Community action for sustainable housing: Building a low-carbon future

This paper introduces the Heideggerian terms Zuhanden and Vorhanden to studies of community low carbon transitions. It sets apart Zuhandenheit community as involvement: the doing, enacting and belonging aspects of community movements and activism. Vorhandenheit community contrastingly is observed: community as an object at arm's length, to be studied, tasked or used. The article builds on authors, particularly Malpas, who have utilised these concepts in spatial theory by adopting their associated spatialisation of involvement and containment. After introducing this theoretical understanding, the article addresses the case of a Transition initiative in receipt of government funding, where both Vorhanden and Zuhanden subjectivities can be found. Through focusing on this specific Transition project, we can more clearly grasp both the tensions emerging from state-funded community and the limits to, and possibilities for, appreciating community action phenomenologically.

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The Uncommon Nightingale: Sustainable Housing Innovation in Australia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10103469 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 3469 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Trivess Moore ◽

Andréanne Doyon

Keyword(s):

Scaling Up ◽

Learning By Doing ◽

Housing Development ◽

Building Industry ◽

Sustainability Transitions ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Sustainable Housing ◽

The World ◽

Existing Housing

There is a need to deliver more environmentally and socially sustainable housing if we are to achieve a transition to a low carbon future. There are examples of innovative and sustainable housing emerging around the world which challenge the deeper structures of the existing housing regime. This paper uses the analysis of socio-technical dimensions of eco-housing presented by Smith to explore the development of an emerging sustainable housing model known as Nightingale Housing in Australia within a sustainability transitions framing. While there were several similarities to Smith’s analysis (e.g., establishment of guiding principles, learning by doing), there were also some key differences, including the scaling up of sustainable housing while using tried and tested design principles, materials and technologies, and creating changes to user relations, policy, and culture. Smith’s dimensions remain a good framework for understanding sustainable housing development, but they must be located within a scaling up sustainable housing agenda. What is required now is to develop a better understanding of the processes and opportunities that such housing models offer policy makers, housing researchers, and building industry stakeholders to achieve a broader scale uptake of sustainable housing both in Australia and globally.

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Mobilising community action towards a low-carbon future: Opportunities and challenges for local government in the UK

Energy Policy ◽

10.1016/j.enpol.2010.01.044 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 38 (12) ◽

pp. 7596-7603 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Michael Peters ◽

Shane Fudge ◽

Philip Sinclair

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Community Action ◽

Low Carbon ◽

The Uk

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Research on Construction for Sustainable Housing Based on the Whole Life Cycle

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.224.164 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 224 ◽

pp. 164-169

Author(s):

Xia Yun Li ◽

Shi Qiang Zhao

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Development Strategy ◽

Construction Projects ◽

Residential Building ◽

Paper Analysis ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Low Carbon Economy ◽

Sustainable Housing ◽

Whole Life Cycle

Under the Sustainable Development Strategy, whether the project's sustainability goals can be achieved for residential building is a serious problem, which is not only related to the improvement of quality of living but also the implementation of the strategy for national energy saving and low-carbon economy. However, building sustainable housing is a new challenge for contractor. Based on the life cycle theory, this paper analysis project objective and achieves condition of sustainable development in explaining the basis of the connotation of sustainable housing, and then discuses the process of building sustainable housing under the guidance of sustainable management theory, which can provides some guidance for the achievement of sustainability goals of residential construction projects.

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Promoting Low-Carbon Tourism through Adaptive Regional Certification

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9010015 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 15

Author(s):

Alex Baumber ◽

John Merson ◽

Chris Lockhart Smith

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Community Action ◽

Tourism Industry ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Study Region ◽

Carbon Footprints ◽

Blue Mountains ◽

South Wales ◽

The Impact

Climate change is a key issue in sustainable tourism, both in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the tourism sector and the potential impacts of climate change on tourism-dependent regions. Low-carbon tourism is an emerging paradigm based around emissions reduction by tourism businesses, as well as broader values of adaptation, transition and behavioral change. This article presents the results of a low-carbon tourism case study in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, where the Low-Carbon Living Program has successfully designed and implemented a low-carbon rating and certification scheme. This scheme covers emissions related to energy, waste and water and is based on regionally-specific data. The program has also succeeded in its aim of using the tourism industry as a catalyst for broader community action, having been expanded to schools and retailers in the case study region. A transferable regional model has been developed that is being adapted for use in new regions under a modular and decentralised program structure. However, questions remain around the impact of the program on participants’ carbon footprints and customer levels over time, as well as the suitability of a common scorecard system to diverse participant types.

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