Dominique Hes

Sustainability Uptake in Housing in Metropolitan Australia: An Institutional Problem, Not a Technological One

This paper examines the uptake of environmentally sustainable housing in two major cities in Australia. The paper responds to literature that suggests sustainability is not so much a technological problem as an institutional one, and to theories of innovation which focus on innovation diffusion through chains of production. The disaggregation and piecemeal nature of innovation within the building industry is underpinned by unfamiliarity with new technologies, a lack of consistent legislation and pricing and unclear channels of communication. These generate uneven adoption of environmentally sustainable materials and processes within this industry.

Planning Healthy, Liveable and Sustainable Cities: How Can Indicators Inform Policy?

Creating ‘liveable’ communities that are healthy and sustainable is an aspiration of policymakers in Australia and overseas. Indicators are being used at the national, state and local level to compare the liveability of cities and regions. Yet, there are challenges in the adoption of such indicators. Planning scholars see a challenge in creating indicators that measure something publicly valued, while public health researchers are concerned about scant systemic research on relationships between policies, the built environment, and health and well-being. This article provides an overview of liveability indicators used to date in Australia and internationally. It then outlines the results of consultations with Melbourne-based academics and decision-makers, on how to increase their utility and support the creation of healthy, liveable and sustainable cities.

More than a survey: an interdisciplinary post-occupancy tracking of BER schools

In February 2009, the Australian Government announced the

Urban Green Space in the Transition to the Eco-City: Policies, Multifunctionality and Narrative

16.2b Building the Education Revolution (BER) as part of an economic stimulus package. In the context of a global financial crisis, the Government called for ‘shovel ready’ projects requiring state education departments to develop template designs to speed the delivery process. Three years later, new facilities have been completed in over 1100 government schools in Victoria (DEECD, 2012). This article outlines research by an interdisciplinary team to track the early occupation of a template design used in Victoria. The design template was unusual: it enabled schools to continue using traditional classroom teaching or to slide open walls to form larger neighbourhoods suitable for team teaching. Our research linked different methodological frameworks to undertake post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of the new spaces. POE strategies are often driven by construction and project management perspectives rather than focus on organizational issues and user behaviour.

The Problem, the Potential, the Future: Creating a Thriving Future

Urban green space provides multiple benefits to city dwellers—both human and non-human. These ‘nature-based solutions’ include mitigating urban heat and stormwater runoff, providing biodiversity habitat and contributing to human health and wellbeing, and social and cultural processes, which are key elements in creating ecological cities. In the transition to eco-cities, public policies for urban green space provision can make substantial contributions. However, in the transition from existing mono-functional, mechanistic policy approaches, there are challenges in creating a vision for urban green space that navigates beyond the splintered narratives of single-function priorities. This chapter investigates how urban green space policies in Melbourne, Australia address these challenges, and the roles that communication, engagement and narrative play.

How Could Sustainability Transition Theories Support Practice-Based Strategic Planning?

This chapter summarises the key lessons and tools presented by the chapters of the book, and discusses how we need to shift from identifying the problem to recognising the potential in our identification and resolutions of the eco-city. Using the scenario of the restoration of an urban waterway and its ecosystem services, the chapter explores how each tool and approach can help to contribute to the transition to thriving eco-cities.

Regenerative Development and Transitions Thinking

Theories of sustainability transitions aim to explain the processes, pathways and actors that are involved in transformations in technologies and practices. Whilst there is a growing body of research developing theoretical understandings, there has been less documented on how theories are utilised and applied by practitioners themselves.

Introduction: Creating Eco-Cities—From Sustaining to Thriving

Regenerative development is a whole systems approach that partners people and their places, working to make both people and nature stronger, more vibrant and more resilient. It aims to increase the vitality, viability and adaptability of a place through understanding its story, its flows and how developing positive relationships enhance the potential of all stakeholders. Key to working regeneratively in an eco-city is understanding the essence of place and what needs to be strengthened to enable adaptation through future change. Smart specialisation is a process through which understandings of the socio-technical potential of the system can seed entrepreneurial opportunities and new positive relationships. When this is broadened to the social-ecological perspective underpinned by regenerative development, it can guide our transition to a thriving eco-city.

Quantifying the thermal performance of green façades: A critical review

How can eco-cities underpin urban thriving? Starting from the legacy of urban development to date, the chapter critiques current approaches to urban sustainable development. It reviews various definitions of eco-cities and outlines how these could contribute to a shift to ideas of thriving and abundance. Cities are places of potential with the bulk of humanity and its wealth within their boundaries. Cities need to develop in ways that harness this potential, through understanding how innovation, creativity, policy, planning and practice can create irresistible narratives of the future. Capturing people’s hearts and minds will be key to transitioning to a more ecologically responsible and socially just future. This chapter introduces each of the book’s chapters and how they contribute to the ability to achieve this shift.