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Sustainable Precincts: Transforming Australian Cities One Neighbourhood at a Time

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Decarbonising the Built Environment

Abstract

This chapter discusses planning approaches for Australian cities to support highly liveable, low carbon, sustainable urban environments. The chapter focusses on where and how new development should occur. Discussion covers three main areas:

  • The theory of urban fabrics and the influence of dominant transport modes upon urban morphology. This is described in terms of the three main urban fabrics (walking, transit and automobile),

  • The need for greater urban regeneration (brownfield and greyfield infill) in place of continued greenfield sprawl and

  • The various benefits of medium to high-density precinct-scale planning and design combined with eco-efficient distributed infrastructure.

Considered together, these factors represent a more strategic approach than is common in planning today, by placing greater emphasis upon liveability and sustainability outcomes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Strategic Sustainable Development, Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Karlskrona, Sweden

    Giles Thomson

  2. Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Peter Newton

  3. Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Perth, WA, Australia

    Peter Newman

Authors
  1. Giles Thomson
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  2. Peter Newton
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  3. Peter Newman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giles Thomson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Peter Newton

  2. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Deo Prasad

  3. School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Alistair Sproul

  4. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Stephen White

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Thomson, G., Newton, P., Newman, P. (2019). Sustainable Precincts: Transforming Australian Cities One Neighbourhood at a Time. In: Newton, P., Prasad, D., Sproul, A., White, S. (eds) Decarbonising the Built Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7940-6_11

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