Sustainable Precincts: Transforming Australian Cities One Neighbourhood at a Time

This chapter discusses planning approaches for Australian cities to support highly liveable, low carbon, sustainable urban environments. The chapter focusses on where and how new development should occur. Discussion covers three main areas:The theory of urban fabrics and the influence of dominant transport modes upon urban morphology. This is described in terms of the three main urban fabrics (walking, transit and automobile),The need for greater urban regeneration (brownfield and greyfield infill) in place of continued greenfield sprawl andThe various benefits of medium to high-density precinct-scale planning and design combined with eco-efficient distributed infrastructure.Considered together, these factors represent a more strategic approach than is common in planning today, by placing greater emphasis upon liveability and sustainability outcomes.</p

Cost-effective GHG mitigation strategies for Western Australia’s housing sector: a life cycle management approach

The demand of natural resources for Western Australia’s (WA) housing sector is increasing due to economic and population growth, which will be a challenging task for Australia to achieve its GHG reduction target. This paper has assessed possible GHG mitigation options for Western Australia’s houses, where energy-intensive clay brick walls and single-glazed windows are currently being used. A life cycle management framework has been used to determine cost-effective GHG emissions mitigation strategies. This framework integrates life cycle assessment tool, energy rating tool (AccuRate), and life cycle cost (LCC) analysis in order to ascertain environmentally and economically viable alternative building envelop for constructing a house in WA. The results show that the house made of cast in situ sandwich walls, recycled core materials and double-glazed windows, and equipped with solar energy system for electricity and water heating is the best option. This option has life cycle GHG emissions and LCC saving potentials of 7 and 20 %, respectively