Open AccessTransitioning to a more sustainable residential built environment in Sydney?
Author(s) -
Foong Daphne,
Mitchell Paul,
Wagstaff Nadine,
Duncan Elizabeth,
McManus Phil
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geo: geography and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.463
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2054-4049
DOI - 10.1002/geo2.33
Subject(s) - embeddedness , context (archaeology) , built environment , perspective (graphical) , order (exchange) , scale (ratio) , sustainable development , architectural engineering , environmental planning , business , regional science , sociology , geography , civil engineering , engineering , political science , social science , computer science , cartography , archaeology , finance , artificial intelligence , law
This article applies socio‐technical transitions theory (STTT), with the aim of identifying how the barriers and opportunities that exist to implementing sustainable building are socio‐spatially embedded at a residential scale in Sydney, NSW. This is done through a series of semi‐structured interviews conducted with a range of professionals in relevant industries. The research concludes that barriers and opportunities to sustainable residential buildings in Sydney exist within a landscape context of housing provision in developed countries. However, the conceptual application of these barriers to Sydney, through the multi‐level perspective of STTT with a geographical conceptualisation of the socio‐spatial embeddedness of transitions, highlights the necessity of working within the Sydney and NSW context to facilitate genuine and meaningful transitions. Furthermore, a key finding of this article was the necessity of including socio‐economic factors in a STTT analysis in order to transition to a residential built environment which is both sustainable and affordable.