Horizon 3 Planning: Meshing Liveability with Sustainability

Three successive Australian State of the Environment Reports on Human Settlements (Newton, 2006) have revealed an escalating pattern of urban consumption that should now be classed as unsustainable both locally and globally. Ecological footprints of what are seen as Australia's highly liveable capital cities (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2004), if translated globally, would necessitate 4-planet living (Environment Planning Authority, 2007).(1) The level of per capita greenhouse gas emissions from urban Australia and fossil fuel exports also represent a significant contribution to global warming and climate change. The reputation that Australian cities have attained for liveability does not equate to their sustainability. Current Australian urban lifestyles are based on increasing rates of per capita resource consumptionöfor example, water use at 115 L/year (2000 ^ 01; 3.2% per year increase over 1996 ^ 97 level), energy use at 266 GJ/year (2003 ^ 04, with a forecast increase of 2.2% per year to 2019), waste generation of approximately 1 tonne/year and increasing in most states, mobility by car of 8000km/year (with vehicle kilometers travelled forecast to be one-third higher by 2020 in capital cities than in 2002), CO2 generation of 27.5 tonnes/year, and the floor area of new dwellings has increased at a rate of 2.2% per year over the 10-year period to 2003 ^ 04 (where the average was 239 square metres). In all instances, annual rates of change in per capita consumption are well above the rate of Australia's population growth (which in turn is double that of the OECD) and, in combination, these twin factors are driving growth in Australia's total consumption and associated footprint. While affluence is part of the reason for above average consumption rates, the high rate of urbanisation and types of urban development are also contributing factors. A significant proportion of Australia's total annual urban resource consumption is actually designed into its cities and housing. Where people live within a city and the types of dwellings they occupy will exert an impact over and above that of an individual's discretionary consumptive behaviour. Household consumption has also now become a key engine of contemporary economic growth, and consumption landscapes are as distinctive within our cities as production landscapes. Yet at the same time, Australia's increasing level of total consumption is a major factor behind looming vulnerabilities facing the nation's cities in areas related to water supply, greenhouse induced climate change, transport congestion and mobility costs, and housing affordability. In order to accommodate the levels of urbanisation and resource consumption unfolding in developing countries such as China, and to address the consumptiondriven vulnerabilities of cities and their populations in countries such as Australia requires access to a pipeline of innovations that are capable of delivering radical transformation, given the enormity of the transitions required to produce sustainable urban systems this century. These innovations can be seen to occupy three Commentary Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 2007, volume 34, pages 571 ^ 575