Reconsidering sustainable building and design: lessons from China, Germany and Australia

This paper reports on the initial stages of a research project entitled „Reconsidering Sustainable Building and Design: A Cultural Change Approach‟, which is being conducted at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. The project is a three year, Australian Research Council funded endeavour, which seeks to take a whole of life cycle approach to the implementation of ecologically sustainable approaches in building design and construction. The project involves ten partners from government and industry, including partners in Shenzhen University in China and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. As such the project is well positioned to take a cross-cultural approach to the analysis of issues associated with the implementation of sustainable building and design practices. This paper reports on the initial phases of the project which included an extensive literature review comparing construction waste management practices in the three study areas: Shenzhen, China; Karlsruhe, Germany; and Adelaide, Australia. The paper begins to explore issues such as the cultural, political, legislative and economic factors which influence the implementation of ecologically sustainable building and design practices, before making some initial recommendations in terms of what can be learnt from the different study regions in order to improve ecologically sustainable outcomes.