Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University. He has written 23 books and over 360 papers. His books include 'Greening the Greyfields' (2020), 'Planetary Accounting' (2020), 'Resilient Cities 2nd Edition Overcoming Fossil Fuel Dependence (2017), 'People Cities' (2016), ‘The End of Automobile Dependence’ (2015), ‘Green Urbanism in Asia’ (2013) and 'Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence' which was launched in the White House in 1999. Peter was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Virginia Charlottesville and is a Co-ordinating Lead Author on the IPCC for their 6th Assessment Report. In 2014 he was awarded an Order of Australia for his contributions to urban design and sustainable transport. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological and Engineering Sciences Australia. Peter has worked in local government as an elected councillor, in state government as an advisor to three Premiers and in the Australian Government on the Board of Infrastructure Australia. Phone: +61 407935133
The 2020 collapse of the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic has enabled us to think abou... more The 2020 collapse of the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic has enabled us to think about long term trends and what the future could hold for our cities and regions, especially due to the climate agenda. The paper sets out the historical precedents for economic transitions after collapses that unleash new technologically based innovation waves. These are shown to be associated with different energy and infrastructure priorities and their transport and resulting urban forms. The new technologies in the past were emerging but mainstreamed as the new economy was built on new investments. The paper suggests that the new economy, for the next 30 years, is likely to be driven by the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agendas (summarised as zero carbon-zero poverty) and will have a strong base in a cluster of innovative technologies: renewable energy, electromobility, smart cities, hydrogen-based industry, circular economy technologies, and biophilic urbanism. The first three are well underway, and the other three will need interventions if not cultural changes and may miss being mainstreamed in this recovery but could still play a minor role in the new economy. The resulting urban transformations are likely to build on Covid-19 through "global localism" and could lead to five new features: (1) relocalised centres with distributed infrastructure, (2) tailored innovations in each urban fabric, (3) less car dependence, (4) symbiotic partnerships for funding, and (5) rewritten manuals for urban professionals. This period needs human creativity to play a role in revitalising the human dimension of cities. The next wave following this may be more about regenerative development. Keywords: Covid; waves of innovation; historical precedents; climate; zero carbon; zero poverty "Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next." Arundhati Roy [1].
The Global Challenge of Encouraging Sustainable Living – Opportunities, Barriers, Policy and Practice (Fudge, Peters, Hoffman and Wehrmeyer, 2013 eds.), 2013
This case study presents the methods, results and learnings from an innovative and large-scale be... more This case study presents the methods, results and learnings from an innovative and large-scale behaviour change programme addressing, in a holistic manner, the major contributors to the carbon footprint of households.
Green urbanism has been applied to cities but not in Asia. Seven characteristics of green urbanis... more Green urbanism has been applied to cities but not in Asia. Seven characteristics of green urbanism are outlined and then applied to Singapore. The Renewable City is not yet a concept for Singapore. The Carbon Neutral City is being developed for an island Palau Ubin and by some firms but not to significant sectors or parts of urban Singapore. The Distributed City is being developed around Singapore’s polycentric model but needs specific infrastructure plans similar to ones developed by Singapore for Tianjin Eco-City. The Biophillic City is being developed as a world first through its Skyrise Greenery initiative and urban landscaping. The Eco-Efficient City is also being demonstrated through Singapore closing the loop on their water and solid waste systems. The Place Based City is very evident in all its 22 sub centres. And the Sustainable Transport City is an Asian leader in integrated transport planning though there are signs of this becoming harder to achieve.
ABSTRACT Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to im... more ABSTRACT Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to improve design outcomes is gaining significant interest, particularly as there is growing evidence of links between human health and wellbeing, and contact with nature. The use of such natural features can provide many significant benefits, such as reduced urban heat island effects, reduced peak energy demand for building cooling, enhanced stormwater attenuation and management, and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The principle of harnessing natural features as functional design elements, particularly in buildings, is becoming known as ‘biophilic urbanism’. Given the potential for global application and benefits for cities from biophilic urbanism, and the growing number of successful examples of this, it is timely to develop enabling policies that help overcome current barriers to implementation. This paper describes a basis for inquiry into policy considerations related to increasing the application of biophilic urbanism. The paper draws on research undertaken as part of the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) In Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Green Roofs Australasia, and Townsville City Council (CitySolar Program). The paper discusses the emergence of a qualitative, mixed-method approach that combines an extensive literature review, stakeholder workshops and interviews, and a detailed study of leading case studies. It highlights the importance of experiential and contextual learnings to inform biophilic urbanism and provides a structure to distil such learnings to benefit other applications.
There is a growing recognition of the need for daily contact with nature, to live happy, producti... more There is a growing recognition of the need for daily contact with nature, to live happy, productive, meaningful lives. Recent attention to biophilic design among architects and designers acknowledges this power of nature. However, in an increasingly urban planet, more attention needs to be aimed at the urban scales, at planning for and moving towards what the authors call ―biophilic cities‖. Biophilic cities are cities that provide close and daily contact with nature, nearby nature, but also seek to foster an awareness of and caring for this nature. Biophilic cities, it is argued here, are also sustainable and resilient cities. Achieving the conditions of a biophilic city will go far in helping to foster social and landscape resilience, in the face of climate change, natural disasters and economic uncertainty and various other shocks that cities will face in the future. The paper identifies key pathways by which biophilic urbanism enhances resilience, and while some are well-established relationships, others are more tentative and suggest future research and testing.
ABSTRACT Efforts to improve the performance of commercial buildings have often focused on encoura... more ABSTRACT Efforts to improve the performance of commercial buildings have often focused on encouraging green design, construction and building operation; however, the business case is not very compelling if considering the energy cost savings alone. In recent years green building has been driven by a sense that it will improve the productivity of occupants, something with even greater economic returns than energy savings. Reducing energy demand in commercial buildings in a way that encourages greater productivity is not yet well understood as it involves a set of complex and interdependent factors. This project investigates these factors and focuses on the performance of and interaction between: green design elements, indoor environment quality, tenant/ leasing agreements and culture, occupant experience, and building management practices. (Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc))
ABSTRACT Globally, cities face a convergence of complex and rapidly evolving challenges, includin... more ABSTRACT Globally, cities face a convergence of complex and rapidly evolving challenges, including climate change, resource shortages, population growth and urbanization, and financial pressures. Biophilic urbanism is an emerging design principle capable of considering the multidimensional and interdependent complexities of urban systems and infrastructure, which through the use of natural design features, can meet society’s inherent need for contact with nature, and assist efforts to respond to these growing challenges. Considering the imperative for addressing these challenges, this paper proposes that significant lessons can be learned from existing examples of biophilic urbanism, avoiding ‘re-invention of the wheel’ and facilitating accelerated innovation in other areas. Vauban is a 38-hectare brownfield development located 3 kilometers from the centre of Germany’s ‘ecological capital’ of Freiburg city. It was developed using an innovative process with strong community participation and reinterpreted developer roles to produce an example of integrated sustainability. Innovation in transport, energy, housing, development and water treatment has enabled a relatively high-density, mixed-use development that integrates a considerable amount of nature. This paper discusses Vauban in light of research undertaken over the last two years through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre in Australia, to investigate emerging elements of ‘biophilic urbanism’ (nature-loving cities), and their potential to be mainstreamed within urban environments. The paper considers the interplay between the policies, community dynamics and innovations in Vauban, within the context of the culture, history and practice of sustainability in Germany, and how these have enabled nature to be integrated into the urban environment of Vauban while achieving other desirable goals for urban areas. It highlights potential applications from Vauban for Australian cities.
Many of the countries participating in the Technology Needs Assessment project have identified tr... more Many of the countries participating in the Technology Needs Assessment project have identified transport sector for mitigation efforts. This guidebook is intended to help countries achieve that goal. Measures explored in this book show that it is possible for transport systems to meet both people’s and the environment’s needs, without sacrificing one for the other.
A broad range of transport options are covered this book, including rural, urban, motorised and non-motorised transportation, and a wide variety of applicable emissions-reducing policies and measures are explored.
The guidebook proposes cycling and mass transit approaches, as well as ideas for improving motorised transport technologies. Newer developments, like high-density, mixed-use schemes built around rail nodes, or rapid bus service are also examined in detail
Handbook on Transport and Development - (Hickman, Givoni, Bonilla and Banister 2015 eds.), 2015
Transport accounts for 22 per cent of global energy use and within the sector passenger transport... more Transport accounts for 22 per cent of global energy use and within the sector passenger transport accounts for roughly two-thirds of this, with freight transport accounting roughly for the other third (InterAcademy Council, 2007). Table 3.1 from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development shows in more detail how the global transport sector consumes its energy. Virtually all energy for transportation comes from petroleum-based fuels (InterAcademy Council, 2007). According to the IPCC, in 2004 the global transportation sector was responsible for 23 per cent of world energy-related CO2 emissions (IPCC, 2007). The growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector is the highest among all the energy end-user sectors (IPCC, 2007). Reducing these emissions from transport must therefore be an important part of climate change mitigation programmes both at the city and national levels across the world.
Australia‘s urban built environment contributes significantly to the nation‘s greenhouse gas emis... more Australia‘s urban built environment contributes significantly to the nation‘s greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, encouraging urban development to pursue low-carbon outcomes will aid in reducing carbon in the overall economy. Cities and urban areas are configured in precincts, which have been identified as an ideal scale for low-carbon technologies that address energy, water and waste. Even though new governance models and systems are being created to enable low-carbon precincts to operate with a degree of independence within a broader centralised utility structure, greater effort is required to refocus governance on this smaller scale of delivery. Furthermore, at this time, no consistent carbon accounting framework is in place to measure emissions or emission reductions at this scale, thereby limiting the ability to acknowledge or reward progressive, sustainable low-carbon developments. To respond to this situation, a framework is proposed that could form both the basis of a carbon certification scheme for the built environment and provide a platform for generating carbon credits from urban development.
This paper examines the early phases of a 21st century energy transition that involves distribute... more This paper examines the early phases of a 21st century energy transition that involves distributed generation technologies employing low or zero carbon emission power sources and their take-up within Australia, with particular reference to the major cities and solar photovoltaics (PV). This transition is occurring in a nation with significant path dependency to overcome in relation to fossil fuel use. Tracking the diffusion of solar PV technology within Australia over the past decade provides a basis for assessing those factors underpinning its exponential growth and its associated geography of diffusion. Positive evidence that there are pathways for cities to decarbonise is apparent but there appear to be different pathways for different city forms with lower density suburban areas showing the biggest take-up of household-based energy technologies. This suggests a model for the low carbon urban transition involving combinations of simple technological changes and harder structural changes, depending upon which parts of the urban fabric are in focus. This is being called a New Low Carbon Urban Transition Theory.
Carbon structural adjustment is as difficult and controversial as are financial struc-tural adjus... more Carbon structural adjustment is as difficult and controversial as are financial struc-tural adjustment programs in developing countries (Bird, 2001). The process of financial change is painful because it by necessity challenges the very structures and foundations on which economies have been built. Carbon structural adjust-ment is also much needed but is not yet a program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank. The same kind of fundamental change that came from the UN-inspired Breton Woods conference in 1944 on ending poverty is now on the agenda from the Paris Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in 2015 on ending dependence on fossil fuels.
The main focus of most carbon structural adjustment policy has been the need to replace coal-fired power stations with combinations of technological change (renewable energy, energy efficiency and new energy storage systems) and struc-tural change such as finance, regulation and incentive programs (IPCC, 2014; Hargroves, 2015). These are now well underway and coal is clearly decoupling from wealth due to the structural success of these alternative technologies and institutional systems (IEA, 2016). Although oil and mobility has also been on the same agenda, it has received far less attention on structures, with most attention on technology, new vehicles and new fuels (e.g. WBCSD, 2004). Mobility structures are now being addressed much more since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) began to focus more on such matters (IPCC, 2014; IEA, 2014).
This chapter will seek to understand how the structures of mobility, both existing and new, are helping or hindering a low carbon transition. It will assess why three underlying transport structural changes: peak car use, the second rail revolution and the decoupling of wealth and car use, are happening.
These will be explained in terms of three underlying urban structural changes: the re-urbanisation of cities, the economic trends towards the knowledge economy and the cultural trend towards smart phones and tablets. The shift of modes and the re-urbanisation processes together are replacing the previous era of urban car dependence with a polycentric low carbon city. The chapter will end by suggesting how this momentum can continue and enable a low carbon mobility transition.
Sustainability is the challenge of our century: to do economic development in a way that reduces ... more Sustainability is the challenge of our century: to do economic development in a way that reduces environmental impact whilst improving social needs. For cities we have outlined an approach that suggests sustainability means reducing the footprint of urban development whilst improving liveability (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Figure 1 shows how the footprint can be lowered by reducing the resource inputs and waste outputs while increasing the liveability through better housing, community, health and economic benefits. The key is to understand and manage the dynamics of settlements and a major part of this is transport. This paper will examine how transport infrastructure shapes cities and how sustainability can be improved by better planning and assessment of transport infrastructure.
Car dependent cities like those in Australia have always been increasing in car use. Measured as ... more Car dependent cities like those in Australia have always been increasing in car use. Measured as vehicle km's of travel or VKT this has been projected to go on increasing by every transport and planning agency in Australia (see Fig i). Yet we have to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 50% by 2050 and maybe even 90%. The peak oil theorists show that oil supply will mean that must happen anyway. Most responses to how we will manage to do that can only imagine improving vehicle efficiencyvand changing fuels, they cannot see vehicle use going into the kind of exponential decline that would create such major change.This paper will suggest how it is possible to imagine an exponential decline in car use in our cities that could lead to 50% less passenger kms driven in cars. The key mechanism is a quantitative leap in the quality of public transport whilst fuel prices continue to climb, accompanied by anassociated change in land use patterns
In 2009 the Brookings Institution were the first to recognise a new phenomenon in t... more In 2009 the Brookings Institution were the first to recognise a new phenomenon in the world’s developed cities – declines in car use (Puentes and Tomer, 2009). This paper summarises the re cent data covering this new phenomenon of ‘peak car use’ and seeks to understand why it is happening.
It first presents the data which are confirming this trend in cities in the US, Australia and eight other nations together with some of the data from our Global Cities Database that were suggesting the possibility of this trend. Peak car use suggests that we are witnessing the end of building cities around cars – at least in the developed world.
The 21st century promises some dramatic changes—some expected, others surprising. One of the more... more The 21st century promises some dramatic changes—some expected, others surprising. One of the more surprising changes is the dramatic peaking in car use and an associated increase in the world’s urban rail systems. This paper sets out what is happening with the growth of rail, especially in the traditional car dependent cities of the US and Australia, and why this is happening, particularly its relationship to car use declines. It provides new data on the plateau in the speed of urban car transportation that supports rail’s increasing role compared to cars in cities everywhere, as well as other structural, economic and cultural changes that indicate a move away from car dependent urbanism. The paper suggests that the rise of urban rail is a contributing factor in peak car use through the relative reduction in speed of traffic compared to transit, especially rail, as well as the growing value of dense, knowledge-based centers that depend on rail access for their viability and cultural attraction. Finally, the paper suggests what can be done to make rail work better based on some best practice trends in large cities and small car dependent cities.
Perth’s new 72 km long Southern Rail System opened in 2007. With a maximum speed of 137 km/hr and... more Perth’s new 72 km long Southern Rail System opened in 2007. With a maximum speed of 137 km/hr and an average speed of almost 90 km/hr this system acts more like a new high speed rail than a suburban rail system, which in Australia typically averages around 40 km/hr for an all-stops services. The Southern Rail Line was very controversial when being planned as the urban areas served are not at all typical of those normally provided with rail but instead were highly car dependent and scattered low density land uses. Nevertheless it has been remarkably successful, carrying over 70,000 people per day (five times the patronage on the express buses it replaced) and has reached the patronage levels predicted for 2021 a decade ahead of time. The reasons for this success are analyzed and include well-designed inter- changes, careful integration of bus services, the use of integrated ticketing and fares without transfer penalties and, cru- cially the high speed of the system when compared to competing car based trips. The Southern Rail Line in effect ex- plodes the current paradigm of transfer penalties, exposing this as a myth. The lessons for transport planning in low density cities are significant, and are explored further in the paper.
This paper investigates the impact of transit on urban land markets in the highly car dependent ... more This paper investigates the impact of transit on urban land markets in the highly car dependent corridors of Perth with a focus on where new fast rail transit services have recently been built. It determines people's willingness to pay for transit access within different pedestrian catchments for each of the corridors based on hedonic price modelling using land value data on over 460,000 households. The case study uses cross sectional and panel data hedonic price modelling methodology for the calculation of willingness to pay for transit. It finds that land market increases of up to 40% can be achieved, and is particularly relevant to car dependent cities looking to capture the financial and economic value created to build transit extensions or entirely new systems, thus making a strong case for value capture funding of transit projects into car dependent suburbs and the potential for density increases near stations.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has long been seen in the USA as a tool for urban regeneration but ... more Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has long been seen in the USA as a tool for urban regeneration but the use of TIF for funding transit projects is less common. A four-step Transit Tax Increment Financing (TTIF) framework is proposed as a means of funding the investment in integrated land use and transit projects in low-density car-dependent cities. The TTIF framework is illustrated through a case study of a retrospective application to the Mandurah rail line in Perth, Western Australia, and demonstrates that much more funding can be generated using this mechanism than has been considered by transit project planners before. It also has the benefits of enabling private sector involvement in transit projects and ensures Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) are built and not just planned.
The 2020 collapse of the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic has enabled us to think abou... more The 2020 collapse of the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic has enabled us to think about long term trends and what the future could hold for our cities and regions, especially due to the climate agenda. The paper sets out the historical precedents for economic transitions after collapses that unleash new technologically based innovation waves. These are shown to be associated with different energy and infrastructure priorities and their transport and resulting urban forms. The new technologies in the past were emerging but mainstreamed as the new economy was built on new investments. The paper suggests that the new economy, for the next 30 years, is likely to be driven by the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agendas (summarised as zero carbon-zero poverty) and will have a strong base in a cluster of innovative technologies: renewable energy, electromobility, smart cities, hydrogen-based industry, circular economy technologies, and biophilic urbanism. The first three are well underway, and the other three will need interventions if not cultural changes and may miss being mainstreamed in this recovery but could still play a minor role in the new economy. The resulting urban transformations are likely to build on Covid-19 through "global localism" and could lead to five new features: (1) relocalised centres with distributed infrastructure, (2) tailored innovations in each urban fabric, (3) less car dependence, (4) symbiotic partnerships for funding, and (5) rewritten manuals for urban professionals. This period needs human creativity to play a role in revitalising the human dimension of cities. The next wave following this may be more about regenerative development. Keywords: Covid; waves of innovation; historical precedents; climate; zero carbon; zero poverty "Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next." Arundhati Roy [1].
The Global Challenge of Encouraging Sustainable Living – Opportunities, Barriers, Policy and Practice (Fudge, Peters, Hoffman and Wehrmeyer, 2013 eds.), 2013
This case study presents the methods, results and learnings from an innovative and large-scale be... more This case study presents the methods, results and learnings from an innovative and large-scale behaviour change programme addressing, in a holistic manner, the major contributors to the carbon footprint of households.
Green urbanism has been applied to cities but not in Asia. Seven characteristics of green urbanis... more Green urbanism has been applied to cities but not in Asia. Seven characteristics of green urbanism are outlined and then applied to Singapore. The Renewable City is not yet a concept for Singapore. The Carbon Neutral City is being developed for an island Palau Ubin and by some firms but not to significant sectors or parts of urban Singapore. The Distributed City is being developed around Singapore’s polycentric model but needs specific infrastructure plans similar to ones developed by Singapore for Tianjin Eco-City. The Biophillic City is being developed as a world first through its Skyrise Greenery initiative and urban landscaping. The Eco-Efficient City is also being demonstrated through Singapore closing the loop on their water and solid waste systems. The Place Based City is very evident in all its 22 sub centres. And the Sustainable Transport City is an Asian leader in integrated transport planning though there are signs of this becoming harder to achieve.
ABSTRACT Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to im... more ABSTRACT Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to improve design outcomes is gaining significant interest, particularly as there is growing evidence of links between human health and wellbeing, and contact with nature. The use of such natural features can provide many significant benefits, such as reduced urban heat island effects, reduced peak energy demand for building cooling, enhanced stormwater attenuation and management, and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The principle of harnessing natural features as functional design elements, particularly in buildings, is becoming known as ‘biophilic urbanism’. Given the potential for global application and benefits for cities from biophilic urbanism, and the growing number of successful examples of this, it is timely to develop enabling policies that help overcome current barriers to implementation. This paper describes a basis for inquiry into policy considerations related to increasing the application of biophilic urbanism. The paper draws on research undertaken as part of the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) In Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Green Roofs Australasia, and Townsville City Council (CitySolar Program). The paper discusses the emergence of a qualitative, mixed-method approach that combines an extensive literature review, stakeholder workshops and interviews, and a detailed study of leading case studies. It highlights the importance of experiential and contextual learnings to inform biophilic urbanism and provides a structure to distil such learnings to benefit other applications.
There is a growing recognition of the need for daily contact with nature, to live happy, producti... more There is a growing recognition of the need for daily contact with nature, to live happy, productive, meaningful lives. Recent attention to biophilic design among architects and designers acknowledges this power of nature. However, in an increasingly urban planet, more attention needs to be aimed at the urban scales, at planning for and moving towards what the authors call ―biophilic cities‖. Biophilic cities are cities that provide close and daily contact with nature, nearby nature, but also seek to foster an awareness of and caring for this nature. Biophilic cities, it is argued here, are also sustainable and resilient cities. Achieving the conditions of a biophilic city will go far in helping to foster social and landscape resilience, in the face of climate change, natural disasters and economic uncertainty and various other shocks that cities will face in the future. The paper identifies key pathways by which biophilic urbanism enhances resilience, and while some are well-established relationships, others are more tentative and suggest future research and testing.
ABSTRACT Efforts to improve the performance of commercial buildings have often focused on encoura... more ABSTRACT Efforts to improve the performance of commercial buildings have often focused on encouraging green design, construction and building operation; however, the business case is not very compelling if considering the energy cost savings alone. In recent years green building has been driven by a sense that it will improve the productivity of occupants, something with even greater economic returns than energy savings. Reducing energy demand in commercial buildings in a way that encourages greater productivity is not yet well understood as it involves a set of complex and interdependent factors. This project investigates these factors and focuses on the performance of and interaction between: green design elements, indoor environment quality, tenant/ leasing agreements and culture, occupant experience, and building management practices. (Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc))
ABSTRACT Globally, cities face a convergence of complex and rapidly evolving challenges, includin... more ABSTRACT Globally, cities face a convergence of complex and rapidly evolving challenges, including climate change, resource shortages, population growth and urbanization, and financial pressures. Biophilic urbanism is an emerging design principle capable of considering the multidimensional and interdependent complexities of urban systems and infrastructure, which through the use of natural design features, can meet society’s inherent need for contact with nature, and assist efforts to respond to these growing challenges. Considering the imperative for addressing these challenges, this paper proposes that significant lessons can be learned from existing examples of biophilic urbanism, avoiding ‘re-invention of the wheel’ and facilitating accelerated innovation in other areas. Vauban is a 38-hectare brownfield development located 3 kilometers from the centre of Germany’s ‘ecological capital’ of Freiburg city. It was developed using an innovative process with strong community participation and reinterpreted developer roles to produce an example of integrated sustainability. Innovation in transport, energy, housing, development and water treatment has enabled a relatively high-density, mixed-use development that integrates a considerable amount of nature. This paper discusses Vauban in light of research undertaken over the last two years through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre in Australia, to investigate emerging elements of ‘biophilic urbanism’ (nature-loving cities), and their potential to be mainstreamed within urban environments. The paper considers the interplay between the policies, community dynamics and innovations in Vauban, within the context of the culture, history and practice of sustainability in Germany, and how these have enabled nature to be integrated into the urban environment of Vauban while achieving other desirable goals for urban areas. It highlights potential applications from Vauban for Australian cities.
Many of the countries participating in the Technology Needs Assessment project have identified tr... more Many of the countries participating in the Technology Needs Assessment project have identified transport sector for mitigation efforts. This guidebook is intended to help countries achieve that goal. Measures explored in this book show that it is possible for transport systems to meet both people’s and the environment’s needs, without sacrificing one for the other.
A broad range of transport options are covered this book, including rural, urban, motorised and non-motorised transportation, and a wide variety of applicable emissions-reducing policies and measures are explored.
The guidebook proposes cycling and mass transit approaches, as well as ideas for improving motorised transport technologies. Newer developments, like high-density, mixed-use schemes built around rail nodes, or rapid bus service are also examined in detail
Handbook on Transport and Development - (Hickman, Givoni, Bonilla and Banister 2015 eds.), 2015
Transport accounts for 22 per cent of global energy use and within the sector passenger transport... more Transport accounts for 22 per cent of global energy use and within the sector passenger transport accounts for roughly two-thirds of this, with freight transport accounting roughly for the other third (InterAcademy Council, 2007). Table 3.1 from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development shows in more detail how the global transport sector consumes its energy. Virtually all energy for transportation comes from petroleum-based fuels (InterAcademy Council, 2007). According to the IPCC, in 2004 the global transportation sector was responsible for 23 per cent of world energy-related CO2 emissions (IPCC, 2007). The growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector is the highest among all the energy end-user sectors (IPCC, 2007). Reducing these emissions from transport must therefore be an important part of climate change mitigation programmes both at the city and national levels across the world.
Australia‘s urban built environment contributes significantly to the nation‘s greenhouse gas emis... more Australia‘s urban built environment contributes significantly to the nation‘s greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, encouraging urban development to pursue low-carbon outcomes will aid in reducing carbon in the overall economy. Cities and urban areas are configured in precincts, which have been identified as an ideal scale for low-carbon technologies that address energy, water and waste. Even though new governance models and systems are being created to enable low-carbon precincts to operate with a degree of independence within a broader centralised utility structure, greater effort is required to refocus governance on this smaller scale of delivery. Furthermore, at this time, no consistent carbon accounting framework is in place to measure emissions or emission reductions at this scale, thereby limiting the ability to acknowledge or reward progressive, sustainable low-carbon developments. To respond to this situation, a framework is proposed that could form both the basis of a carbon certification scheme for the built environment and provide a platform for generating carbon credits from urban development.
This paper examines the early phases of a 21st century energy transition that involves distribute... more This paper examines the early phases of a 21st century energy transition that involves distributed generation technologies employing low or zero carbon emission power sources and their take-up within Australia, with particular reference to the major cities and solar photovoltaics (PV). This transition is occurring in a nation with significant path dependency to overcome in relation to fossil fuel use. Tracking the diffusion of solar PV technology within Australia over the past decade provides a basis for assessing those factors underpinning its exponential growth and its associated geography of diffusion. Positive evidence that there are pathways for cities to decarbonise is apparent but there appear to be different pathways for different city forms with lower density suburban areas showing the biggest take-up of household-based energy technologies. This suggests a model for the low carbon urban transition involving combinations of simple technological changes and harder structural changes, depending upon which parts of the urban fabric are in focus. This is being called a New Low Carbon Urban Transition Theory.
Carbon structural adjustment is as difficult and controversial as are financial struc-tural adjus... more Carbon structural adjustment is as difficult and controversial as are financial struc-tural adjustment programs in developing countries (Bird, 2001). The process of financial change is painful because it by necessity challenges the very structures and foundations on which economies have been built. Carbon structural adjust-ment is also much needed but is not yet a program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank. The same kind of fundamental change that came from the UN-inspired Breton Woods conference in 1944 on ending poverty is now on the agenda from the Paris Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in 2015 on ending dependence on fossil fuels.
The main focus of most carbon structural adjustment policy has been the need to replace coal-fired power stations with combinations of technological change (renewable energy, energy efficiency and new energy storage systems) and struc-tural change such as finance, regulation and incentive programs (IPCC, 2014; Hargroves, 2015). These are now well underway and coal is clearly decoupling from wealth due to the structural success of these alternative technologies and institutional systems (IEA, 2016). Although oil and mobility has also been on the same agenda, it has received far less attention on structures, with most attention on technology, new vehicles and new fuels (e.g. WBCSD, 2004). Mobility structures are now being addressed much more since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) began to focus more on such matters (IPCC, 2014; IEA, 2014).
This chapter will seek to understand how the structures of mobility, both existing and new, are helping or hindering a low carbon transition. It will assess why three underlying transport structural changes: peak car use, the second rail revolution and the decoupling of wealth and car use, are happening.
These will be explained in terms of three underlying urban structural changes: the re-urbanisation of cities, the economic trends towards the knowledge economy and the cultural trend towards smart phones and tablets. The shift of modes and the re-urbanisation processes together are replacing the previous era of urban car dependence with a polycentric low carbon city. The chapter will end by suggesting how this momentum can continue and enable a low carbon mobility transition.
Sustainability is the challenge of our century: to do economic development in a way that reduces ... more Sustainability is the challenge of our century: to do economic development in a way that reduces environmental impact whilst improving social needs. For cities we have outlined an approach that suggests sustainability means reducing the footprint of urban development whilst improving liveability (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Figure 1 shows how the footprint can be lowered by reducing the resource inputs and waste outputs while increasing the liveability through better housing, community, health and economic benefits. The key is to understand and manage the dynamics of settlements and a major part of this is transport. This paper will examine how transport infrastructure shapes cities and how sustainability can be improved by better planning and assessment of transport infrastructure.
Car dependent cities like those in Australia have always been increasing in car use. Measured as ... more Car dependent cities like those in Australia have always been increasing in car use. Measured as vehicle km's of travel or VKT this has been projected to go on increasing by every transport and planning agency in Australia (see Fig i). Yet we have to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 50% by 2050 and maybe even 90%. The peak oil theorists show that oil supply will mean that must happen anyway. Most responses to how we will manage to do that can only imagine improving vehicle efficiencyvand changing fuels, they cannot see vehicle use going into the kind of exponential decline that would create such major change.This paper will suggest how it is possible to imagine an exponential decline in car use in our cities that could lead to 50% less passenger kms driven in cars. The key mechanism is a quantitative leap in the quality of public transport whilst fuel prices continue to climb, accompanied by anassociated change in land use patterns
In 2009 the Brookings Institution were the first to recognise a new phenomenon in t... more In 2009 the Brookings Institution were the first to recognise a new phenomenon in the world’s developed cities – declines in car use (Puentes and Tomer, 2009). This paper summarises the re cent data covering this new phenomenon of ‘peak car use’ and seeks to understand why it is happening.
It first presents the data which are confirming this trend in cities in the US, Australia and eight other nations together with some of the data from our Global Cities Database that were suggesting the possibility of this trend. Peak car use suggests that we are witnessing the end of building cities around cars – at least in the developed world.
The 21st century promises some dramatic changes—some expected, others surprising. One of the more... more The 21st century promises some dramatic changes—some expected, others surprising. One of the more surprising changes is the dramatic peaking in car use and an associated increase in the world’s urban rail systems. This paper sets out what is happening with the growth of rail, especially in the traditional car dependent cities of the US and Australia, and why this is happening, particularly its relationship to car use declines. It provides new data on the plateau in the speed of urban car transportation that supports rail’s increasing role compared to cars in cities everywhere, as well as other structural, economic and cultural changes that indicate a move away from car dependent urbanism. The paper suggests that the rise of urban rail is a contributing factor in peak car use through the relative reduction in speed of traffic compared to transit, especially rail, as well as the growing value of dense, knowledge-based centers that depend on rail access for their viability and cultural attraction. Finally, the paper suggests what can be done to make rail work better based on some best practice trends in large cities and small car dependent cities.
Perth’s new 72 km long Southern Rail System opened in 2007. With a maximum speed of 137 km/hr and... more Perth’s new 72 km long Southern Rail System opened in 2007. With a maximum speed of 137 km/hr and an average speed of almost 90 km/hr this system acts more like a new high speed rail than a suburban rail system, which in Australia typically averages around 40 km/hr for an all-stops services. The Southern Rail Line was very controversial when being planned as the urban areas served are not at all typical of those normally provided with rail but instead were highly car dependent and scattered low density land uses. Nevertheless it has been remarkably successful, carrying over 70,000 people per day (five times the patronage on the express buses it replaced) and has reached the patronage levels predicted for 2021 a decade ahead of time. The reasons for this success are analyzed and include well-designed inter- changes, careful integration of bus services, the use of integrated ticketing and fares without transfer penalties and, cru- cially the high speed of the system when compared to competing car based trips. The Southern Rail Line in effect ex- plodes the current paradigm of transfer penalties, exposing this as a myth. The lessons for transport planning in low density cities are significant, and are explored further in the paper.
This paper investigates the impact of transit on urban land markets in the highly car dependent ... more This paper investigates the impact of transit on urban land markets in the highly car dependent corridors of Perth with a focus on where new fast rail transit services have recently been built. It determines people's willingness to pay for transit access within different pedestrian catchments for each of the corridors based on hedonic price modelling using land value data on over 460,000 households. The case study uses cross sectional and panel data hedonic price modelling methodology for the calculation of willingness to pay for transit. It finds that land market increases of up to 40% can be achieved, and is particularly relevant to car dependent cities looking to capture the financial and economic value created to build transit extensions or entirely new systems, thus making a strong case for value capture funding of transit projects into car dependent suburbs and the potential for density increases near stations.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has long been seen in the USA as a tool for urban regeneration but ... more Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has long been seen in the USA as a tool for urban regeneration but the use of TIF for funding transit projects is less common. A four-step Transit Tax Increment Financing (TTIF) framework is proposed as a means of funding the investment in integrated land use and transit projects in low-density car-dependent cities. The TTIF framework is illustrated through a case study of a retrospective application to the Mandurah rail line in Perth, Western Australia, and demonstrates that much more funding can be generated using this mechanism than has been considered by transit project planners before. It also has the benefits of enabling private sector involvement in transit projects and ensures Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) are built and not just planned.
Car dependence is in decline in most developed cities, but its cause is still unclear as cities s... more Car dependence is in decline in most developed cities, but its cause is still unclear as cities struggle with priorities in urban form and transport infrastructure. This paper draws conclusions from analysis of data in 26 cities over the last 40 years of the 20th century. Statistical modelling techniques are applied to urban transport and urban form data, while examining the influence of region, city archetype and individual fixed effects. Structural equation modelling is employed to address causation and understand the direct and indirect effects of selected parameters on per capita vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT). Findings suggest that, while location effects are important, transit service levels and urban density play a significant part in determining urban car use per capita, and causality does flow from these factors towards a city’s levels of private vehicle travel as well as the level ofthe provision of road capacity.
Greening the Greyfields integrates two strands of research pioneered by the senior authors of thi... more Greening the Greyfields integrates two strands of research pioneered by the senior authors of this book: ending automobile dependence and acceler- ating the supply of more-sustainable, medium-density infill housing in greyfield suburbs at precinct scale. The issues that drive this collaboration are the patterns of disconnected land use and transport development and the dysfunctional model for urban regeneration in the middle suburbs that continue to characterise the rapid growth of twenty-first-century Australian cities (as well as their international counterparts). Greyfields are the geographic focus of the new planning models out- lined in this book: the ageing, occupied residential tracts of suburbs that are physically, technologically, and environmentally obsolescent and that represent economically outdated, failing, or under-capitalised real-estate assets. They are typically located in the low-density, car-dependent mid- dle suburbs of cities developed in the mid- to late twentieth century. They are rich in services, amenities, and employment, compared to the outer and peri-urban suburbs, and are becoming the focus of significant but suboptimal suburban re-urbanisation pressures. Despite these pressures, there is a lack of appropriate planning models for urban regeneration. Urban regeneration is required to shrink the unsustainable urban and ecological footprints of ‘suburban’ cities as well as deliver environments that are more resilient, liveable, and equitable for future city populations. v vi Preface In light of COVID-19, urban regeneration also needs to be aligned to a restructuring of the work–residence relationship of cities, re-localising urban places and increasing their self-sufficiency as ‘20-minute neigh- bourhoods’. This presents a grand challenge for the twenty-first century. Precincts emerge as the most appropriate scale for tackling urban regen- eration. They are the building blocks of cities: the scale at which green- fields continue to be developed; and the scale at which brownfields are being redeveloped. At present, however, there is a deficit in precinct-level planning models appropriate for sustainable urban development in the greyfields. Greyfield precinct regeneration (GPR) represents that missing class of planning model. In this book, we outline the genesis of the con- cept and its two sub-models—place-activated and transit-activated GPR—and the broader framework for their targeting and implementa- tion, which involves a new concept and process: district greenlining. This strategic process enables state and municipal agencies to identify the boundaries of larger districts where retrofitting plans and timetables for next-generation physical (energy, water, waste, and transport) and social (health and educational) infrastructures, as well as nature-based services, are developed in an integrated manner, providing the spatial context for better identifying and specifying place-activated and transit-activated GPR projects. Assembling larger land parcels for precinct-scale renewal is one of the components in establishing a pathway towards realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 of ‘inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ urban development—a critical objective of GPR. GPR requires demonstration of additionality: the multiple benefits that reflect more comprehensive, design-led, integrated land use and transport approaches to planning, compared to business-as-usual fragmented, small-lot infill. Given the increasingly pervasive and pressing nature of the greyfield regeneration challenge, all levels of government need to become engaged in developing a strategic response. Establishing Greyfield Precinct Regeneration Authorities in major cities, involving partnerships with all major urban stakeholder groups and led by the national government in a Better Cities 2.0 programme, would represent an important catalyst for driving urban regeneration in the greyfields.
This programme of applied research has been built on multiple com- petitive funding grants received since 2010: the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI), the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL), the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and the Australian Government’s Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. Equally important have been significant collaborative partner- ships with the Government of Victoria and the City of Maroondah; the Government of Western Australia and the cities of Fremantle, Canning, Perth, and Stirling; and in New South Wales the cities of Blacktown and Liverpool. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by the next generation of urban researchers who have been part of the greyfields research team and who are co-authors of this book: Dr Stephen Glackin and Dr Giles Thomson. Peter Newton and Peter Newman
Sustainability is one of the key concepts that is associated with post-modernism. The old world w... more Sustainability is one of the key concepts that is associated with post-modernism. The old world with its modernist assumptions was based on increasing consumption of fossil fuels and other resources, reducing the natural and the diverse to simple, American-style mass production, with a strong state-based, large-scale approach to providing infrastructure. That old way no longer works but no way forward is obviously apparent. This paper looks at how the uncertainties produced by post-modernism can be put to advantage in providing a more sustainable postmodern city. It is suggested that the key principles are recognizing values, maximizing diversity and crossing boundaries. These are developed into some guidelines for urban planning and transport practice.
New Urbanism is a recent American reform approach to urban development, which attempts to reduce ... more New Urbanism is a recent American reform approach to urban development, which attempts to reduce car dependence through traditional design qualities such as connected streets with paths, higher density and mix with local centres. The Western Australian State Government has developed ‘Liveable Neighbourhoods’, which is a context-specific design code based on new Urbanist principles. This design code has been applied in the development of several dozen new neighbourhoods in Perth over the last decade. This paper shows that these developments do create more local walking but are no different to conventional suburban development in their regional car dependence. The causes of this are pursued in terms of a gap between principles and practice.
This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of u... more This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of urban redevelopment with the costs of greenfield development. This paper shows that substantial costs could be saved in infrastructure and transport if urban redevelopment became the focus.
This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of u... more This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of urban redevelopment with the costs of greenfield development. The first paper, GEN 83: The Costs of Urban Sprawl – Infrastructure and Transportation, showed that substantial costs would be saved in infrastructure and transport if urban redevelopment were the focus. This paper assesses how these different urban typologies perform with respect to greenhouse gases.
This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of u... more This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of urban redevelopment with the costs of greenfield development.
The first paper, GEN 83: The Costs of Urban Sprawl – Infrastructure and Transportation, shows that substantial costs would be saved in infrastructure and transport if urban redevelopment were the focus.
The second paper GEN 84: The Costs of Urban Sprawl – Predicting Transport Greenhouse Gases from Urban Form Parameters discusses the costs that can be linked to the transport carbon emissions that arise from suburban living.
This paper discusses the health and productivity benefits of active-travel associated with the different urban forms due to levels of density, connectivity, and variety in amenity. It shows healthcare savings related to active forms of travel over a 50-year urban lifetime are quite small at $2.3 million for 1000 dwellings. But if these more walkable developments are pursued then the benefits to employment productivity are large.
Pressures for urban redevelopment are intensifying in all large cities. A new logic for urban dev... more Pressures for urban redevelopment are intensifying in all large cities. A new logic for urban development is required - green urbanism - that provides a spatial framework for directing population and investment inwards to brownfields and greyfields precincts, rather than outwards to the greenfields. This represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for city planners in pluralist liberal democracies. However, plans for more compact forms of urban redevelopment are stalling in the face of community resistance. A new paradigm and spatial planning platform is required that will support timely multi-level and multi-actor stakeholder engagement, resulting in the emergence of consensus plans for precinct-level urban regeneration capable of more rapid implementation. Using Melbourne, Australia as a case study, this paper addresses two of the urban intervention challenges - where and how - via the application of a 21st century planning tool ENVISION created for this purpose.
Motor vehicles have become the dominant form of transport, but this has had a number of negative ... more Motor vehicles have become the dominant form of transport, but this has had a number of negative human health outcomes. While public health originally drove the need to reduce densities, the latest research now favours the move to more compact cities where active transport can be improved as a transport option. The benefits for healthy transportation choices, economic value and social health are outlined.
Sustainable Urbanism and Beyond - Rethinking Cities for The Future (Hass, 2012 Ed.), 2012
Resilience is increasingly being used as a way to describe human activities that are smart, secur... more Resilience is increasingly being used as a way to describe human activities that are smart, secure, and sustainable. They are smart in that they are able to adapt to the new technologies of the twenty-first century, secure in that they have built-in systems that enable them to respond to extreme events as well as being built to last, and sustainable in that they are part of the solution to the big questions of sustainability such as how to minimize our impact or adapt to climate change, prepare for peak oil, and protect biodiversity. Resilience thinking has been applied mostly to regions and natural resource management systems, but is increasingly being applied to cities.
5th Healthy Cities: Working Together to Achieve Liveable Cities Conference Book of Proceedings, 2012
The relationship between public health, urban forms and transportation options in Australia is ex... more The relationship between public health, urban forms and transportation options in Australia is examined through a review aimed at determining possible health indicators to be used in assessing future land use and transportation scenarios. The health benefits, and subsequent economic benefits of walkable, transit orientated urban forms are well established and are measurable. Important health indicators include vehicle miles travelled, access to public transport, access to green areas, transportation related air pollution levels, transportation related noise levels, density and mixed land use. A comparison between a high walkability urban environment and a low walkability urban environment identifies various infrastructure, transportation greenhouse gas emissions and health costs.
From this it is determined that infrastructure and transport costs dominate, health costs are relatively small and that health-related productivity gains associated with highly walkable urban areas are substantial. This review provides heath and economic rationale for developing urban forms geared towards active travel.
The paper suggests that the divisive urban issue of density has critical importance for sustainab... more The paper suggests that the divisive urban issue of density has critical importance for sustainability. It is particularly important to resolve for the low density car dependent cities of the world as they are highly resource consumptive. Ten myths about density and 10 truths about density are proposed to help resolve the planning issues so commonly found to divide urban communities. They are applied with data to Perth to illustrate the issues and how they can be resolved.
Edward Elgar Companion to Sustainable Cities – Strategies, Methods and Outlook, 2014
Rrichard Florida’s strong statement on the economic value of more compact cities has been underst... more Rrichard Florida’s strong statement on the economic value of more compact cities has been understood for some time (e.g. Sassen 1994; Glaeser 2010). However, it is only in recent times that a more compact city form may be emerging in the world’s automobile-dependent cities. to understand this historic trend it is necessary to understand how transport shapes cities and why cities are now rediscovering a more compact, sustainable form.
We developed two simple, effective and consistent methods for predicting human health outcomes fr... more We developed two simple, effective and consistent methods for predicting human health outcomes from physical activity in a typical urban development at a precinct scale. Considering the two primary transport outputs from an urban assessment model (vehicle kilometres travelled and mode share), we developed two methods using approaches based on the literature linking human health outcomes and transport. The two methods were applied to a case study and generated very similar results, demonstrating how a human health outcome from physical activity rates can be incorporated into an urban planning model and become part of the assessment process for urban development.
PERTH IS NOT high in the national consciousness, although its growth has sparked some interest. T... more PERTH IS NOT high in the national consciousness, although its growth has sparked some interest. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics projections about its population growth are remarkable – three million by the early 2020s, passing Brisbane later that decade, five million by 2050, bigger than Sydney now: the prospect of becoming Australia’s second ‘global city’ megalopolis beckons.
This paper describes Australian urban regeneration in terms of urban fabric — walking, transit or... more This paper describes Australian urban regeneration in terms of urban fabric — walking, transit or automobile, and geography — brownfield and greyfield arenas. Case studies are used to highlight the importance of understanding urban fabric when considering development and regeneration across any geography. Urban regeneration in Australian cities has been occurring in brownfields locations for the past three decades, initially driven by government intervention, but now a strong market force. The ‘peak car’ phenomenon is now associated with an even stronger demand for urban regeneration stretching beyond the inner city into the middle suburbs or greyfields. This paper provides a brief history of major regeneration influences followed by an overview of the processes, policies and practices that can enable the next phase of urban regeneration in all three urban fabrics, particularly the greyfields.
Great places have the potential to create enhanced health outcomes and improve quality of life. T... more Great places have the potential to create enhanced health outcomes and improve quality of life. The positive connection between the built environment and the social determinants of health is well documented as is the role of the built environment in establishing place quality and sense of place. However, the relationship between the concepts of place capital and health capital is less understood and specifically the extent to which high levels of place capital confer a protective and restorative health benefit across the whole of life. COVID-19 changed our appreciation of the role that both health and place play in supporting our quality and way of life and has revealed the negative impact on wellness and wellbeing that arises when our connection to place is fractured. To contribute to the debate surrounding the post-COVID-19 city, this paper explores the intrinsic connection between place and health; it proposes a conceptual model that positions place capital as a tool for enhancin...
The net zero transition is examined as a process of technical change that has rapidly accelerated... more The net zero transition is examined as a process of technical change that has rapidly accelerated and now faces social, economic and political transformations that can enable this rapid transition. The illustration of a maelstrom, with barrels that can enable survival, is used to show that professional practice during the turbulent period of change needs new net zero standards reflected in new processes and regulations for business accounting, energy, urban and transport planning, as well as new approaches for the just transition and Indigenous/local engagement. Australian examples are provided to show the beginning of such a maelstrom process to illustrate the significance of this agenda in 2023.
The benefits of ecosystem services to cities are well documented; for example, water-sensitive ur... more The benefits of ecosystem services to cities are well documented; for example, water-sensitive urban design to mitigate stormwater flows and purify run-off, the cooling benefits provided by tree shade, and psychological benefits of urban greening. Cities tend to displace nature, and in urban environments where nature exists it tends to be as highly altered ecosystems. This paper sets out how it is possible to regenerate nature in cities. We outline the principles of how to do this through a study on a new regenerative urban development in Perth, Australia, where urban planning is intended to support the regeneration of a bioregional habitat within the city. The authors, drawn from sustainability, property development and ecological backgrounds, describe how urban regeneration can potentially facilitate the regeneration of endemic habitat within the city. This builds on the original ecosystem functionality to provide an urban ecosystem that enables biodiversity to regenerate. Perth l...
This paper provides an overview of insights and lessons learned from nearly 20 years of running a... more This paper provides an overview of insights and lessons learned from nearly 20 years of running a Master’s unit called Leadership in Sustainability and how it has been used to foster change agents in small business enterprises, as well as other parts of our economy and community. The unit is based on five ‘C’ pillars, which are discussed in this paper to show how the teaching was able to assist potential leaders in their journey towards sustainability. Collective Wisdom is the theory of how leaders have used their imagination to solve collective ‘wicked problems’ and how sustainability requires such wisdom. The unit covers such theory from innovation, complexity, leadership, management and sustainability literatures, and the students are required to show they used this in solving a problem. Conversations are the main tool that is used because only through integrating diverse opinions have solutions been found to such problems as sustainability. The unit is based around case studies ...
In recent times, bioregionalism has been rediscovered in the environmental movement, the territor... more In recent times, bioregionalism has been rediscovered in the environmental movement, the territorialist movement (in Italy), the natural resource management or landcare movement (in Australia), and a multiple of expressions through urban and regional sustainability. Although the link between bioregionalism and cities is not always made, new movements are now appearing that are re-establishing the inherent integration of cities and their bioregion, which are more positive about how the city can help recreate a better bioregion. One of these movements is biophilic urbanism. This chapter explains how bioregionalism and biophilic urbanism are related. By employing certain case studies, especially from Singapore, it is shown that cities can indeed begin their bioregional strategies from the biophilic design strategies. The analysis concludes that a strong need exists for bioregionalism to bring its insights and science right into the city and down to the detailed landscaping in and on buildings, and for biophilic urbanism to extend its science and insights out into the corridors and surroundings of the bioregion that supports every city. Such potential integration of bioregionalism and biophilic urbanism is needed in all cities.
Pressures for urban redevelopment are intensifying in all large cities. A new logic for urban dev... more Pressures for urban redevelopment are intensifying in all large cities. A new logic for urban development is required – green urbanism – that provides a spatial framework for directing population and investment inwards to brownfields and greyfields precincts, rather than outwards to the greenfields. This represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for city planners in pluralist liberal democracies. However, plans for more compact forms of urban redevelopment are stalling in the face of community resistance. A new paradigm and spatial planning platform is required that will support timely multi-level and multi-actor stakeholder engagement, resulting in the emergence of consensus plans for precinct-level urban regeneration capable of more rapid implementation. Using Melbourne, Australia as a case study, this paper addresses two of the urban intervention challenges – where and how – via the application of a 21st century planning tool ENVISION created for this purpose.
In the coming decades the design, construction and maintenance of roads will face a range of new ... more In the coming decades the design, construction and maintenance of roads will face a range of new issues and as such will require a number of new approaches. In particular, road authorities will be required to consider and respond to a range of issues related to climate change, and associated extreme weather events, such as the extensive flooding in January 2011 in Queensland, Australia Figure 1). Coupled with diminishing access to road construction supplies (such as aggregate), water scarcity, and the potential for increases in oil and electricity prices, this range of challenges bear little resemblance to those previously faced. In Australia, state and federal authorities face further pressures given the variety of needs resulting from the country's geographical and population diversity, expansive road networks, road freight requirements and relatively small population base.
Purpose– Transport infrastructure is fundamental for economic development and for enabling cities... more Purpose– Transport infrastructure is fundamental for economic development and for enabling cities to shift away from unsustainable automobile dependence. These agendas are coming together but the tools and processes to create less automobile-dependent cities are not well developed. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how the planning and assessment process can help to achieve this goal of integration.Design/methodology/approach– Understanding how cities are shaped by transport priorities through urban fabric theory creates an approach to the planning and assessment process in transport and town planning that can help achieve the purpose.Findings– Four tools are developed from this theory: first, a strategic framework that includes the kind of urban fabric that any project is located within; second, benefit cost ratios that include wider economic benefits, especially agglomeration economies in each fabric; third, avoidable costs that assess lost opportunities from the kind of urb...
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and designers acknowledges this power of nature. However, in an increasingly urban planet, more attention needs to be aimed at the urban scales, at planning for and moving towards what the authors call ―biophilic cities‖. Biophilic cities are cities that provide close and daily contact with nature, nearby nature, but also seek to foster an awareness of and caring for this nature. Biophilic cities, it is argued here, are also sustainable and resilient
cities. Achieving the conditions of a biophilic city will go far in helping to foster social and landscape resilience, in the face of climate change, natural disasters and economic uncertainty and various other shocks that cities will face in the future. The paper identifies key pathways by which biophilic urbanism enhances resilience, and while some are well-established relationships, others are more tentative and suggest future research and testing.
A broad range of transport options are covered this book, including rural, urban, motorised and non-motorised transportation, and a wide variety of applicable emissions-reducing policies and measures are explored.
The guidebook proposes cycling and mass transit approaches, as well as ideas for improving motorised transport technologies. Newer developments, like high-density, mixed-use schemes built around rail nodes, or rapid bus service are also examined in detail
outcomes will aid in reducing carbon in the overall economy. Cities and urban areas are configured in precincts, which have been identified as an ideal scale for low-carbon technologies that address energy, water and waste. Even though new governance models and systems are being created to enable low-carbon precincts to operate with a degree of independence within a broader centralised utility structure, greater effort is required to refocus governance on this smaller scale of delivery. Furthermore, at this time, no consistent carbon accounting framework is in place to measure emissions or emission reductions at this scale, thereby limiting the ability to acknowledge or reward progressive, sustainable low-carbon developments. To respond to this situation, a framework is proposed that could form both the basis of a carbon certification scheme for the built environment and provide a platform for generating carbon credits from urban development.
sources and their take-up within Australia, with particular reference to the major cities and solar photovoltaics (PV). This transition is occurring in a nation with significant path
dependency to overcome in relation to fossil fuel use. Tracking the diffusion of solar PV technology within Australia over the past decade provides a basis for assessing those factors underpinning its exponential growth and its associated geography of diffusion.
Positive evidence that there are pathways for cities to decarbonise is apparent but there appear to be different pathways for different city forms with lower density suburban areas showing the biggest take-up of household-based energy technologies. This suggests a model for the low carbon urban transition involving combinations of simple technological changes and harder structural changes, depending upon which parts of the urban fabric are in focus. This is being called a New Low Carbon Urban Transition Theory.
The main focus of most carbon structural adjustment policy has been the need to replace coal-fired power stations with combinations of technological change (renewable energy, energy efficiency and new energy storage systems) and struc-tural change such as finance, regulation and incentive programs (IPCC, 2014; Hargroves, 2015). These are now well underway and coal is clearly decoupling from wealth due to the structural success of these alternative technologies and institutional systems (IEA, 2016). Although oil and mobility has also been on the same agenda, it has received far less attention on structures, with most attention on technology, new vehicles and new fuels (e.g. WBCSD, 2004). Mobility structures are now being addressed much more since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) began to focus more on such matters (IPCC, 2014; IEA, 2014).
This chapter will seek to understand how the structures of mobility, both existing and new, are helping or hindering a low carbon transition. It will assess why three underlying transport structural changes: peak car use, the second rail revolution and the decoupling of wealth and car use, are happening.
These will be explained in terms of three underlying urban structural changes: the re-urbanisation of cities, the economic trends towards the knowledge economy and the cultural trend towards smart phones and tablets. The shift of modes and the re-urbanisation processes together are replacing the previous era of urban car dependence with a polycentric low carbon city. The chapter will end by suggesting how this momentum can continue and enable a low carbon mobility transition.
It first presents the data which are confirming this trend in cities in
the US, Australia and eight other nations together with some of
the data from our Global Cities Database that were suggesting
the possibility of this trend. Peak car use suggests that we are
witnessing the end of building cities around cars – at least in the
developed world.
Western Australia, and demonstrates that much more funding can be generated using this mechanism than has been considered by transit project planners before. It also has the benefits of enabling private sector involvement in transit projects and ensures Transit Oriented Developments
(TODs) are built and not just planned.
and designers acknowledges this power of nature. However, in an increasingly urban planet, more attention needs to be aimed at the urban scales, at planning for and moving towards what the authors call ―biophilic cities‖. Biophilic cities are cities that provide close and daily contact with nature, nearby nature, but also seek to foster an awareness of and caring for this nature. Biophilic cities, it is argued here, are also sustainable and resilient
cities. Achieving the conditions of a biophilic city will go far in helping to foster social and landscape resilience, in the face of climate change, natural disasters and economic uncertainty and various other shocks that cities will face in the future. The paper identifies key pathways by which biophilic urbanism enhances resilience, and while some are well-established relationships, others are more tentative and suggest future research and testing.
A broad range of transport options are covered this book, including rural, urban, motorised and non-motorised transportation, and a wide variety of applicable emissions-reducing policies and measures are explored.
The guidebook proposes cycling and mass transit approaches, as well as ideas for improving motorised transport technologies. Newer developments, like high-density, mixed-use schemes built around rail nodes, or rapid bus service are also examined in detail
outcomes will aid in reducing carbon in the overall economy. Cities and urban areas are configured in precincts, which have been identified as an ideal scale for low-carbon technologies that address energy, water and waste. Even though new governance models and systems are being created to enable low-carbon precincts to operate with a degree of independence within a broader centralised utility structure, greater effort is required to refocus governance on this smaller scale of delivery. Furthermore, at this time, no consistent carbon accounting framework is in place to measure emissions or emission reductions at this scale, thereby limiting the ability to acknowledge or reward progressive, sustainable low-carbon developments. To respond to this situation, a framework is proposed that could form both the basis of a carbon certification scheme for the built environment and provide a platform for generating carbon credits from urban development.
sources and their take-up within Australia, with particular reference to the major cities and solar photovoltaics (PV). This transition is occurring in a nation with significant path
dependency to overcome in relation to fossil fuel use. Tracking the diffusion of solar PV technology within Australia over the past decade provides a basis for assessing those factors underpinning its exponential growth and its associated geography of diffusion.
Positive evidence that there are pathways for cities to decarbonise is apparent but there appear to be different pathways for different city forms with lower density suburban areas showing the biggest take-up of household-based energy technologies. This suggests a model for the low carbon urban transition involving combinations of simple technological changes and harder structural changes, depending upon which parts of the urban fabric are in focus. This is being called a New Low Carbon Urban Transition Theory.
The main focus of most carbon structural adjustment policy has been the need to replace coal-fired power stations with combinations of technological change (renewable energy, energy efficiency and new energy storage systems) and struc-tural change such as finance, regulation and incentive programs (IPCC, 2014; Hargroves, 2015). These are now well underway and coal is clearly decoupling from wealth due to the structural success of these alternative technologies and institutional systems (IEA, 2016). Although oil and mobility has also been on the same agenda, it has received far less attention on structures, with most attention on technology, new vehicles and new fuels (e.g. WBCSD, 2004). Mobility structures are now being addressed much more since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) began to focus more on such matters (IPCC, 2014; IEA, 2014).
This chapter will seek to understand how the structures of mobility, both existing and new, are helping or hindering a low carbon transition. It will assess why three underlying transport structural changes: peak car use, the second rail revolution and the decoupling of wealth and car use, are happening.
These will be explained in terms of three underlying urban structural changes: the re-urbanisation of cities, the economic trends towards the knowledge economy and the cultural trend towards smart phones and tablets. The shift of modes and the re-urbanisation processes together are replacing the previous era of urban car dependence with a polycentric low carbon city. The chapter will end by suggesting how this momentum can continue and enable a low carbon mobility transition.
It first presents the data which are confirming this trend in cities in
the US, Australia and eight other nations together with some of
the data from our Global Cities Database that were suggesting
the possibility of this trend. Peak car use suggests that we are
witnessing the end of building cities around cars – at least in the
developed world.
Western Australia, and demonstrates that much more funding can be generated using this mechanism than has been considered by transit project planners before. It also has the benefits of enabling private sector involvement in transit projects and ensures Transit Oriented Developments
(TODs) are built and not just planned.
Greyfields are the geographic focus of the new planning models out- lined in this book: the ageing, occupied residential tracts of suburbs that are physically, technologically, and environmentally obsolescent and that represent economically outdated, failing, or under-capitalised real-estate assets. They are typically located in the low-density, car-dependent mid- dle suburbs of cities developed in the mid- to late twentieth century. They are rich in services, amenities, and employment, compared to the outer and peri-urban suburbs, and are becoming the focus of significant but suboptimal suburban re-urbanisation pressures. Despite these pressures, there is a lack of appropriate planning models for urban regeneration.
Urban regeneration is required to shrink the unsustainable urban and ecological footprints of ‘suburban’ cities as well as deliver environments that are more resilient, liveable, and equitable for future city populations.
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vi Preface
In light of COVID-19, urban regeneration also needs to be aligned to a restructuring of the work–residence relationship of cities, re-localising urban places and increasing their self-sufficiency as ‘20-minute neigh- bourhoods’. This presents a grand challenge for the twenty-first century.
Precincts emerge as the most appropriate scale for tackling urban regen- eration. They are the building blocks of cities: the scale at which green- fields continue to be developed; and the scale at which brownfields are being redeveloped. At present, however, there is a deficit in precinct-level planning models appropriate for sustainable urban development in the greyfields. Greyfield precinct regeneration (GPR) represents that missing class of planning model. In this book, we outline the genesis of the con- cept and its two sub-models—place-activated and transit-activated GPR—and the broader framework for their targeting and implementa- tion, which involves a new concept and process: district greenlining. This strategic process enables state and municipal agencies to identify the boundaries of larger districts where retrofitting plans and timetables for next-generation physical (energy, water, waste, and transport) and social (health and educational) infrastructures, as well as nature-based services, are developed in an integrated manner, providing the spatial context for better identifying and specifying place-activated and transit-activated GPR projects.
Assembling larger land parcels for precinct-scale renewal is one of the components in establishing a pathway towards realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 of ‘inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ urban development—a critical objective of GPR. GPR requires demonstration of additionality: the multiple benefits that reflect more comprehensive, design-led, integrated land use and transport approaches to planning, compared to business-as-usual fragmented, small-lot infill.
Given the increasingly pervasive and pressing nature of the greyfield regeneration challenge, all levels of government need to become engaged in developing a strategic response. Establishing Greyfield Precinct Regeneration Authorities in major cities, involving partnerships with all major urban stakeholder groups and led by the national government in a Better Cities 2.0 programme, would represent an important catalyst for driving urban regeneration in the greyfields.
This programme of applied research has been built on multiple com- petitive funding grants received since 2010: the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI), the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL), the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and the Australian Government’s Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. Equally important have been significant collaborative partner- ships with the Government of Victoria and the City of Maroondah; the Government of Western Australia and the cities of Fremantle, Canning, Perth, and Stirling; and in New South Wales the cities of Blacktown and Liverpool.
We would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by the next generation of urban researchers who have been part of the greyfields research team and who are co-authors of this book: Dr Stephen Glackin and Dr Giles Thomson.
Peter Newton and Peter Newman
The first paper, GEN 83: The Costs of Urban Sprawl – Infrastructure and Transportation, shows that substantial costs would be saved in infrastructure and transport if urban redevelopment were the focus.
The second paper GEN 84: The Costs of Urban Sprawl – Predicting Transport Greenhouse Gases from Urban Form Parameters discusses the costs that can be linked to the transport carbon emissions that arise from suburban living.
This paper discusses the health and productivity benefits of active-travel associated with the different urban forms due to levels of density, connectivity, and variety in amenity. It shows healthcare savings related to active forms of travel over a 50-year urban lifetime are quite small at $2.3 million for 1000 dwellings. But if these more walkable developments are pursued then the benefits to employment productivity are large.
health benefits, and subsequent economic benefits of walkable, transit orientated urban forms are well established and are measurable. Important health indicators include vehicle miles travelled, access to public transport, access to green areas, transportation related air pollution levels, transportation related noise levels, density and mixed land use. A comparison between a high walkability urban environment and a low walkability urban environment identifies various infrastructure, transportation greenhouse gas emissions and health costs.
From this it is determined that infrastructure and transport costs dominate, health costs are relatively small and that health-related productivity gains associated with highly
walkable urban areas are substantial. This review provides heath and economic rationale for developing urban forms geared towards active travel.