29 August 2013
A new book is calling designers, architects and planners to take action and design urban areas which will motivate people to change their behaviour, making concepts of sustainability a reality.
Motivating Change: Sustainable Design and Behaviour in the Built Environment, edited by the University of South Australia’s Professor Steffen Lehmann and Dr Robert Crocker, brings together leading academics from around the world to inspire decision makers, urban experts and designers to play a major role in tackling the issues associated with climate change.
Prof Lehmann, Professor of Sustainable Design and Director of the Zero Waste Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour, says the urban challenges and problems facing us can be tackled by basic changes and step-by-step transformation of the way we live.
“We live in a disposable culture where we build and buy for the short-term,” Prof Lehmann says.
“We see it in all aspects of life: we are building houses that are only made to last 30 years at the same time as we are tearing down 100-year-old buildings without reusing the materials with which they were constructed, and our mobile telephones are redundant after just a couple of years’ use.
“From the homes we live in to the objects we own to the way we commute, sustainable design can start changing our dependency on over-consumption and creation of waste.
“Today’s most pressing challenges require long-lasting behaviour change at many levels, from the city to the individual; this book focuses on the collective influences that can shape that change and shift values.”
Motivating Change: Sustainable Design and Behaviour in the Built Environment, published by Routledge (London), will be launched in Australia on Thursday 5 September at 6pm the Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, Hawke Building at UniSA’s City West campus, following launches in the United Kingdom and the United States earlier in the year.
The book is the second edited by Prof Lehmann in his book series, the Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design.
Speakers at the launch will include the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, the Hon Ian Hunter, and the University President and Vice Chancellor, Professor David Lloyd.
Contact for interview Prof Steffen Lehmann email Steffen.Lehmann@unisa.edu.au
Media Contact Rachel Broadley office (08) 8302 0965 email rachel.broadley@unisa.edu.au
