Tuesday, 20 July 2010 02:31

Vision: Broadmeadows 2032 has really taken shape - come out and visit us!

Thursday, 01 July 2010 02:23

Tuesday, 04 May 2010 00:34

Emerging technical and social innovations for future sustainable systems.

Monday, 18 January 2010 23:19

At the completion of his keynote address at the Global Urban Summit in Rotterdam on the 4th December 2009, Prof. Chris Ryan was joined by Prof. Han Brezet, from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, to announce the creation of the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab: REIL. REIL will follow the methodology, and build on and adapt the outcomes, of VEIL within the development around the immense harbour of Rotterdam city. This development responds to the opening up of land for housing and commercial activity as the functions of the old harbour move ‘outwards’ towards the ocean. The Harbour development aims to set new environmental standards as part of an innovative new zone, known now as the “Clean Tech Delta”. In announcing the creation of REIL, with its collaboration with VEIL, Prof Brezet also announced that the Clean Tech Delta will send a staff member to Melbourne for several months (starting in Feb 2010) to work with the VEIL team to better understand the potential for similar projects in REIL.

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 21:26

Are we on the edge of a 're-localisation' revolution?

A one-day conference and forum, exploring the value, diversity and implications of a networked and localised approach to infrastructure and services. 30th November, 2009

SEE RECORDS OF THE EVENT, INCLUDING PRESENTATIONS, SLIDES AND A SUMMARY OF ISSUES COVERED

With large, centralised infrastructure appearing vulnerable to climate change and ‘peak oil’, alternative solutions are emerging everywhere. Many of these are delivering food, water and energy via smaller, networked systems of localised production that can also lower carbon, increase efficiency, build resilience and strengthen local economies.

This ‘distributed’ systems model is over-turning old ideas of services and is re-shaping our image of the future. With communities and business becoming active adopters of solar panels, wind generators, rainwater tanks and neighbourhood gardens, people are breaking the mould of passive consumer - redefining themselves as active producers of critical resource.

Where can I find out more about Distributed Systems?

Research related to distributed systems is on-going. Two briefing papers covering energy and water issues can be downloaded from the publications section of this website. Additional papers will also be posted there.

VEIL Contact: Che Biggs 03 8344 0626 cbigg@unimelb.edu.au

 

Thursday, 05 November 2009 01:19

Among the delicious chai and the recycled tetra-pack wallets, some unexpected ideas and projects to catch the imagination...

In October 09, we were invited by Knox Council to exhibit student works at the Stringybark Suburban Sustainability Festival.  You can read about the exhibition here.  During the two-day festival, VEIL Co-ordinator Dianne Moy and Assistant Kate Archdeacon had time to explore the festival.  Below, in the gallery, are some of the interesting inclusions they spotted.

Wednesday, 12 August 2009 03:45

What happens when a forward-thinking council shares its expertise with design students?

Last Thursday, August 6, VEIL and the Sustainable Landscapes studio (University of Melbourne), led by Dr Sidh Sintusingha, met with staff from Hume City Council in Broadmeadows.  The Councils' urban designers, transport planners, environmental officers and development officers spent most of the day sharing their expertise with the students and outlining their hopes for the future of the area.  The Sustainable Landscapes studio is the first foray into research for an upcoming VEIL Hub, which will focus on retrofitting existing Melbourne suburbs for sustainability and resilience. The Hub, planned for later this year, will draw on the knowledge developed over the last three years of the VEIL project, in particular the EBD Eco-City exploration, which continues inform ongoing studios.

Details of the Hub will be finalised soon.

Tuesday, 11 August 2009 00:00

As part of the Victorian State of Design Festival and Melbourne Conversations program there were four ten-minute design speculations on Melbourne 2040. One of these – Melbourne: the City of Short Distances – presented a short synthesis of VEIL scenarios for Melbourne. In this presentation, Chris Ryan talked ‘from the future’ when Melbourne has won (for the second time) the prestigious international award for liveability – the City of Short Distances Award.  In the presentation, Chris took an opportunity to reflect on how Melbourne of 2010 had transformed under the influence of climate change, the need for resilient life-styles (in the face of new environmental conditions) and the end of the era of cheap oil. The ‘short-distances’ refers to the measure of the distance between production and consumption of key resources – energy, water, food – as well as transport. Neighbourhoods in the city that once (2010) had to rely on long distribution chains (based on long linear infrastructure systems) now have a dispersed (localised) network of diverse forms of renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal) , diverse sources of water (rain-water, storm water, recycled water and reticulated water) and food supplies that mix local fruit and vegetables with rural produce.  View the presentation below.

Tuesday, 11 August 2009 00:00

Chris Ryan and VEIL ‘alumni’ Michael Trudgeon (Crowd Productions) have been successful in being selected as one of three winners in an international design competition for a new sustainable wild-life park and interpretation centre in the North of the Netherlands.  The three winning teams (the others being a Dutch Landscape design practice and a UK Architectural practice) will meet to integrate their work in a three day design workshop in the Netherlands in early September. The Ryan-Trudgeon design submission was based around an analysis of a life-cycle approach to eco-tourism (treated as a service-product) in which the material is ‘experience’ – giving an experience pathway that starts with anticipation (the equivalent to material processing and manufacturing) then moves to destination (the usual ‘use-phase’ focus for eco-design) and then to memory (the equivalent to end-of-life phase). The work builds on some of the project that formed the pre-cursor to VEIL – EcoSense – (www.eco-sense.info) and integrates intelligent use of information technology. It is hoped that an information package about the winning entry will be available from the VEIL site in the next months.

Friday, 31 July 2009 00:00

In July Chris Ryan presented two lectures on the work of VEIL; one lecture was for the Innovation and Business staff of the Forum for the Future in London (www.forumforthefuture.org) and the other for the Rotterdam Climate Initiative.

In both these well attended lectures the focus of the discussion was on the methodology, process and success of VEIL and the potential to develop similar programs in the UK and the Netherlands. In both contexts the interest revolves around developing future visions of sustainable cities in the context of climate transformation. Discussions are continuing with both organisations on the development of some on-going relationship with VEIL and Melbourne.

Peter Madden the CEO of Forum for the Future will visit Melbourne in November this year as part of the Deakins 09 events on Climate and Innovation (www.climateandinnovation.com). There is the potential for a visiting group from the Rotterdam Climate Initiative and their planned Rotterdam Climate Campus to Visit Melbourne early in 2010.

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 00:00

In June Chris Ryan delivered a paper on the methodology developed for the VEIL program at the UNEP and Greening of Industry international conference on Joint Actions for Climate Change, in Aalborg Denmark. The paper entitled; "Designing Future Transitions. A new role for eco-design: envisaging future systems, revealing the hidden present" describes the development of the methodology used in the VEIL project, setting this in the context of a global search for ways to plan for the structural change required in response to Climate Change (both mitigation and adaptation). The paper illustrates the VEIL approach with reference to the recent work on the EBD (‘Eco-City) project. It is currently being readied for publication in an academic journal.

Wednesday, 22 July 2009 05:35

Thought-provoking, optimistic, transformative...

The Alfred Deakin Eco-Innovation Lectures are an initiative of the State Government of Victoria. In 2009, The Deakins adopt a new format. Events occur from July to December, featuring international speakers in a program of free lectures. The theme - 'Climate and Innovation' - links the inescapable challenge of climate change to the spirit of creativity and innovation.

A Local Car for the Silent Highway, Wednesday 22 July 2009 6:30 - 8:00 p.m

 

VEIL is proud to be a partner of the Alfred Deakin Eco-Innovation Lectures.

Tuesday, 07 July 2009 06:03

share, connect, discuss

VEIL uses 2collab to collate, compare and share our bookmarks and references for the project. 2collab was chosen because it is easy to add bookmarks and references and to share this relevant information with interested parties in specialised groups.

• Find out more about 2collab
• Click here to register for 2collab

Monday, 06 July 2009 09:32

The amount of food we produce in Victoria will continue to be challenged by water shortages, competition for land around the cities, increasing electricity, fuel and fertiliser costs. We will also be increasingly accountable for the environmental impacts of our food as carbon and water prices become commonplace. But how will this impact on Victorian menu planning and will it affect our ability to access a healthy diet?

These are some of the questions that will be explored in a new research discovery project funded through VicHealth and undertaken by the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (at the University of Melbourne), Deakin University and CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems with Victorian Government partners including the Department of Planning and Community Development.

Friday, 06 February 2009 02:07

ECO-CITY MELBOURNE

building a low carbon future

Wednesday 25th – Saturday 28th February 2009

An exhibition of designs for an Ecological Business District neighbouring Docklands. Visions from the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab.

What does Melbourne look like in 2032? The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL), funded by the Victorian Sustainability Fund has looked at the last remaining vacant land available for development in Melbourne’s CBD known as E-Gate and applied some very radical thinking.

Friday, 06 February 2009 02:46

SUSTAINABLE SHARING

Sustainable Cities Round Table

A networking and information event presented by SustainableMelbourne.com, a project of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab.
The Sustainable Cities Round Tables are regular events that feature a variety of speakers who provide three-minute glimpses of what they are doing to create a more sustainable Melbourne. This month the theme is Sustainable Sharing and features guest speakers from Herdshare, Growlocal.com, Green Hanger and My Sister’s Wardrobe who will take the stage at the ECO-CITY Exhibition.

Tuesday, 09 December 2008 09:26

VEIL, in collaboration with the McCaughey Centre at the University of Melbourne, announces an international conference to explore the development and value of distributed, [re]localised, systems of production and consumption.

“Distributed systems”, … presents an alternative model for the economy and well-being, based on networked small(er) scale systems of production and consumption that are re-localised, so that they utilise regional resources, increase diversity of productive cultures and goods and services, strengthen communities and increase socio-technical innovation*.” [Ryan 2008]

The [re]Generation conference, to be held in Melbourne in October 2010 (date and location yet to be announced) will be a critical event for knowledge sharing and ‘what-if’ collaboration on a  :

• exploring the value of distributed systems as a response to urgent environmental, social and economic challenges – particularly those relating to climate change;
• engaging multi-disciplinary practitioners, theorists, researchers, designers and activists to consider projects and visions for sustainable futures enabled by distributed systems;
• identifying priorities for future action: research; innovation; the design of products services and built environments; policy development.
  
  Conference Chairs: Prof Chris Ryan and Prof John Wiseman.
A separate website is being established for the conference. See: www.regenerationconference.org

Tuesday, 09 December 2008 05:26

The Victorian State of the Environment Report, released on the 4th December 2008, presents the VEIL Melbourne 2032 report as an 'exercise in visioning' in its final forward-looking section on "Living Well Within the Environment". [SOE. 2008 p 503] The SOE report has its own '2050-looking back' using the same process of back-casting from a desirable future that is part of the VEIL process. Much of the 2050 vision will be very familiar to the VEIL community. Here is a sample:

Wednesday, 03 December 2008 00:44

In 2008 RMIT University introduced an elective called “Meals in Metropolis”. This subject explored the variety and breadth of urban agriculture models in Melbourne, Australia. Students were asked to conduct field research in specific food production and distribution examples and then redesign these systems to incorporate greater social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability outcomes. The Meals in Metropolis exhibition illustrates a selection of the outcomes of this course and reveals that our food future may not be so bleak after all…

Where: The Hub, 17 Waterview Walk, Docklands (near the corner of Bourke Street and Harbour Esplanade - look for the giant rabbit sculpture) Melway reference: 2E H7
When: 13 October to 21 November 200
To view images of this work online click here.
For more information about this event contact Ferne Edwards, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (03) 8344 9268

Tuesday, 02 December 2008 22:58

The footage from the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on the topic of Healthy Cities is now available on SustainableMelbourne.com! After another inspiring evening showcasing a range of initiatives to build a healthy cities, this material can now be viewed free online! The event was held with exciting sound of music from the tuba player, David Hoxley, excellent display of projects by students from the RMIT-Industrial Design Program for the Campaign Projects 08 Exhibition, and supports from our event partners – The Australasian Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport (GAMUT) and The State Library of Victoria. We were also very fortunate to have Professor John Whiteleg from Stockholm Environment Institute. It was also captured on film by Ryan Spanger, Dream Engine Digital Film Productions.