EcoHome paper - Triple Helix research

Triple Helix research: An inter-disciplinary approach to research into sustainability in outer-suburban housing estates

Abstract
Outer-suburban housing estates dominate new house constructions in Australia, and are a major contributor current and future environmental impacts such as water, waste and greenhouse gas emissions (Blair et al. 2003). Typically houses in these estates are built without an in-depth consideration of ecological sustainability factors. Program interventions aimed at promoting more sustainable practices have typically involved the dissemination of information materials, such as the ‘Your Home’ design guide, or the development of demonstration ‘eco-homes’, the most notable example being the ACF Greenhome completed in 1993. There is little evidence to suggest that these programs have had any substantive impact on mainstream housing developments (Okraglik 1995).
EcoHome is a three-year cross-disciplinary research study into what sustainability outcomes are possible for the industry using existing design methods and technologies, including design, technical and sociological research. Each research stream, and its strategy have been selected to address specific barriers to the mainstreaming of more sustainable homebuilding practices in Australia. The research is based around a new demonstration eco-house at the Estate of Cairnlea in Melbourne’s outer west. Outcomes of the research will assist the housing and land development industry achieve more sustainable outcomes at the forthcoming 8500 home Aurora Estate to be constructed on the northern fringe of metropolitan Melbourne. This paper outlines the rationale and core methodologies of the project, focussing on the need for inter-disciplinary research both in the context of the outer-urban housing industry and sustainability more generally.

References

ABS (1996). Census of Population and Housing: Population Growth and Distribution, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Commonwealth of Australia.http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/4430b1 Accessed: May 2003.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society, Towards a new Modernity. London, Sage Publications.
Beck, U. (1996). Risk Society and the Provident State. Risk, Environment & Modernity: Towards a New Ecology. (ed.) S. Lasyh, B. Szersynski and B. Wynne. London, Sage Publications: 27-43.
Berking, H. (1996). Solidary Individualism: The Moral Impact of Cultural Modernisation in Late Modernity. Risk, Environment & Modernity: Towards a New Ecology. (ed.) S. Lasyh, B. Szersynski and B. Wynne. London, Sage Publications: 189-202.
BIS-Shrapnel (2002). Attitudes on Australian Builders to Energy Issues and Usage in Australia, 2001-02 Cited in; Australian Bureau of Statistics, Environment by Numbers: Selected Articles on Australia's Environment, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p145.
Blair, J., Fisher, M., Prasad, D., Judd, B., Soebarto, V., Hyde, R. and Zehner, R. (2003). Affordability and Sustainability Outcomes of 'Greenfield' Suburban Development and Master Planned Communities - a case study approach using triple bottom line assessment, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute UNSW-UWS Research Centre.http://www.ahuri.edu.au/attachments/70137_pp_greenfield.pdf Accessed: May 2003.
Blundell, L. (2003). The Big Squeeze. Property Australia. 17: 12-9.
Boden, M. (1996). "Paradigm shift and building services." The Service Industries Journal 16 4: 491-510.
Bryman, A. (2001). Social Research Methods. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Burke, T. and Hayward, D. (2000). Housing Past, Housing Futures, Swinburne Institute for Social Research.http://www.sisr.net/programch/papers/housingpast_housingfuture.pdf Accessed: May 2003.
Cooper, D. E. (1992). The idea of environment, in; D.E.Cooper and J.A. Palmer (eds) The Environment in Question:Ethics and Global Issues, London: Routledge.
Giddens, A. (1999). Lecture 2, Risk, BBC Reith Lectures 1999Accessed: June 2002.
Gleeson, B. and Low, N. (2000). Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges New Agendas. St Leonards, Allen & Unwin.
Greig, A. (1995). The stuff dreams are made of: Housing Provision in Australia 1945-1960. Carlton, Melbourne University Press.
Guy, S. and Farmer, G. (2000). Contested constructions: the competing logics of greebuildings and ethics. Ethics and the Built Environment. (ed.) W. Fox. London and New York, Routledge.
Habermas, J. (1996). Discourse Theory and the Public Sphere. The Habermas Reader. (ed.) W. Outhwaite. Cambridge, Polity Press: 217-20.
Hes, D. (2003). The Impact of a Dominant Culture on the ‘Greenness’ of the built environment – a response using a case study. AUBEA, Geelong, Australia.
Hewitt, J. and Wilkinson, S. (2002). The Impact of a Dominant Culture on the Sustainability of the Urban Environment. AUBEA, Queenstown, New Zealand,, Massey University.
HIA (2002). Housing Australians, Housing Industry Association.http://www.buildingonline.com.au/servlets-prod/iWebStreamer2?page_id=7286 Accessed: May 2003.
Inkson, K. and Kolb, D. (1998). Management - Perspectives for New Zealand. London, Longman.
Okraglik, H. (1995). Sustainable Housing, Priorities and Challenges: a case study of Australia's first green home, National Centre for Design at RMIT.http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/outcomes/papers/GreenHome.html Accessed: March 2003.
Pears, A. (2000). Technologies and processes for ecological sustainability. Sustainability: the corporate challenge of the 21st century. (ed.) D. B. Dunphy, J. Griffiths, A. Sutton, P. St. Leonards, Allen and Unwin: 167-90.
Rapoport, R. N. (1970). Three Dilemmas in Action Research. Human Relations 23:6;499. cited in; Masters, J., (1995). The history of action research, The Action Research Electronic Reader http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arr/arow/rmasters.html#AR%20what Accessed: June 2003.
Rohracher, H. (1999). Sustainable construction of buildings: a socio-technical perspective. International Summer Academy on Technical Studies,.
Ryder, T. (2003). Flying High. Property Australia. 17: 12-5.
Spaargaren, G. (1998). The Ecological Modernisation of Domestic Consumption, Lancaster University.http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/esf/spaargaren.htm Accessed: December 2002.
Tennant, S. (2002). What Drives Housing?, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Commonwealth of Australia.http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/D3B9FD318E7D8F46CA256B3600032287 Accessed: May 2003.
Tibbs, H. (2000). The technology strategy if the sustainable corporation. Sustainability: the corporate challenge of the 21st century. (ed.) D. B. Dunphy, J. Griffiths, A. Sutton, P. St. Leonards, Allen and Unwin: 191-218.
VicUrban (2003). Aurora: the Future of Sustainable Living.
Williamson, T. J., Radford, A. and Bennetts, H. (2003). Understanding Sustainable Architecture. London, Spon Press.

A copy is available here for download as a PDF file