Beyond Triple Bottom Line - Sustainable Cities RD&D at CSIRO

This paper presents the goals, underlying principles and framework, and the research, development and demonstration/delivery (RD&D) activities of the Sustainable Cities research theme at CSIRO, emphasising its focus on inter-disciplinary and integrated approaches to address urban sustainability issues. Performance goal setting and assessment with a n-bottom line (nBL) framework and following the performance approach in the planning, design and management of urban developments are introduced. CSIRO's RD&D activities in Sustainable Cities are organised around three streams - (1) high performance built environments, (2) integrated urban design and development and (3) transitioning to sustainable and healthier cities. Selected projects are listed to demonstrate the scope and diversity of theme topics. Practical application of the n-bottom line (nBL) sustainability concept and the performance approach is demonstrated through an urban water project in New Zealand.