Publications
Publications
Visioning
| Ballarat in 2032: alternative energy sources, fewer private vehicles, and resilience in the face of extreme weather events. |  |
 VEIL Ballarat Vision | 2186 Kb |
Visioning
| What if the city was like a sponge, soaking up and filtering water instead of repelling it? |
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| VEIL Visualisations of a Water Sensitive City | 22142 Kb |
Visioning
"M2032" is a report from the year 2032 illustrating how our world changed and the steps Victorians took to build resilient systems and secure a sustainable future.
Author: Professor Chris Ryan, University of Melbourne, December 2006.
"Sometimes we need to be reminded just how profoundly different Melbourne is in 2032, in its structure, in its economic base and in the nature of daily life, from the City it was at the turn of the century. In retrospect many of the changes to Melbourne can be understood when we consider the impacts of various critical events, and the changing nature of community concerns, which shaped the way that social, political and technological developments unfolded during and after the decade 2000- 2010. The period of intense innovation for sustainability, that came to identify the years 2007-2015, seems to have been an inevitable outcome of those events and concerns. Five years after the turn of the century, the scale of the change in patterns of resource use that was necessary for a sustainable existence was finally starting to catch public attention. Government priorities and policy were framed against some significant long term commitments for reductions in per-capita consumption (particularly for water and carbon-based energy)1. It was already becoming clear that the future could not be, in any meaningful sense, a continuation of the past."
| M2032 | 206 Kb |
Visioning
This paper was presented in a low carbon manner, via teleconferencing at the IASDR Conference in Hong Kong in November 2007. The paper investigates the notion of designing for the innovative reuse of existing components within highly agile manufacturing systems, or what has been called ‘redesign’, outlining the basis of a sustainable design methodology which utilises devices such as information and communication technology (ICT), rapid manufacturing and component reuse to encourage ‘dematerialisation’, or a net reduction in material consumption, in society.
Author: Mark Richardson, MONASH UNIVERSITY, Nov. 2007
| ReDesign - Design for Reassembly | 467 Kb |
Visioning
Combined Water Power is a decentralised water cleansing and renewable energy solution. Small-scale gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) systems deliver electricity to the grid and clean local supplies of waste water through distillation. Discussions are underway with industry and government partners for the development of a pilot project.
Author: Professor Chris Ryan, Melbourne University, March 2007.
| Combine Water Power draft paper | 111 Kb |
Visioning
A background briefing paper of the development of VEIL and its innovation process.
Author: Chris Ryan. 2002. (Reprinted from the MIT Journal of Industrial Ecology)
"The collapse of the “ecoefficiency pathway to sustainability” is occurring at the same time as an apparent shift in the nature of the market and business activity, a shift that values foresight, visible engagement with the future, and conceptual capital."
| EcoLab - a jump towards sustainability (part 1 and 2) | 198 Kb |
Visioning
Author: Chris Ryan 2006 Chapter 1. “Imaging Sustainability” Lewis and Ryan RMIT Press 2006| Towards a new manifesto of sustainable design | 327 Kb |
Visioning
Chris Ryan. July 2007 Address to the Future Melbourne Forum on “Sustainable Prosperity”| Paradigms for Sustainable Prosperity | 152 Kb |
Briefing Notes
How do we prepare now for a future of unprecedented resource scarcity and environmental change? Unless we take radical steps to increase the resilience and sustainability of critical infrastructure, access to vital systems and services is at risk.
This paper highlights the dynamic forces increasing the vulnerability of current infrastructure and services and presents the case for distributed systems as an alternative design model.
| Download the document here | 3086 Kb |
Briefing Notes
Distributed Water Systems: A networked and localised approach for sustainable water services
This extended briefing paper draws on case studies and research to describe the emergence and potential of networked and localised water infrastructure and services.
Authors: Che Biggs, Chris Ryan, John Wiseman, Kirsten Larsen
Participating Institutions: Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Melbourne with the McCaughey Centre: Vic Health Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, University of Melbourne
Briefing Notes
This is VEIL's first briefing paper on distributed systems. Drawing on examples from states and cities in the EU and US, this paper demonstrates policy approaches for the development of distributed energy systems.
Authors: Dr. Kes McCormick, Rebekka Falk and Samira Viswanathan
Participating Institutions: Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Melbourne with The EU Environmental Education and Research Alliance (ENVERA)
Policy - Reports & Submissions
| Visions of possible futures; new trajectories for sustainable development. |  |
| VEIL Report 2010 | 1992 Kb |
Policy - Reports & Submissions
The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab has just released its first policy research report and it's all about food!
The report, Sustainable and Secure Food Systems for Victoria: What do we know? What do we need to know? discusses the environmental challenges relating to the food system, examining:
- how the production and consumption of food impacts on the environment; and
- the risks and vulnerabilities of the food system to environmental change and social responses (such as policy aiming to reduce environmental impacts)
Policy - Reports & Submissions
This submission briefly addresses part b) of the Terms of Reference:
the potential value of Crown land, and public authority land for areas not committed to a specific use, and report on appropriate future uses relevant to Melbourne's liveability and natural values.
This submission outlines VEIL’s position that food production in urban Melbourne will be critical to the provision of secure, healthy and sustainable food supplies, which in turn are essential for a city to be ‘liveable’. We have outlined the need and opportunities for increased food production within urban areas, with particular reference to environmental impacts and vulnerabilities, and highlighted opportunities for innovative and effective resource use.
| VEIL Submission - VEAC Crown Land | 2067 Kb |
Policy - Reports & Submissions
This submission outlines VEIL’s position that food production in outer suburban (as well as inner urban) Melbourne will be critical to the provision of secure, healthy and sustainable food supplies.
Viable and sustainable agribusiness – “the businesses collectively associated with the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products” – will be critical to meeting these challenges. However, we suggest that in light of the challenges facing our food system, the ability of peri-urban businesses and enterprises to deliver ‘sustainable food production’ will be the fundamental underpinning to their success, and their ability to provide high quality employment opportunities within their local and regional economies. The pursuit of ‘sustainable food production’ and ‘healthy, sustainable and prosperous outer suburban areas’ will require a broader understanding of the types of businesses / enterprises that are valuable in urban and peri-urban spaces – emerging models of sustainable food production and distribution may also contribute to more resilient communities, cultures and economies in peri-urban Melbourne.
| VEIL - Agribusiness in Outer Suburban Melbourne | 2810 Kb |
Policy - Reports & Submissions
Time constraints meant that this was a very short submission! The text of the covering submission is included below, which basically refers the Inquiry to our existing work. Kirsten Larsen will be appearing at a public hearing in March 2009 and the presentation will be available here.
Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries Inquiry into Food Production in Australia
The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab welcomes the Select Committee’s investigation into food production in Australia and the question of how to produce food that is:
1. affordable to consumers;
2. viable for production by farmers; and
3. of sustainable impact on the environment.
