This note, originally published in November 2000, was reviewed by John Greenwood in September 2005. This paper examines the issue of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and its impact on public health in Australia, which has the highest rate of skin ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018. A balanced mix of play activities is critical to a child’s development. However for many children in Australia, as elsewhere in the developed world, the proportion of active, outdoor ...

This note provides building design professionals and other green-building stakeholders with an overview of the complex interrelationships which must be managed if green buildings are to deliver improved human productivity.  The note gives a brief ...

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 note discusses how the quantity surveyor's skills can be harnessed in the development of environmentally sustainable design.  It focuses on the skills of managing quantity and the relationship of quantity to cost and environmental performance.

This is one of three companion papers taken from a study that assesses the comparative costs of urban redevelopment with the costs of greenfield development. This paper shows that substantial costs could be saved in infrastructure and transport if ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in September 2018. Green or living walls is an emerging technology that integrates vegetation into the built environment.  This paper looks at the benefits that living walls can offer to our built ...

Put simply, solar access is the availability of sunlight to a property. For architects, the need to consider solar access in the overall design of a structure is two-fold: Firstly, the structure must be designed and situated on the property to ...

This note was reviewed in October 2018 and retained for legacy. Co-housing has proven to be a successful and influential housing type. The reasons for its success also highlight the limits of its appeal, however, and some of the obstacles to its ...

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 ...