Colin Beattie, Curtin University

‘Decarbonising’ urban development

2009 was the first year on record that showed more than half of the Earth’s population living in cities. It is clear that, in our efforts to reduce our carbon emissions, we must look closely at our built environment and the amount of energy consumed by the expanding cityscape.

The CUSP Decarbonising Cities and Regions ARC linkage project seeks to develop a case for decarbonising cities and regions using some extraordinary Western Australian examples. The project industry partners are providing relevant case studies in metropolitan Perth. By using real projects, we can determine a framework relevant to urban development projects to maximise their decarbonising potential.

The framework needs detailed investigation to ensure inclusion of all relevant carbon-producing aspects of urban development. This is being done by continuous documentary research consisting of literature reviews of published projects using professional and academic journals and websites. The tool or tools needed to examine the case studies also require some scrutiny. CCAP Precinct is one such tool which has been developed to calculate a number of critical metrics including carbon emissions associated with energy, transport, materials and water. In order to test the tool, a pilot case study will be analysed. The results will demonstrate for a particular location and size if it is possible to have a low carbon, carbon neutral or even a net carbon zero development.

Colin Beattie - colbeattie@gmail.com

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