Creating Resilient, Low-Carbon and Healthy Precincts: From Opportunity to Reality

This half-day symposium focuses on how we move beyond discussions of the opportunities for improving the sustainability, environmental health and resiliency of precincts to creating them in practice. Given we are less than a generation away from needing to achieve our wider decarbonisation goals in Australia and globally there is an urgency to make sure precincts play a critical role in supporting this outcome. There has been lots of discussion about what we could do to implement healthy low carbon precincts, but translating this to action has been limited. This symposium explores how we can do more to translate research and best practice across new and existing precincts.

We will start the symposium with key industry perspectives and discussion on how we scale up the delivery of low-carbon, resilient and environmentally healthy precincts. This will then be followed by presentations of emerging research and case studies which can help us better understand not only the opportunities for precincts, but how we can deliver this in practice.

The symposium will commence with a panel discussion featuring perspectives from industry and government on how we can accelerate the delivery of low-carbon, resilient and environmentally healthy precincts. This will be followed by a Q&A session with our guest speakers:

• Natasha Palich, Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment (CASBE), discussing local government priorities, urban planning and decarbonisation initiatives.

• Leah Wheatly, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), outlining the future of nature-based solutions in precincts, including the flagship More Trees for a Cooler Greener West and Melbourne initiatives.

• Adam Selvay, National Sustainability Manager, Product Development, Metricon Homes, showcasing sustainable development projects and approaches being implemented across Victoria.

Join us where we will explore interdisciplinary research and work that considers the practical implementation, governance, financing or scaling of solutions across precincts in the following areas:

Building, precincts and stock decarbonisation: Whole life carbon analysis; Energy efficiency and building performance; Embodied emissions and life cycle analysis; Positive energy communities and precincts; Circular economy and resource recovery; Smart cities and Data-driven precinct management.

Healthy and resilient environments: Nature-based solutions; Urban heat and climate adaptation; Microclimate modelling; Air pollution; Exposure and urban environmental health; Climate resilience; Environmental health and wellbeing.

Sustainable urban planning, placemaking and landscape architectures: Precinct-scale net zero development; Low-carbon transport and mobility; Social sustainability, health and wellbeing; Urban greening, green corridors and biodiversity in urban spaces; Community engagement, participation and co-design; Governance, policy and institutional barriers to implementation; Financing and business models for sustainable precinct development; community experience.

We look forward to bringing together academic researchers, industry and government partners to explore how we can move from opportunity to reality in creating resilient, low-carbon and healthy precincts.

This event is organised by RMIT University's Post-Carbon Research Centre in collaboration with the Nature Positive Network.

RMIT's Post-Carbon Research Centre tackles the complex challenges of decarbonising the built environment and infrastructures to transition to a sustainable, equitable and resilient future. For more information about the Centre, please visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn.

The RMIT Nature Positive Network connects RMIT researchers with industry, government, and community partners to support practical nature-positive outcomes. Learn more on our website. To join the network, please reach out to nature.positive@rmit.edu.au