Change agents and sustainability transformations in the water sector. The pursuit of sustainable development is a major challenge for Australian communities. System transformations are urgently needed, not just incremental change. While we know much about how to incubate local innovation, how innovation can be scaled to transform systems is not well understood. This project aims to understand how change agents can influence system transformations and how their actions can be enabled and constrai ....Change agents and sustainability transformations in the water sector. The pursuit of sustainable development is a major challenge for Australian communities. System transformations are urgently needed, not just incremental change. While we know much about how to incubate local innovation, how innovation can be scaled to transform systems is not well understood. This project aims to understand how change agents can influence system transformations and how their actions can be enabled and constrained by local conditions and governance arrangements. Its focus is on change agents working to promote urban water innovations and system change. We hope to develop new knowledge on the capabilities and resources that local governments and other actors must deploy to achieve sustainability transformations in Australia.Read moreRead less
Community Engagement for Localised Greenhouse Reduction: a local government demand-management model for business and household water, energy and waste reduction. New integrated community strategies are needed to deal with the imperative of reducing Australia's carbon footprint. With an explicit focus on enhancing community engagement for localised greenhouse reduction, this project will generate important analysis and policy prescriptions for demand reduction strategies. The development of endur ....Community Engagement for Localised Greenhouse Reduction: a local government demand-management model for business and household water, energy and waste reduction. New integrated community strategies are needed to deal with the imperative of reducing Australia's carbon footprint. With an explicit focus on enhancing community engagement for localised greenhouse reduction, this project will generate important analysis and policy prescriptions for demand reduction strategies. The development of enduring sustainable environment attitudinal and behavioural change is central to the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, which sees a clear role for governments, business and individuals in progressing ecologically sustainable development. The results will contribute to developing new place-based integrated eco-sustainability models for implementation by local/state governments.Read moreRead less
Discursive and Institutional Barriers to Urban Environmental Sustainability: A Comparative Study of Infrastructure Policy in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. This research project will discover what stands in the way of adoption of a new policy paradigm: ?environmental sustainability?. Through our case studies in transport policy we will be able to explain how structures of reasoning, together with institutions and discursive networks, persistently influence decision makers, creating barriers to par ....Discursive and Institutional Barriers to Urban Environmental Sustainability: A Comparative Study of Infrastructure Policy in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. This research project will discover what stands in the way of adoption of a new policy paradigm: ?environmental sustainability?. Through our case studies in transport policy we will be able to explain how structures of reasoning, together with institutions and discursive networks, persistently influence decision makers, creating barriers to paradigmatic change. Our work will make an internationally important theoretical contribution to the field of public policy, urban environmental politics and the theory of ecological modernisation. On a practical level the work will provide new analytical tools and concepts for urban planning, enabling improvement to policy making and implementation.Read moreRead less