Creating urban sustainability

CSIRO is applying its technological expertise to help Australia improve the sustainability of its cities.

• 2 January 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Overview
• Skills and expertise
• Implementation
• Partnerships

Overview

CSIRO is helping to revitalise Australia’s cities through the generation of new technologies and integrated infrastructure solutions capable of providing a 20 per cent reduction in urban ecological footprints.

Skills and expertise

CSIRO has identified three technological streams that would amount to a substantial contribution to Australia’s shift to sustainable urban development practices.

They are:

• high performance buildings that allow for:
  • adaptable, more efficient facilities
  • healthy environments
  • a better fit with client and user requirements
• distribution systems such as water and energy wherein reliable, cost-effective technologies reduce resource use while meeting community expectations
• complex city modelling systems that provide:
  • an understanding of regional social, economic, and environmental factors
  • allow our cities a pathway to transition to sustainable configurations.

Implementation

To ensure Australian cities have robust and adaptable infrastructure, buildings and healthy environments, CSIRO has identified areas where new technologies are required.

These include:

• building processes and performance models:

  CSIRO is revitalising Australia’s cities through the generation of new technologies and integrated solutions capable of 20 per cent reduction in urban ecological footprints.
  • management system for client-demand performance requirements
  • integrated whole life suite of management tools
  • whole building process and performance models
• property investment models:
  • product service life and life cycle inventory database
  • property management system
  • investment decision-making tools
• human-indoor environment interaction:
  • smart building management system
  • smart indoor environment laboratory
• improved water quality:
  • small scale decentralised treatment systems
  • higher water quality standards, techniques and processes
• new generation monitoring and control:
  • improvements to monitoring of water quality
  • new sensors and control strategies
• new treatment technologies:
  • membranes
  • physical and biological systems.

Partnerships

CSIRO’s collaborators on the urban sustainability program include:

• Commonwealth, State and Local Governments
• Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment
• Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation
• Water utilities and industry groups
• The United Nations 
• The World Bank.

Learn more about CSIRO's work in Energy Efficiency.