This note was reviewed and approved for currency by the Author in September 2018. Without the virtually free services of nature like clean air and water, humans would not last long. Natural systems can be incorporated in existing urban structures or ...

While continual change and evolution has been an enduring characteristic of the Australian city, the magnitude, speed and complexity of the emerging population and environmental pressures are challenging the models and methodologies that have ...

This paper explores the evidence that another factor to be considered in Sick Building Syndrome and Indoor Environment Quality is exposure to prolonged and excessive electromagnetic fields (EMFs).  Enough evidence now exists to justify taking a ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in October 2018. Built environments are an incarnation of our mental landscapes.  In Western culture we have an unhealthy and unsustainable approach to our inner paradoxes (e.g. our need to move and ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in November 2018. The physical destruction accompanying disasters typically creates an urgency to rebuild and help survivors get back on track. There are inspiring examples of how architects and other ...

This note outlines how architects can use the design of buildings to help create sustainable transport systems and a more vibrant public domain. Traditionally, architecture has been mainly concerned with the internal efficiency of buildings. However ...

Environmental design is in the broadest sense, the human response to the understanding that we are a part of our environment. This is the design realisation that ecology matters.  This area of human endeavour has undergone a rapid transformation in ...

Although sustaining biodiversity features in the environment policies of BDP members, few EDG notes have addressed the issue directly, yet buildings and associated structures can have a very direct impact on wildlife. Birds are perhaps the best ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency by the Author in September 2018. The design and construction fields have a central role to play in moving toward a 'zero waste' economy. Total resource consumption, both upstream and downstream from ...

Read time: 25 minutes A summary update has been provided for this note in June 2023. This summary reflects updates to this topic on the National Construction Code 2022 and BASIX. There is an urgent need to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net ...