PUNIC INFLUENCE IN THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF ROMAN VOLUBILIS (MOROCCO)

Roman archaeologists in North Africa have assumed that there is a generic Romano-African house, imitating the style in Rome, but perhaps with Greek influence. I argue here that at Volubilis we can detect a local tradition, drawn from a Punic heritage, which developed alongside the acceptance of Romanitas. That Volubilis appears distinct may be a product of our sample of data and other regional traditions may await identification. The relationship between architecture and action is discussed, especially in relation to seclusion. I suggest that further excavation of Punic houses in the western Mediterranean will reveal links between developments in Greek and Punic domestic architecture.     

Integrating Landsat and Land Systems for Cover Maps in Southern Inland Queensland

Digital analysis of Landsat data is applied to up-dating land cover maps for the Goondiwindi district of southern, inland Queensland. The imagery was paired with climax cover maps obtained from land systems reports with analysis conducted separately for each of three climax cover types (open forest, woodland and open woodland). Computer classification using this approach produced readily interpreted and reliable results. This work demonstrates that Landsat can be used in conjunction with existing, land systems derived maps to produce data that combine the advantages of two approaches to environmental survey, the former being based on current land cover/land use and the latter on the original environment and its land use potential.     

Is Von Thunen Alive and Well? A Transport-Cost Surface for South Australian Wheat

Economic geography has undergone a number of paradigm shifts since the Von Thunen model was at the peak of its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. This study examines the cost of moving wheat from farm to ship in South Australia and constructs a transport-cost surface for the season 1991/92. Transport costs still exert a very important influence on farm returns and land values. Governments and other authorities, when making decisions in the name of rationalisation, or microeconomic reform, should examine very carefully the spatial consequences of their actions. In the short-run at least, the farmer's world is very much a normative and partial equilibrium one. At least in respect of a significant Australian agricultural enterprise, normative and partial equilibrium models should not be seen as obsolete.     

The Making of an Australian Technoburb

North Ryde in Sydney provides an instructive case study of the emergence in little over a generation of a new suburban activity centre on a greenfield site. While its image is that of a siliconised ‘technopole’, the real significance lies in the evolution of the wider locality into some-thing more akin perhaps to an American ‘edge city’. The notion of the ‘technoburb’ seems the most apposite. The evolution of North Ryde is seen as exemplifying the restructuring of metropolitan areas into multi-nucleated regions, the strategic role of the state in setting certain ground rules for development, the rise of the information economy, the impact of globalisation of economic activity, the dependent nature of the Australian economy, and the gap that can exist between image and reality in an Australian suburban ‘hi tech’ environment.