Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
School of Natural and Built Environments
School of Natural and Built Environments
The June 2008 edition of eNBErs highlighted our School’s excellent
recent successes in the ARC linkage round. This included new projects on
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the northern Adelaide region from
Playford to Gawler and also an integrated assessment of sustainable
urban growth around the Noarlunga Centre in the south. A further project
will be looking at modeling South Australia’s electricity grid network
with the target for 20% alternative energy by 2020 and we will be
providing the GIS and spatial modeling component to that study. Finally,
the new focus of the State on water security based around the proposed
desalination plant fits in very well with the SA Water Centre for Water
Management and Reuse linkage project of the new deputy director
Associate Professor Linda Zou, who is working to set up a pilot reverse
osmosis desalination plant at Mawson Lakes.
It was with these multidisciplinary projects in sustainable urban growth
and development in mind that an opportunity arose to build a stronger
link with one of our many international potential partners and
collaborators. Prof Wang Xiaoming is a Professor in the Department of
Construction Management, School of Civil Engineering and Director of the
Urban Construction and Real Estate Research Institute (ECRERI) at
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China. He
is also a dynamic and leading urban and regional planner and a formal
Expert of the China National Sustainable Communities (CNSC) supported by
the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. Through adjunct senior
research fellow Dr David Ness, a number of visits to Wuhan have taken
place by both myself and by Janet Dibb-Smith from the UniSA’s
Sustainable Settlements Research and Innovation Cluster. Those visits
have illuminated for both Janet and myself the breadth of research
activities being undertaken by the group led by Prof Wang. These
projects are underway in the old and new cities of Wuhan which straddle
the Yangtze River some 1100 km west of Shanghai, in surrounding towns
and villages and even in remote and almost pristine mountainous
wilderness communities of Hubei Province, of which Wuhan is the capital
city.
The HUST research projects focus on studies in the fields of sustainable
city and sustainable building development; urban protection; renewal and
building maintenance decisions; sustainable improvement to human
habitation environments; sustainable development for communities;
housing construction and real estate development; construction project
management and engineering sociology. The projects further include urban
and rural planning based on sustainable development and techniques
include integration and demonstrations for construction of small towns
and eco-villages; for eco-buildings and energy-saving buildings; for
green communities; marketing and planning of construction projects for
protection and utilization of historic and cultural cities; urban
renewal and housing improvement for disadvantaged populations and
finally, management and simulation of construction systems. Their
research must also demonstrate an international perspective with
international cooperative programs, hence the interest from both sides
in learning more about our very similar goals and aims.
Prof Wang and his colleagues arrived in Adelaide on Friday morning of
the 26th September following their attendance and presentations at the
SB08 (Sustainable Building 08
www.sb08.org) conference in Melbourne. Dr Stephen Pullen and David
Ness were our School’s representatives at this conference which was very
impressive with its 3-4000 attendees, 500 papers, attendees from 60
countries and
multiple themes based around new and topical aspect of sustainable design
and building.
The delegation’s first activity in Adelaide was to visit the State
Government’s showcase green suburb development at Lochiel Park in
Campbeltown. We travelled there via the bakery on Stephens Terrace which
was a great hit with our Chinese visitors, who delighted in their first
tastes of SA’s favourite pies, pasties, doughnuts and éclairs. This
“picnic” was taken to Lochiel Park, Adelaide’s first “Eco-village”
development, where Andrew Bishop from LMC gave us a detailed
presentation on the sustainability and green assessment ratings and
aspects of the development. We then toured the houses, wetlands, and
even (and most impressively) the local sustainable pressed earth brick
factory, whose local bricks are used onsite.
On Saturday, Dr Lou Wilson and former mayor of Port Adelaide and current
sessional NBE staff member Mr Hans Pieters, led the delegation on a tour
of the developing areas to the north and west of Adelaide. They saw and
heard for themselves the social, environmental and economic difficulties
and challenges stemming from moves to upgrade this well-loved NW coastal
corner of Adelaide largely through the Newport Keys redevelopment of the
Port River precinct. At Playford City Council chambers, Mr Rino Pace, a
social planner at Playford Council introduced us to the Playford North
Urban Renewal project and took us on an extended trip around the
surprisingly active and busy Peachy Belt redevelopments. These are
occurring on the outer fringes of the city nearly 40km north of Adelaide
in council areas like Davoren Park, Munno Para and Smithfield, which are
infamously recognized as some of the lowest socio-economic postcodes in
Australia, but which hold out hopes of affordable and sustainable
housing for the residents who sorely need this housing infrastructure
renewal.
Following the visit to the Peachy belt, the HUST delegates were shown
the delights of the Adelaide Hills with its forests, vineyards and sheep
paddocks, culminating in a stop at Mt Lofty where the vista of Adelaide,
the ultimate in planned (but sustainable?) cities, was clearly laid out
before the group. This was followed by a trip to see the wonderful
native wildlife of Cleland, where they were suitably impressed with the
friendliness or our wildlife.
On Sunday, the HUST delegates reconvened with a new group of hosts, and
following an interesting tangle with the Bay to Birdwood cars on Anzac
Highway, headed south to start with a tour of the former Mitsubishi car
plant at Tonsley. Mr Kevin Pugh led the tour and as a recently joined
member of the SA Governments Office of the South, described the variety
of options and plans currently under consideration for this very
extensive but now closed Mitsubishi site. He did this by the way in a
very impressive and fluent Mandarin tongue much to the delight of the
delegation and the surprise of the rest of us.
The HUST delegation were then led on a tour of Flinders University, the
southern Expressway and finally Noarlunga Centre by Mr Michael McGreevy
chief planner (and NBE Planning Masters graduate) for Noarlunga City
Council. Michael explained the current dynamics of the Noarlunga Centre
as one of the largest shopping malls and car parks in the state. He then
outlined the councils plans for redevelopment using Transit Oriented
Development (TOD) principles which should bring 6000 residents to the
site and help to convert it to an eco-village and much more sustainable
suburb for the south.
Following the three day tour of Adelaide, the HUST delegation and UniSA
researchers and their collaborators joined in a major workshop on Monday
to plan for future cooperation in sustainable urban development. The
program for this workshop has been distributed widely and the many
powerpoint presentations will shortly be made available on the NBE
website. Intense discussions following the workshop outlined possible
ways forward for more collaboration, more visits and workshops more
joint research grant applications. We all agreed that issues of
sustainable urban development cross state and national boundaries and
are as important in the suburbs of Wuhan as they are on the outer
fringes of Adelaide.
For more pictures please visit the Image
Gallery
So why is this article called “Up the Yangtze”? This is the title of an
astonishing new documentary style film (www.uptheyangtze.com)
by Yung Chang, the Chinese-Canadian director, which traces the
contrasting stories of an abjectly poor Chinese family dispossessed by
the rising waters of the recently dammed Yangtze River, and what due to
the striking contrasts, appear as obscenely rich American tourists who
cruise along the same river. It is a story of poverty, individual and
personal trials and hope amidst much needed urban development. But most
of all it is a message about the unavoidable globalization of economies
and the need for better understanding of all aspects of Sustainability.
For anyone who wishes to put the current world economic turmoil in
perspective, you must try to see this film and the story of the main
character Cindy Yu Shui.
In closing I would like to wish all a joyous festive season and a very
Happy New Year and look forward to a successful and prosperous 2009.
Professor Patrick James
Head: School of Natural and Built Environments
