Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects

Winner of the Planning Institute of Australia's 2015 Cutting Edge Research and Teaching Award!

Australians from all walks of life have begun to realise the nation’s cities cannot sustain profligate growth indefinitely. Dwindling water supplies, failing food bowls, increased energy costs, more severe bushfires, severe storms, flooding, coastal erosion, rising transport expenses, housing shortages and environmental pollution are now daily news headlines. Australia’s cities may have reached their ecological limits: a new model for planning the places we live is needed.

Understanding the natural cycles of the city is just as important to planning our cities as knowledge of local ordinances, indeed much more so. A profound knowledge of environmental processes is critical for successful planning in today’s world. Environmental planners take as their guiding principle the concept of designing with nature, approaching cities as living organisms that consume water, energy and raw materials, and produce waste. This metabolic view of cities means we can find new solutions to old problems, and steer our cities towards a more sustainable form of planning.

Written specifically for students and professionals working in city planning in Australia, this ground-breaking new book enables Australian planners, architects and developers to get a better understanding of the fundamental principles of environmental planning for cities, showing how land, water, air, energy, wildlife and people shape our built environments, and how in turn environmental processes must be better understood if we are to make informed decisions about developing cities that are more sustainable.

The book’s coverage is comprehensive: from an overview of the concepts and theories of environmental planning, through analysis of governance systems and urban environmental processes to agendas and policies for the future, all the key topics are covered in depth, with recommendations for supporting reading and an unrivalled selection of additional materials. Ideal for students, essential for professionals, Australian Environmental Planning is vital reading for more sustainable cities in a more sustainable world.

Jason Byrne is a Senior Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning in the Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, where he has taught since 2006. A geographer, anthropologist and planner by training, Jason’s research interests include: urban nature, parks, green-space, environmental justice and political ecology. Jason previously worked as a planning officer, environmental officer and policy writer with the Western Australian government.

Jago Dodson is Director of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University, Brisbane. Jago has applied his background in anthropology and urban planning to a raft of urban problems and questions, often with a social or institutional dimension. These include housing, transport and metropolitan planning. Jago teaches a course on Understanding the Australian City in the Urban and Environmental Planning program at Griffith. He has published widely in both academic and public venues.

Neil Sipe is the deputy director of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University. He currently serves on the Transportation Research Board Ferry Committee and the Social and Economic Effects of Transportation Committee and is the editor of the peer reviewed journal Australian Planner.