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Reverse logistics in construction refers to the movement of products and materials from salvaged buildings to a new construction site. While there is a plethora of studies looking at various aspects of the reverse logistics chain, there is no systematic review of literature on this important subject as applied to the construction industry. Therefore, the objective of this study is to integrate the fragmented body of knowledge on reverse logistics in construction, with the aim of promoting the concept among industry stakeholders and the wider construction community. Through a qualitative meta-analysis, the study synthesises the findings of previous studies and presents some actions needed by industry stakeholders to promote this concept within the real-life context. First, the trend of research and terminology related with reverse logistics is introduced. Second, it unearths the main advantages and barriers of reverse logistics in construction while providing some suggestions to harness the advantages and mitigate these barriers. Finally, it provides a future research direction based on the review Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Purpose – This paper aims to present a survey of the perceptions of the barriers to implementing reverse logistics (RL) practices in South Australian (SA) construction organisations. Despite the extensive research on forward logistics and RL, there is a paucity of studies that examine the barriers to implementing RL particularly within the Australian construction industry. This study builds on the ongoing research being undertaken by the authors, entitled “Designing for reverse logistics (DfRL) within the building life cycle: practices, drivers and barriers”, which is examining the best practices and drivers that could be used as a “road map” for developing appropriate solutions for the successful implementation of RL. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by utilising a triangulated data collection approach, a literature review and 49 questionnaires. The review of the literature identified 16 barriers to implementing RL. The quantitative survey data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics with correlation analysis to examine the relationships between different pairs of variables comprising RL’s critical barriers. Findings – The following barriers were indicated as most significant: lack of incorporation of salvaged materials by designers; regulation restrictions to usage of recovered materials and components; potential legal liabilities; higher costs; and longer-time association with deconstructing buildings. The least ranked barriers were mostly drawn from the operational and industrial categories as being: organisational lack of support for deconstruction due to incompatible design; lack of organisational support for deconstructing buildings due to higher health and safety risks; and inadequate skills and experience for deconstruction (operational). The industrial barrier was related to “higher costs of salvaged materials in comparison to virgin products”. Research limitations/implications – First, the reported findings are focussed on one study that used questionnaire surveys within the construction industry; therefore, the results may not be generalisable to other contexts. Further, studies should be conducted and extended to other industrial sectors beyond the construction industry. Second, the quantitative study (n = 49) used a smaller sample, and the survey items were based on the review of the literature. Practical implications – The identified barriers could be used as a “road map” for the development of appropriate solutions for the successful implementation of RL, and to improve the environment-related decision-making processes of contractors. Originality/value – This study makes a contribution to the body of knowledge on the subject of RL within a previously unexplored SA context. In addition, the study provides some insights on the contributory effects of the barriers to the implementation of RL. It is the first work undertaken to determine the barriers to the adoption of RL within the SA construction industry.

Waste is the symbol of inefficiency of any modern society and a representation of misallocated resources. Significant progress has been achieved in reducing waste but it varies from city to city. Currently, cities use their waste diversion rate as a tool to measure the performance of their waste management systems. However, diversion of waste from landfill does not give a holistic picture of zero waste performance. This paper conceptualises the concept of the ‘zero waste city’ and proposes a new tool to measure the performance of waste management systems called the ‘zero waste index’. The zero waste index forecasts the amount of virgin materials, energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions substituted by the resources that are recovered from waste streams. Three high consuming cities (Adelaide, San Francisco and Stockholm) were analysed using the zero waste index. The zero waste indexes in Adelaide, San Francisco and Stockholm were found to be 0.23, 0.51 and 0.17 respectively (i.e. around 23%, 51% and 17% of resources were recovered and potentially substituted for virgin materials). In addition, the zero waste index estimated the potential energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) and water savings due to resource recovery from municipal solid waste in each of the three cities. It is evident that the zero waste index is an innovative tool to assess waste management performance and materials substitution by waste management systems in different cities. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Waste is a symbol of inefficiency in modern society and represents misallocated resources.This paper outlines an ongoing interdisciplinary research project entitled ‘Integrated ETWW demand forecasting and scenario planning for low-carbon precincts’ and reports on first findings and a literature review. This large multi-stakeholder research project has been designed to develop a shared platform for integrated ETWW (energy,transport, waste, and water) planning in a low-carbon urban future, focusing on synergies and alternative approaches to urban planning. The aim of the project is to develop a holistic integrated software tool for demand forecasting and scenario evaluation for residential precincts covering the four domains (ETWW), using identified commonalities in data requirements and model formulation. The authors of this paper are overseeing the waste domain, while other researchers in the team have expertise in the remaining domains.A major component of the project will be developing a method for including the impacts of household behaviour change in demand forecasting. In this way the overall carbon impacts of urban developments or redevelopments of existing precincts can be assessed effectively and efficiently. The resulting tool will allow urban planners,municipalities, and developers to assess the future total demands for energy, transport,waste, and water while in the planning phase. The tool will also help to assess waste management performance and materials flow in relation to energy and water consumption and travel behaviour, supporting the design and management of urbansystems in different city contexts. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The purpose of this paper is to explore the rapid urbanization of Chinese cities with a focus on the plans for a new, ongoing urban sub-centre in the north-west of Shanghai: Zhenru Urban Sub-Centre. Information-rich urbanization is a defining feature of the 21st century, reshaping cities and communities in China and in developing countries around the world. The scale and pace of change requires a solid systems approach of urban development. In 2011, China announced that it has reached an urbanization rate of 50%. If we take rapid urbanization as a given and that it is already well underway, it is still widely unclear what research needs to be conducted and policy changes made to support municipalities of fast transforming cities and to avoid repeating the development mistakes that have occurred in industrialized nations, i.e. driving urban growth with high consumption patterns without fully considering the environmental and social needs and occupants' behaviour and aspirations. This paper compares two cases of urban development patterns for new sub-centres for polycentric city structures: It relates to new urban sub-centres in Berlin (Germany) and Shanghai (China), and the relationship of these sub-centres to ‘Network City’ theory. Network theory is useful in this context as the ‘network’ metaphor and concepts of decentralization seem to have replaced the ‘machine’ metaphor which was based on efficiency based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. As cities aim to move towards more resilient urban ecosystems and polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru Sub-Centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and less car-dependency. According to documentation of the Shanghai municipality, Zhenru urban centre, which is currently in its planning phase, is supposed to become a ‘new sustainable sub-centre for a growing metropolis’. Based on the Potsdamer Platz experience, a series of careful recommendations are formulated for the design and development of such centres, knowing that it is rather difficult to translate from one case to the other. The conclusion includes five lessons (recommendations) from Potsdamer Platz for the urban design of new sub-centres to ensure a delivery of economical, social and environmental sustainable outcomes. A core finding is that drawing lessons from the German case study for Chinese urbanization seemed a useful tactic and gave a sense that there are underlying urban design strategies. However, the conversion of such strategies to another cultural and social context requires further research. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Prefabricated engineered solid wood panel construction systems can sequester and store CO2. Modular cross-laminated timber (CLT, also called cross-lam) panels form the basis of low-carbon, engineered construction systems using solid wood panels that can be used to build residential infill developments of 10 storeys or higher. Multi-apartment buildings of 4 to 10 storeys constructed entirely in timber, such as recently in Europe, are innovative, but their social and cultural acceptance in Australia and North America is at this stage still uncertain. Commercial utilisation is only possible if there is a demand and user acceptance. This paper explores the opportunities offered by an innovative low carbon construction system using cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels to improve the design and delivery of urban infill housing. CLT construction has been developed around 1996 in Austria: layers of timber boards are glued crosswise in different directions to increase loadbearing capacity. The paper describes a multi-disciplinary research project into cross-laminated timber panels which aims to transform the Australian construction and development industry, involving a range of key partners. This project will introduce cross-laminated timber panels as a way to build with a lightweight prefabricated low-carbon construction system that is advantageous for urban infill and residential buildings in the range of 4 to 8 stories height. The challenges, research questions and advantages of this new engineered timber system are explained, and a detailed research methodology for further research is presented. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In 2011, China announced that it has reached an urbanisation rate of 50%. If we take rapid urbanisation as a given and that it is already well underway, it is still widely unclear what research needs to be conducted and policy changes made to support municipalities of fast transforming cities and to avoid repeating the development mistakes that have occurred in industrialised nations, i.e. driving urban growth with high consumption patterns without fully considering the environmental and social needs and occupants’ behaviour and aspirations. The scale and pace of change requires a solid systems approach of urban development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the rapid urbanisation of Chinese cities with a focus on the plans for a new, on-going urban sub-centre in the north-west of Shanghai: Zhenru urban sub-centre. Information-rich urbanisation is a defining feature of the 21st century, reshaping cities and communities in China and in developing countries around the world. The paper compares two cases of urban development patterns for new sub-centres for polycentric city structures: it relates to new urban sub-centres in Berlin (Germany) and Shanghai (China), and the relationship of these sub-centres to ‘Network City’ theory. Network theory is useful in this context as the ‘network’ metaphor and concepts of decentralisation seem to have replaced the ‘machine’ metaphor which was based on efficiency based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. The question to be addressed is how Chinese cities can be better steered towards more sustainable models of development. As cities aim to move towards more resilient urban ecosystems and polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru sub-centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and less car-dependency. According to documentation of the Shanghai municipality, Zhenru urban centre, which is currently in its planning phase, is supposed to become a ‘new sustainable sub-centre for a growing metropolis’. Based on the Potsdamer Platz experience, where an isolated ‘City within the City’ was developed, a series of careful recommendations are formulated for the design and development of such centres, knowing that it is rather difficult to translate from one case to the other. The conclusion includes five lessons (recommendations) from Potsdamer Platz for the urban design of new sub-centres to ensure a delivery of economical, social and environmental sustainable outcomes. A core finding is that drawing lessons from the German case study for Chinese urbanisation seemed a useful tactic and gave a sense that there are underlying urban design strategies. However, the conversion of such strategies to another cultural and social context requires further research. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Prefabricated engineered solid wood panel construction systems can sequester and store CO₂. Modular cross-laminated timber (CLT, also called cross-lam) panels form the basis of low-carbon, engineered construction systems using solid wood panels that can be used to build residential infill developments of 10 storeys or higher. Multi-apartment buildings of 4 to 10 storeys constructed entirely in timber, such as recently in Europe, are innovative, but their social and cultural acceptance in Australia and North America is at this stage still uncertain. Future commercial utilisation is only possible if there is a user acceptance. The author is part of a research team that aims to study two problems: first models of urban infill; then focus on how the use of the CLT systems can play an important role in facilitating a more livable city with better models of infill housing. Wood is an important contemporary building resource due to its low embodied energy and unique attributes. The potential of prefabricated engineered solid wood panel systems, such as CLT, as a sustainable building material and system is only just being realised around the globe. Since timber is one of the few materials that has the capacity to store carbon in large quantities over a long period of time, solid wood panel construction offers the opportunity of carbon engineering, to turn buildings into ‘carbon sinks’. Thus some of the historically negative environmental impact of urban development and construction can be turned around with CLT construction on brownfield sites. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The currently consumption-driven society produces an enormous volume of waste every day. Continuous depletion of natural finite resources by urban populations is leading the globe to an uncertain future. Therefore, to prevent further depletion of global resources, sustainable consumption and a strategic waste management system would be required. It is evident that a significant number of global non-renewable resources such as cadmium, mercury and tellurium will experience permanent shortfall in global supply within the next two to three decades. Astonishingly, the current recycling rate of these very scarce metals is significantly low in all cities around the globe. The concept of the zero waste city includes a 100% recycling of municipal solid waste and a 100% recovery of all resources from waste materials. However, transforming currently over-consuming cities into zero waste cities is challenging. Therefore, this study aims to understand the key factors waste management systems in cities such as consumption, resource depletion and possible decoupling opportunity through implementing the “zero waste city” concept. The study proposes five significant principles for transforming current cities into zero waste cities in the context of long-term sustainability. A simultaneous and harmonized application of sustainable behaviour and consumption, product stewardship, a 100% recycling and recovery of resources, legislated zero landfill and incineration are required to transform current city into a zero waste city. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Beyond energy efficiency, there are now urgent challenges around the supply of resources, materials, energy, food and water. After debating energy efficiency for the last decade, the focus has shifted to include further resources and material efficiency. In this context, urban farming has emerged as a valid urban design strategy, where food is produced and consumed locally within city boundaries, turning disused sites and underutilized public space into productive urban landscapes and community gardens. Furthermore, such agricultural activities allow for effective composting of organic waste, returning nutrients to the soil and improving biodiversity in the urban environment. Urban farming and resource recovery will help to feed the 9 billion by 2050 (predicted population growth, UN-Habitat forecast 2009). This paper reports on best practice of urban design principles in regard to materials flow, material recovery, adaptive re-use of entire building elements and components (‘design for disassembly’; prefabrication of modular building components), and other relevant strategies to implement zero waste by avoiding waste creation, reducing wasteful consumption and changing behaviour in the design and construction sectors. The paper touches on two important issues in regard to the rapid depletion of the world’s natural resources: the built environment and the education of architects and designers (both topics of further research). The construction and demolition (C&D) sector: Prefabricated multi-story buildings for inner-city living can set new benchmarks for minimizing construction wastage and for modular on-site assembly. Today, the C&D sector is one of the main producers of waste; it does not engage enough with waste minimization, waste avoidance and recycling. Education and research: It’s still unclear how best to introduce a holistic understanding of these challenges and to better teach practical and affordable solutions to architects, urban designers, industrial designers, and so on. How must urban development and construction change and evolve to automatically embed sustainability in the way we design, build, operate, maintain and renew/recycle cities? One of the findings of this paper is that embedding zero-waste requires strong industry leadership, new policies and effective education curricula, as well as raising awareness (through research and education) and refocusing research agendas to bring about attitudinal change and the reduction of wasteful consumption. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Arup, the global design, engineering, and business consultancy, is the creative force behind many of the world's most innovative and sustainable buildings and transport and civil engineering projects. Founded over 60 years ago, Arup has operated in China for more than three decades, and almost a quarter of their worldwide staff of 9,000 is based in Hong Kong and China. Arup was initially commissioned by the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation in 2006 to put forward concept proposals for a new sustainable city: Wanzhuang Eco-City, located in Hebei Province. Plans for the 80 sq km site are now being guided by a Development Strategy, the Preliminary Control Plan and Sustainability Design Guidelines. British engineer Peter Head has been a director at Arup since 2004 and is based in London. He is chairman of global planning and leads the company's planning and integrated urbanism business, which includes development planning, economics and policy, integrated urbanism, transport and environmental consulting and sustainable development. In his early career, Peter worked at the forefront of steel bridge technology, and in 1998 he was awarded an OBE for his services to bridge engineering. He is also chairman of the Steel Construction Institute. Peter was appointed a Commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission in 2002, representing the construction sector. There, he was a member of the group that drafted the Sustainable Development Framework for London, which led an initiative to create a voluntary code of practice for sustainable planning, design, and construction of London's built environment. For the last decade or so, Peter has been dedicated to overthrowing the notion that urbanization is inevitably the fast track to environmental collapse. Specifically, he is fighting to ensure that a growing number of the world's mega cities, and the associated mega projects, embrace sustainability principles from the outset. From 2004 to 2008 he was project director for the Dongtan Eco-City project near Shanghai, a project that has recently stalled. Over the last five years, Peter Head has lectured all over the world on sustainable development and the transformation of cities. He gave the 2008–9 Brunel Lecture Series for the Institution of Civil Engineers, titled “Entering the Ecological Age,” which he presented in twenty countries. The Brunel Lecture looked, in detail, as to whether there is a model that would enable 9 billion people to live sustainably on Earth in 2050. It asked which policies and investments would be needed to achieve this and whether it could be done without damaging the economy. In focusing on this ecological transition Pet Steffen Lehmann met with Peter Head at the IGBC Conference in Singapore in October 2009 (where they were both speakers) that discussed the world crises caused by climate change, food and water shortages, and resource constraint problems. Steffen asked Peter what the planner's and engineer's role will be in the cities' transformation to sustainable urbanism. Particularly, how such urban concepts and technologies could be scaled to fit the world's most populous country, China? Here are excerpts from their conversation.

Purpose – A large number of benefits have been reported when reverse logistics (RL) is fully implemented in the construction industry. However, RL is yet to become common place in the construction sector, particularly in Australia. The particular sub-sector in which RL operates is small and weak and the remainder of the sector must embrace and accommodate it comfortably. Research is lacking on how to promoting RL in the construction industry. Very little has been done to identify the current practices that have the potential to promote RL industry-wide. The purpose of this paper is to identify the practices that work well in the sector, a strategy could be mapped out to promote RL to all stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – In order to fill the above gap, the present study used a mixed method approach to gather and evaluate current practices and their potential to promote RL in South Australia’s construction industry. Practices that were identified using a comprehensive literature review were evaluated with a questionnaire survey and series of interviews involving construction professionals. Findings – The findings are that practices facilitating deconstruction is the most important, followed by practices facilitating the use of salvaged materials in new construction to promote RL in South Australia. Awareness of deconstruction benefits, challenges and procedures at the organisation level and facilities and services at industry level were associated with RL implementation. Availability of salvaged materials in the market was found to influence its use in new construction and as a consequence its demand. Designing for reverse logistics is another practice that could facilitate deconstruction and the onus of its promotion lies mainly with the designers. Research limitations/implications – This research was confined to one state in Australia. As such the generalisation to other states and other countries should be treated cautiously. Practical implications – The findings of this study can help inform the industry and its stakeholders on areas that they need to concentrate more on to make the South Australian construction industry a fully RL integrated one. To that end the authors propose some recommendations arising from the findings reported here. Originality/value – This study makes a contribution to the body of knowledge on reserve logistics within a previously unexplored South Australian context. In addition, the study provides valuable insights into the contribution of RL practices to the construction industry.

Despite extensive research on the benefits of reverse logistics (RL), it has yet to become commonplace in the construction industry. Furthermore, the uptake and number of studies on RL remains very limited within the Australian context and particularly related to the construction industry. This paper is aimed at filling that knowledge gap by employing an exploratory approach to examine the critical barriers faced by South Australian construction organizations in implementing RL practices. Semi-structured interviews and a ranking approach facilitated the treatment of qualitative data through quantitative coding using cloud-based applications. The research identified 12 barriers to RL implementation, four of them very significant according to the responses of the interviewees: the regulatory environment, additional costs involved, lack of recognition in the construction supply chain, and extra effort required. The study also explored their inter-relationships through the Co-occurrence Index. The study proposes some remedial measures for RL implementation in South Australia based on the barriers identified. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This is a research paper with a focus on technical aspects of timber and on recent case studies, discussing the use of timber as multi-frame for multi-level residential buildings in Europe. The authors see this as a relevant topic within the context of the current environmental debate and the use of sustainable materials and construction methods. The conclusion suggests that timber is a high performance construction material adequate for multi-storey residential buildings, even in an urban context.

This paper aims to investigate and analyse the perceptions of Australian construction practitioners on drivers for adoption of reverse logistics (RL). To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight practitioners to collect data and the interview transcripts were analysed using the NVivo (version 10) software package. The study takes advantage of integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis of interview transcripts to rank the drivers on the basis of their relative importance. Results suggested that factors associated with regulations and obligations could act as the most important drivers to promote adoption of RL. The drivers associated with financial gains were identified as the second important category of drivers in RL adoption. Furthermore, environmental concerns were regarded as "slightly important" for practitioners in the South Australian construction context. The study concludes with presenting a model mapping the factors affecting the strength of drivers in construction projects in South Australia. Keywords: Adoption, Construction industry, drivers, reverse logistics, South Australia Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Factors, such as split incentive, information asymmetry, opportunistic behavior, ill-informed users, and institutional transitions, etc., incur different levels of Transaction costs (TCs) and affect the stakeholders’ willingness to take part in building energy efficiency (BEE). A better understanding of the nature and structure of TCs is essential to improve the market mechanisms for BEE investment. It covers three dimensions of TCs: specific investment, frequency and uncertainty. The paper provides a framework to understand BEE barriers in general and the TCs concerns of stakeholders in particular. In-depth interviews questions are designed to be conducted with the real estate representatives and architects, using a case of Hong Kong, where real estate developers are chosen to be the study object as they are the initiative and dominate force. The study focuses on how to smooth BEE transactions and lessen TCs involved. It indicates that TCs are the key factors impeding BEE market penetration, and will provide references to design a governance structure as well as to design policy packages to promote BEE. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Reverse Logistics (RL) is an innovation able to bring about immense benefits for organisations in a wide range of industries through enhancing the performance of supply chain procedures. Yet, evidence demonstrates that RL has remained unexploited mainly due to the lack of knowledge about its benefits, enablers, and major aspects of its adoption and implementation. In this context, promoting the adoption and diffusion of RL into the supply chain of organisations has been recommended frequently. This chapter provides a response to such need by (1) explaining the phenomenon and dispelling the confusions surrounding the RL concept, (2) clarifying the major drivers and barriers of RL and highlighting the role it can play in enhancing the performance of conventional supply chains; in addition, (3) the chapter intends to demystify the major aspects associated with implementing RL in organisations. The chapter also aims at familiarising potential readers with the major references available in the field.

Waste is a symbol of inefficiency in modern society and represents misallocated resources. This paper outlines an on-going interdisciplinary research project entitled "Integrated ETWW demand forecasting and scenario planning for low-carbon precincts" and reports on first findings and a literature review. This large multi-stakeholder research project develops a shared platform for integrated ETWW (energy, transport, waste and water) planning in a low-carbon urban future, focusing on synergies and alternative approaches to urban planning. The aim of the project is to develop a holistic integrated software tool for demand forecasting and scenario evaluation for residential precincts, covering the four domains, ETWW, using identified commonalities in data requirements and model formulation. The authors of this paper are overseeing the waste domain. A major component of the project will be developing a method for including the impacts of household behavior change in demand forecasting, as well as assessing the overall carbon impacts of urban developments or redevelopments of existing precincts. The resulting tool will allow urban planners, municipalities and developers to assess the future total demands for energy, transport, waste and water whilst in the planning phase. The tool will also help to assess waste management performance and materials flow in relation to energy and water consumption and travel behavior, supporting the design and management of urban systems in different city contexts. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Low-carbon prefabricated modular construction systems, using prefabricated engineered solid wood panel construction systems, such as load-bearing cross-laminated timber panels, and ‘design for disassembly’ principles will offer significant opportunities for greenhouse gas emission reduction and waste avoidance, among other benefits. However, introducing such innovative and sustainable construction systems to the Australian construction industries and housing markets has its challenges. This paper explores the opportunities offered by an innovative low carbon construction system using cross-laminated timber (CLT, also known as cross-lam) panels to improve the design and delivery of urban infill housing of the Australian construction market. CLT construction has been developed around 1996 in Europe, mainly in Austria and Germany: thick layers of timber boards are glued crosswise in different directions to increase loadbearing capacity. This article describes a multi-disciplinary research project into engineered timber panels which aims to transform the Australian construction and development industry, involving a range of key partners. This project aims to introduce CLT panels as a way to build with a lightweight prefabricated low-carbon construction system that is advantageous for urban infill and residential buildings in the range of 4–10 stories height. The challenges, research questions and advantages of this new engineered timber system are explained, and a research methodology for further research is presented. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Today, many developed cities such as Stockholm, and Adelaide are aiming to transform their current waste management practice into a more efficient and sustainable way, called zero waste practice. Increasingly people move from rural to urban environments due to the economic activities and quality of life provided to inhabitants, causing cities to expand. Over-crowded cities are compromising the quality of urban life due to their rapid growth and ever-increasing generation of waste. The concept of the " zero waste city" includes a 100% recycling rate and recovery of all resources from waste materials. However, transforming current over-consuming cities to zero waste cities is challenging. Therefore, this study aims to understand the key drivers of waste management and the challenges, threats, and opportunities in transforming traditional waste streams and optimizing practices toward zero waste practices. Part of this study is an in-depth case analysis of waste management systems in two cities, Adelaide and Stockholm. Cities from high consuming countries, such as Australia and Sweden, have been analyzed based on five waste management contexts: social, economic, political, technological, and environmental. In addition, key drivers are identified. Both Adelaide and Stockholm have the vision to become " zero waste cities". The study concludes that strategies based on tools, systems, and technologies can assist cities in their transformation into " zero waste cities" ; however, they must also be affordable, practicable, and effective within their local regulatory framework Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Beyond energy efficiency, there are now urgent challenges around the supply of resources, materials, food and water. After debating energy-efficiency for the last decade, the focus has shifted to include resource and material-efficiency. In this context, urban farming has emerged as a valid urban design strategy in Europe, where food is produced and consumed locally within city boundaries, turning disused sites into productive urban landscapes and community gardens. Agricultural activities allow for effective composting of organic waste, returning nutrients to the soil and improving biodiversity in the urban environment. Urban farming will help to feed the 9 billion by 2050 (predicted population growth, UN-Habitat forecast 2009). This paper reports on best practice of urban design principles in regard to materials flow, material recovery, adaptive re-use of building elements and components (‘design for disassembly’; prefabrication of modular building components), and other relevant strategies to implement zero waste by avoiding waste creation, reducing harmful consumption and changing behaviour. The paper touches on two important issues in regard to the rapid depletion of the world's natural resources: the construction sector and the education of architects and designers. The construction sector: Prefabricated multi-story timber buildings for inner-city living can set new benchmarks for minimizing construction wastage and for sustainable on-site assembly. Today, the construction and demolition (C&D) sector is one of the main producers of waste; it does not engage enough with waste minimization, waste avoidance and recycling. Education and research: It's still unclear how best to introduce a holistic understanding of these challenges and to better teach practical and affordable solutions to architects, urban designers, industrial designers, and so on. One of the findings of this paper is that embedding ‘zero-waste’ requires strong industry leadership, new policies and effective education curricula, as well as raising awareness (education) and refocusing research agendas to bring about attitudinal change and the reduction of wasteful consumption.

This paper will first look at the timeline of important publications that have been published on sustainable design and have emerged from different schools of thought, to exemplify how gradually the notion of Green Urbanism evolved. It then identifies the intertwined principles for achieving Green Urbanism. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper compares two cases: It relates to the development of new urban sub-centres in China, and the relationship of these sub-centres to ‘Network City’ theory. As cities move towards more polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru Sub-Centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and transport-oriented development. According to the documentation by Shanghai municipality, this new urban centre, which is currently in its planning phase, is supposed to become a ‘sustainable sub-centre for a growing metropolis.’ The author, who has intimate knowledge of the Berlin case, was asked to advice on the Chinese project, based on the Potsdamer Platz experience. After some hesitation, a series of careful recommendations were formulated for the design and development of the Zhenru Sub-Centre, knowing that it is rather difficult to translate from one case to the other. The conclusion includes five recommendations for the urban design of such sub-centres, to ensure a delivery of economical, social and environmental sustainable outcomes.

Since the foundation of his practice Ingenhoven Architekten in 1985, Christoph Ingenhoven (born 1960, as the sonof an architect) has been an advocate of sustainable design and low-energy architecture. He is considered Germany’smost successful architect of his generation and a leader in the application of sustainable design concepts using an ecologicalapproach. Main themes that stand at the centre are future work environments, ecology, mobility, and urbanlandscapes. Conceptual strategies and realization of innovative solutions, an integrated approach, and dedication tooptimize and implement it on all levels, is visible. It is obvious that Ingenhoven is infl uenced by the work of othermodern German architects, such as Egon Eiermann, Frei Otto, Thomas Herzog, and Guenther Behnisch, people whounderstood so well the relationship and tension between architecture and engineering.Christoph Ingenhoven is involved in projects all over the world and is increasingly involved in the design of majorbuildings in Australia. After winning the design competition for a new high-rise tower in Sydney’s central businessdistrict in 2006, his new “Space” high-rise offi ce tower (to be completed in 2011; ground breaking was in May2009), and his recent involvement with the urban and architectural design of the Barangaroo waterfront development,brings him to Australia on a regular basis. The Australian city will gain a prominent addition to its skylinewith this new (6-star Green Star rated) offi ce tower on Bligh Street.

This paper explores the origins of an air-condition dependency which evolved with 20th century architecture and is related to other developments that affected buildings in the last century, such as the lack of flexibility/adaptability of buildings and their short life span. It then looks at some passive design principles as frequently found in heritage buildings from the pre-air-conditioning era, which are based on heat avoidance and harnessing of natural energies. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for a holistic pathway to zero-carbon, climate-adaptive buildings.

UNESCO, the UN nodal agency for education, science, culture and architecture, has made sustainability a key topic in its development oriented activities, and has launched a new initiative to address the increasing concern of non-sustainable urbanization which currently occurs in the Asia and Pacific region. It is a region of rapid change, cultural alienation and environmental crisis, with a threatening divide between city and countryside. This paper informs about the interdisciplinary research activities conducted by the newly established UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia and the Pacific. The Chair's roadmap for the next ten years to facilitate sustainable urban growth is explored and described in detail.

Publisher Summary Among the most significant environmental challenges are global climate change, excessive fossil fuel dependency, and the growing demand for energy–all likely to be major challenges of the twenty-first century and one of the greatest problems facing humanity. The increasingly widespread effects of climate change and continuous uncertainty of conventional energy supplies are causing an increasing demand for the transition of the cities through sustainable urban development. The quickest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by being more efficient with the way energy is consumed, by reducing consumption, and by transferring to renewable energy sources. Energy savings require the development and use of more efficient appliances and the retro-fitting of the existing building stocks to make the most of natural daylight, rainwater, cooling breezes, and solar exposure, or reducing or eliminating the need for artificial lighting, cooling, and heating. A general lack of training, education, and research activity in sustainability has been identified across the professions involved. The design criteria for major infrastructure, such as bridges, ports, campuses, shopping centers, etc. will need to be urgently redefined to facilitate the transformation of cities towards renewable sources, and readjusted for extreme climatic events, like floods, storm surges, global temperature increases, sea-level rise, water shortages, and droughts. This again illustrates the need to implement climate-responsive “Green Urbanism” and to transform the existing fossil-based energy infrastructure of the cities.

In the essay entitled ‘Towards a Sustainable City Centre’ (published in JGB Summer 2006), the author reflected on principles how to best integrate ecologically sustainable development (ESD) into urban design. This second paper reports on his continuing research in the area of ‘Green Urbanism’.1 Among the most significant environmental challenges of our time are global climate change, excessive fossil fuel dependency and the growing demand for energy—all likely to be major challenges of the 21st century and one of the greatest problems facing humanity. In this context, urban design and the fundamental principles of how to shape our cities has barely featured in the greenhouse debate. Much of the debate in related areas has so far circled around ideas about active technology for ‘eco-buildings’. This is surprising, since almost half the energy consumed is used in cities and urban built-up areas, and given that avoiding mistakes in urban design at early stages could genuinely lead to more sustainabl...

Sustainable waste management requires an integrated planning and design strategy for reliable forecasting of waste generation, collection, recycling, treatment and disposal for the successful development of future residential precincts. The success of the future development and management of waste relies to a high extent on the accuracy of the prediction and on a comprehensive understanding of the overall waste management systems. This study defies the traditional concepts of waste, in which waste was considered as the last phase of production and services, by putting forward the new concept of waste as an intermediate phase of production and services. The study aims to develop a demand forecasting tool called ‘zero waste index’ (ZWI) for measuring the natural resources recouped from municipal solid waste. The ZWI (ZWI demand forecasting tool) quantifies the amount of virgin materials recovered from solid waste and subsequently reduces extraction of natural resources. In addition, the tool estimates the potential amount of energy, water and emissions avoided or saved by the improved waste management system. The ZWI is tested in a case study of waste management systems in two developed cities: Adelaide (Australia) and Stockholm (Sweden). The ZWI of waste management systems in Adelaide and Stockholm is 0.33 and 0.17 respectively. The study also enumerates per capita energy savings of 2.9 GJ and 2.83 GJ, greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 0.39 tonnes (CO2e) and 0.33 tonnes (CO2e), as well as water savings of 2.8 kL and 0.92 kL in Adelaide and Stockholm respectively.