An appraisal of Australia's approach to promoting urban sustainability
Built Environment Project and Asset Management
ISSN: 2044-124X
Article publication date: 12 November 2021
Issue publication date: 8 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Much rhetoric exists on the urgency of transitioning from current practices to a more sustainable society. However, because this imperative is guided by strong ideological overtones, weaknesses and failures in the transition effort attract inadequate scrutiny. This paper reviews Australia's progress with sustainability in an urban domain and identifies key issues hindering the sustainability transition effort.
Design/methodology/approach
Research on urban sustainability is ubiquitous but this weight of publications tends to emphasize technical, operational or prescriptive themes. This research uses an interpretivist philosophical lens and inductive reasoning to manually analyse pertinent literature sourced from the Scopus and Web of Science data-bases. Specifically, this study assembles outcome and evaluative assessments pertaining to Australia's urban sustainability efforts to identify both the progress achieved and residual structural impediments.
Findings
Emergent findings illustrate that Australia's urban sustainability goals, as expressed by the Paris Accord, have not been met. Obstruction can be attributed to over-ambitious objectives combined with weak federal leadership, under-resourced local government, over-reliance on superficial rating systems and an ineffective regulatory regime. Elite “green branding” by image conscious corporations are insufficient to offset the general disinterest of the unincentivized majority of building owners and developers.
Originality/value
This paper cogently summarizes Australia's urban sustainability status, along with complexity of the challenges it faces to meet targets set.
Keywords
Citation
Martek, I., Edwards, D.J., Seaton, S. and Jones, D. (2022), "An appraisal of Australia's approach to promoting urban sustainability", Built Environment Project and Asset Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 262-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-07-2020-0130
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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