept - Prof Terry McGee.
Smart Cities and Urban Design
Dr Hawken co-convenes the Smart Cities Research Cluster at UNSW with Dr Hoon Han. He is currently analysing economic heterogeneity within central Sydney using 3D GIS. Work is aimed at identifying clusters of specific industries in a 3D environment. The work will also produce scientific understanding of mixed-use environments and their relationship with different geographic districts and building types.
- geospatial analysis of metropolitan and urban landscapes
- remote sensing of cities
- rapid urbanisation in Asia
- Desakota landscapes of Southeast Asia
- landscape heritage and landscape archaeology of Southeast Asia
- urban ecology
- urban design
- ecological informatics
- urban landscape design
Book Chapters:
Han, H. H., Hawken, S., & Williams, A. (2015). SMART CCTV and the management of urban space. In Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Creative Technologies. IGI. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-8205-4
Hawken, S. G. (2015). Human Rights, Heritage, and the Rural–Urban Transition in Southeast Asia. In A. Durbach, & L. Lixinski (Eds.), Heritage, Culture and Rights: Challenging Legal Discourses. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Conference Papers:
Hawken, S. G., Metternicht, G., Chang, C. W., Liew, S. C., & Gupta, A. (2014). Remote Sensing of Urban Ecological Infrastructure in Desakota Environments: A review of current approaches. In 35TH Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2014) Vol. CD rom - Session G2. Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar: ACRS. doi:10.13140/2.1.3202.9768
Films/ TV/ Media:
Hawken, S. G., & Green, N. (2014). Angkor Wat's Hidden Megacity, Jungle Atlantis Episode 1 of 2 [Video]. London: BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jmx7j
Journal Articles:
Hawken, S. G. (2014). Sydney Olympic Park 2030: the city in a park. Landscape Architecture Australia, (141), 21-22. Retrieved from http://architectureau.com/articles/sydney-olympic-park-2030-the-city-in-a-park/#img=0
Hawken, S. G. (2014). Banking biodiversity: The Australian Plantbank Garden. Landscape architecture Australia, (143), 52-58. Retrieved from http://architectureau.com/articles/the-australian-plantbank-garden/
Hawken, S. G., H., & hawken. (2013). Designs of Kings and Farmers: Landscape Systems of the Greater Angkor Urban Complex. Asian Perspectives: the journal of archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, 52(2), 347-367. doi:10.1353/asi.2013.0010
Hawken, S. G. (2012). Walla Mulla Park. Landscape architecture Australia, (134), 59-62. Retrieved from http://architectureau.com/articles/wall-mulla-park/
Hawken, S. (2011). Paddington Reservoir: a new public space for Sydney. Topos: the international journal of landscape architecture and urban design, 2011(77), 78-83. Retrieved from http://www.toposmagazine.com/previous-issues/magazine/topos-77.html
Hawken, S. G. (2011). Urban Forests in the New Carbon Economy: the Regenesis model. Landscape architecture Australia, (130), 15-16. Retrieved from http://architectureau.com/articles/urban-forests-in-the-new-carbon-economy-the-regenesis-model/#img=2
Theses/ Dissertations:
Hawken, S. G. (2012). Metropolis of Ricefields : A Topographic Classification of a Dispersed Urban Complex. (PhD Thesis, University of Sydney). Retrieved from http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4165240~S4
PhD (USyd), BLArch Hons University Medal (UNSW)
The quality of Scott Hawken’s research has been recognised through various awards and scholarships.
In 2013 and 2014 he has received UNSW faculty scholarships to research rapid urbanisation within the delta cities of Yangon, Myanmar and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He is working with a team of international scholars to classify, plan and design ecological infrastructure in these emerging megacities.
In 2007 he received the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, awarded to talented Australians in the arts. In the same year he also received funding from the Carlyle Greenwell Bequest awarded for archaeological research, while in 2008 he was awarded the Endeavour Research Fellowship in order to evaluate the management of the archaeological landscape by contemporary Khmer communities. This project was based upon the international imperatives for the conservation of cultural landscapes as identified by UNESCO.
Scott was a member of the winning team for the International Urban Design Competition for Barangaroo, with Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture , Hill Thalis Urban Projects and Paul Berkemeier Architecture. The highly significant competition received 140 international entries with competitors including Richard Rogers and Morphosis.
Scott Hawken has worked and collaborated with various well respected design consultancies in Sydney including Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture, Hill + Thalis Urban Projects, Terragram, Room 413, CAB Consulting and the NSW Government Architect. While working with the NSW Government architect he was seconded to China where he worked on major projects in various provinces.
Hawken, S. (2014, October 15). Angkor Wat’s Hidden Megacity, Jungle Atlantis Episode 1 of 2. BBC 2. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jmx7j.