Deakin University
Browse

Use of indicators to assess the sustainability of housing developments in Australia

Version 2 2024-06-17, 15:10
Version 1 2015-08-10, 11:34
conference contribution
posted on 2024-06-17, 15:10 authored by RJ Fuller
Most new housing in Australia is occurring on greenfield sites on the edges of the capital cities. These housing developments are often criticised for their social and environmental unsustainability. These unsustainable suburbs are a legacy for future generations. They will create dire social and environmental problems if a serious economic downturn was to occur or a resource shortage e.g. oil was to make accessibility impossible. Coupled to these threats is that of the social ‘undesirability’ of isolated suburbs where only those on low incomes made their home. Most of those on higher incomes seek established suburbs which have ‘character’, social amenities and ease of access. Typically, these are in older suburbs close to city centres. This paper describes a methodology that has been developed to analyse past and future housing developments. The results of the analysis can provide a guide to improving the sustainability of these suburbs. The methodology uses several criteria to reflect the fact that no single criterion is adequate to describe or analyse the sustainability of a housing development. Sustainability should embrace social and environmental perspectives, so a multi-criteria analysis is appropriate. The theoretical framework for this methodology has been described elsewhere. However, in this previous work only five criteria were considered: energy use, resource use, neighbourhood character, neighbourhood connectedness and social diversity. In each case, high and low sustainability practice has been identified so that ranking is possible. This paper initially summarizes the way in which these previous five criteria are assessed but then adds a sixth criterion (social connectedness) because of a perceived gap in the previous assessment. The results of an analysis of three suburbs reported in the previous work are updated. They score poorly in terms of social connectedness underlining the need to ‘repair’ these suburbs in order to improve their overall sustainability.

History

Pagination

1-10

Location

Geelong, Vic.

Start date

2015-07-10

End date

2015-07-12

ISBN-13

9780730000211

Language

eng

Publication classification

E Conference publication, E1 Full written paper - refereed

Copyright notice

2015, ISDRS

Title of proceedings

ISDRS 2015 : Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity. Proceedings of 21st International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference

Event

International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference Tipping Point (21st : 2015 : Geelong, Vic.)

Publisher

International Sustainable Development Research Society

Place of publication

[Geelong, Vic.]

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC